Fekir, Lacazette, Cabaye out of France squad

Paris (AFP) – Lyon duo Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir and Crystal Palace midfielder Yohan Cabaye have withdrawn from the France squad for upcoming matches against Italy and Belarus, the French Football Federation confirmed on Sunday.

Lacazette came off with a knee injury in Lyon’s 4-2 defeat at Dijon in Ligue 1 on Saturday while Fekir is due to undergo minor knee surgery and will be sidelined for three weeks.

The surgery will be on the same knee that Fekir hurt in France’s friendly win in Portugal in September last year that ruled him out for most of last season.

Cabaye, who played 90 minutes for Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, is also injured and France coach Didier Deschamps has replaced the trio with Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele, Atletico Madrid striker Kevin Gameiro and Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia.

Les Bleus will face Italy in a friendly in Bari on Thursday before travelling to take on Belarus in Borisov in their opening World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, September 6.

France will also come up against the Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria and Luxembourg in qualifying Group A.