Bertrand apologises for tweets

Chelsea's Ryan Bertrand has been forced to apologise after using an expletive on Twitter to condemn reports he had pulled out of England's World Cup qualifier with San Marino with a "sore throat".

The FA's official description of the illness that has prevented Bertrand from training since Monday was clearly viewed as an insufficient explanation of his condition.

"Just to clarify.... Its not a "sore throat" Im ill. swollen glands in my neck... And constant headache for 3 days now and freezin cold," Bertrand explained on Twitter. "Do you think a "sorethroat" could stop me being apart of a match for my club or country? #yourf******nuts this is what every boy dreams of."

Coming less than a week after club colleague Ashley Cole landed himself in hot water with his own Twitter rant, and two days after FA chairman David Bernstein confirmed the England squad had been spoken to about a new code of conduct that will be in place for next month's friendly with Sweden, the timing of Bertrand's outburst was unfortunate.

Although Bertrand was far more vague than Cole - who made a direct attack on the FA - he quickly realised his error, deleting the offending post and issuing an apology.

"sorry if i offended anyone by swearing as i don't encourage that type of language," Bertrand wrote. "was just disappointed at the thought of people thinking i only have a sore throat.. which is not the case..."

It remains to be seen whether the FA will take any action against the defender, who will return to the England squad on Sunday for further assessment ahead of Tuesday's match with Poland.