Stuart Pearce makes emotional first return to commentary box after heart scare

The much loved England and Nottingham Forest legend fell ill during a flight from Las Vegas to Heathrow, which forced the plane to be diverted to Canada so he could receive treatment.

But after recovering, Pearce is back with a talkSPORT microphone to call Thomas Tuchel's first game as England manager in the Nations League match against Albania - which we will bring you live from Wembley Stadium.

First, though, Pearce joined the Drivetime team at Boxpark Wembley and told hosts Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent: "The talkSPORT family circled the wagons and looked after me.

"So I've got to say I've been very humbled by the messages across football and everything."

Pearce was in Sin City watching the rugby league clash - held in Vegas as part of an attempt to crack the American market - between Warrington Wolves Wigan Warriors, which the latter won 48-24.

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It was after that, on his way home, when he felt chest pains.

He said: "The crew on Virgin were brilliant, they took care of me fantastically and then said, 'Look, we're not going to take the chance travelling across the Atlantic, we're going to drop you off'."

Pearce spent five days in a Newfoundland hospital and ten in Canada in total before he was able to fly home.

Doctors had given Pearce medication to get his heartrate down as he was told it was not pumping enough blood around the system they noticed swelling.

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"At the end of the week, on Friday, they said, 'Look, we're going to stick a tube down your throat, if there's no swelling around your heart, we'll stop your heart and reboot you again'," he said.

"So that's exactly what they did. My heart went back to a normal rate and they released me the following day."

"I just got a virus. It sort of attached itself to my heart that just needed clearing, rebooting, I think," Pearce added.

As for the football, Pearce is excited by what the new era for England under Thomas Tuchel brings but reminded fans of the joy predecessor Gareth Southgate brought during his eight-year spell in the hotseat.

"It's the norm when the old manager goes and there's a few dissenters about, oh, the new man's all singing, all dancing. I'm one of these," he said.

"Let's see how it elapses, see how he gets on over a period of time. The one thing I do know, Gareth's taken us to two major finals, which is brilliant.

"It's united the players. There's a buy-in from the players that want to be part of England.

"The media have got better relations with the FA and the players than they've ever had, probably in the history of modern day football. So he's responsible for so much good.

"I'm not one of those that puts a knife in when someone leaves. I look and say, hang on a minute, let's have a look where we were in 2016. We were rock bottom as a nation, make no mistake about that."

Tune into talkSPORT for LIVE commentary of England vs Albania in Thomas Tuchel's first game as Three Lions boss - Friday March 21, kick-off 7:45pm