England are confident Dele Alli will not face any action from FIFA for his middle-finger gesture against Slovakia and Gareth Southgate will include him in his squad for the upcoming international break, reports The Daily Mirror.
Alli could be banned for up to four matches if FIFA decide Alli directed his middle-finger gesture at referee Clement Turpin during England’s 2-1 win over Slovakia at the start of September.
The Tottenham midfielder insists his gesture was actually directed at England team-mate Kyle Walker and further video evidence would seem to support the 21-year-old’s case.
There were initial fears before more better video footage emerged that FIFA would slap Alli with a four-game ban, which would have ruled him out of two-thirds of the group phase of next summer’s World Cup.
Alli could still be banned for the gesture but Southgate’s side are confident it would only be a one-match ban at worst. For this reason, he will still be included in the upcoming England squad for their final two World Cup qualifiers at the start of next month.
Since the start of last season, only Timo Werner (26) has scored more goals than Alli (20) of players aged 21 and under in Europe’s top five leagues.
