England World Cup team news: Dele Alli unlikely to play against Panama, admits Gareth Southgate
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England manager Gareth Southgate has admitted that Dele Alli has only a “slim chance” of playing against Panama on Sunday.
The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder did not train with the rest of his team-mates in Zelenogorsk on Friday morning, having sustained a minor thigh injury in the 2-1 win against Tunisia.
He instead continued recovery work on his own, away from the rest of the squad.
Alli was not part of the apparent England line-up leaked to reporters from a note held by assistant manager Steve Holland this week, which instead showed Ruben Loftus-Cheek lining up alongside Jordan Henderson in a 3-5-2 formation.
However Southgate has stressed that the note does not necessarily depict the XI he intends to play against Panama.
Ahead of the clash, England trained behind closed doors on Friday.
They will fly to Nizhny Novgorod on Saturday, where a win could see them reach the knockout stages of the tournament with a game to spare.
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