LINGARD AND ALLI HAVE TO STAY FOCUSED

GARETH SOUTHGATE picked Jesse Lingard over Dele Alli for England recently and the two midfielders will go headto-head again at Wembley today. It’s tempting to see this as a World Cup audition but if either player views it as a trial, they will not succeed. They simply need to focus on getting their team into the Cup final. I bumped into Dele recently at BT Sport. He strikes me as a mature man and I was impressed with how he responded to being dropped by England with two goals against Chelsea. Lingard is also in fine form. He gives England what Emanuele Giaccherini gave Antonio Conte’s Italy at Euro 2016 — a player who will break from midfield and skims across the pitch effortlessly. There is a strong argument for Southgate playing both Alli and Lingard either side of Jordan Henderson.