The next round of international fixtures are upon us, and off the back of an impressive World Cup campaign in the summer, England will be looking to put in a good performance and get a couple of positive results against two very good opponents in Croatia and Spain. The problem for Gareth Southgate is that he has not been able to select some of his tried and tested players due to injury, with even more are dropping out of the squad during this weeks build up. Dele Alli is one of those unavailable for these set of fixtures, and it seems that he is suffering from a hamstring injury on this occasion. His Tottenham Manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has been quoted in the press recently as disappointed that his player has not taken more responsibility for his injury.

Athletes from all sports regularly push their physical capabilities to the limit, and in football they are often expected to play with ‘niggles’. A Manager or Head Coach will be the first person to praise a player for getting through a fixture when he is not 100%, but also the first to criticise if the gamble doesn’t play off, especially if the niggle becomes an injury that leads to the player needing to take time out

Dele Alli has often worn Kinetic Tape when he plays. That makes me think that he may often be playing with niggles, as many players do. Kinetic Tape can help to off load or even active muscles, so you can see why it has become popular over recent years if it enables an athlete to compete or a player to play on when they are not quite feeling 100%.

I do wonder if we will see a trend of injuries and/or a dip in individuals form this football season. With players involved in the World Cup suffering from fatigue (especially if their country reached the latter stages of the tournament). Maybe Dele Alli is one many who will miss a few fixtures during the 2018/19 campaign.