England vs Tunisia: Dele Alli identified as Three Lions' 'most dangerous weapon' in World Cup opener

Threat | Tunisia plan to distrupt Dele Alli's link with Harry Kane
REUTERS

Tunisia head coach Nabil Maaloul is planning to beat England by breaking up the link between Dele Alli and Harry Kane.

The two nations begin their World Cup campaigns in Volgograd on Monday evening after Belgium and Panama kick off Group G earlier in the day.

Maaloul has highlighted Alli as key to England success and will instruct his players to prevent the Tottenham pair from linking up, describing the No.20 as the Three Lions' "most dangerous weapon".

Alli has earned a reputation of struggling to control his emotions on the pitch, having missed previous games through subsquent suspensions, and Maaloul joked he will look to wind up the midfielder on Monday.

"You've given me a good idea," he told reporters. "I hadn't thought about that."

He added: "Alli is a very good player, an excellent player. This is the future of the England national team. He can play anywhere: midfielder in the middle, behind the forward or out on the left. He's so important.

"For us, it's very important we close him down because we know the partnership between him and Kane, because they play together all season at Spurs. If we manage to break that association it would be a huge advantage.

"The English national team have lots of collective play, with [Ashley] Young or [Danny] Rose from the left, they have so many weapons. But the most dangerous weapon is Dele Alli in the way he sees the match and plays that last pass."

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