Eric Dier has leapt to the defence of Tottenham and England teammate Dele Alli following the criticism of his challenge at Manchester City last weekend.
With the game at 1-0, the Spurs playmaker put in a rather unsavoury challenge on his Etihad counterpart, Kevin de Bruyne.
Referee Craig Pawson let Alli off with a yellow card, but moments later De Bruyne was back up and had doubled the lead for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Dier, though, insists there was no malice in the challenge and that Alli is not that sort of player.
"Dele is not a malicious player,” he told Sky Sports.
“He's made a tackle, the referee made a decision, gave him a yellow card and that's that really.
"You know, it's football. The speed at which it is played there are going to be bad tackles, there are going to be good tackles and that's football".
The defeat in Manchester left Spurs 21 points off the runaway Premier League leaders, but just two outside of the top four.
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They travel to Burnley this weekend before hosting Mauricio Pochettino’s former side Southampton on Boxing Day, and Dier knows the festive period could prove vital in their success this season.
"It is a really important period for us those next four games. Obviously, we are looking to pick up all the points and we will try our best to do that."
