Tottenham's Alli slapped with season-ending ban for punching incident
Dele Alli's season is over.
Tottenham's recently crowned PFA Young Player of the Year received a three-match ban for punching West Brom's Claudio Yacob during Monday's 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane.
The Football Association (FA) announced the ban Thursday, with a statement saying, "Dele Alli will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after he committed an act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video."
"The player accepted The FA's charge but contested that the automatic penalty of a three-match suspension would be ‘clearly excessive.'"
Gutted that my season is over. Shouldn’t have reacted like I did. Will learn from this and come back stronger.
— Dele Alli (@Dele_Alli) April 28, 2016
The incident - which took place during the first half - was not seen by the match official, but is subject to penalty based on the FA's video review panel.
Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees.
Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.
Alli, 20, had until 6 pm GMT Wednesday to respond to the FA's charge of violent conduct, which the former MK Dons standout accepted.
Monday's draw all but destroyed Spurs' chances of catching table-toppers Leicester City, and now the club will be without its star midfielder for matches against Chelsea, Southampton, and Newcastle United.
Spurs sit seven points adrift of the Foxes, meaning Claudio Ranieri's side could win the title Sunday at Manchester United before Tottenham takes the field Monday at Stamford Bridge.
No stranger to straddling the line between composure and on-pitch fervor, Alli's debut top flight season has inspired both club and country.
In 33 league appearances, Alli paired 10 goals with nine assists, forging a promising young English spine at White Hart Lane with Eric Dier and Harry Kane. With the Three Lions, Alli earned his first cap in a friendly against France at Wembley in November, and wasted little time before besting Spurs teammate Hugo Lloris with a long-range effort.
Alli is now certain to be one of the first names on Roy Hodgson's team sheet this summer in France.