Club clash threatens to overshadow Southgate’s strong start as England manager

Gareth Southgates impressive record as England manager is at risk of being overshadowed by disciplinary matters after it was revealed Raheem Sterling will not be considered for Englands Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro.It comes after the forward clashed with Joe Gomez during Manchester Citys loss to Liverpool, Sterlings former club.Southgates squad convened at St Georges Park on Monday following the latest round of Premier League fixtures, which culminated in Sundays highly-anticipated clash of the table toppers.We can confirm that @sterling7 will not be considered for Thursday's #EURO2020 qualifier: https://t.co/dsVfgitdSm England (@England) November 11, 2019The PA news agency understands Sterling and Gomez were again involved in an exchange after meeting up for England duty on Monday, leading the Football Association to release a statement later that day.A statement read: The FA can confirm Raheem Sterling will not be considered for Thursdays EURO 2020 qualifier against Montenegro as a result of a disturbance in a private team area at St. Georges Park today. He will remain with the squad.It is a remarkable situation and is sure to dominate the build-up to Thursdays Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro, which not only offers the chance to seal progress but is Englands 1,000th international fixture.Liverpools Joe Gomez, centre, and Raheem Sterling clash at Anfield on Sunday (Peter Byrne/PA)England boss Southgate said: We have taken the decision to not consider Raheem for the match against Montenegro on Thursday.One of the great challenges and strengths for us is that weve been able to separate club rivalries from the national team.Unfortunately the emotions of yesterdays game were still raw. My feeling is that the right thing for the team is the action we have taken.Gareth Southgate, right, will not consider Raheem Sterling on Thursday (Nick Potts/PA)Now that the decision has been made with the agreement of the entire squad, its important that we support the players and focus on Thursday night.Sterling has been in exceptional form for England, scoring eight goals and providing five assists during Euro 2020 qualification.Gomez, who was introduced as an 87th-minute substitute on Sunday, won the last of his seven England senior caps in the Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland in June.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Simon Peach, PA');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'fdf81025-0bf8-4f6c-8969-3b893ad0cfd2');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Club clash threatens to overshadow Southgate\u2019s strong start as England manager'});