London: England attacking midfielder Dele Alli has promised to not fall foul of new Fifa regulations introduced for the World Cup which allow referees to punish players retrospectively for infringements during a match.

The new rules, backed by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, could lead to players being punished at the interval for foul play that went unnoticed during the first half.

Alli, who has come under scrutiny for previous incidents of hot-headed behaviour at Tottenham Hotspur, remains confident he will avoid letting his temper get the better of him in Russia.

"When you're playing the games, you are focused on trying to help the team as much as you can," the 22-year-old said. "You don't want to put yourself in a position where you could jeopardise everything and lose the game for your team and your country. I'll just be myself, the way I always am.

"I don't think people will be trying to do bad things and if they do, and they get punished for it, then it's their own fault. At the World Cup, the refs and linesman are all from a very high level anyway so you are always aware, and it's part of football. You have to stay concentrated and you can't do stupid things.

Alli served a one-match ban for making an obscene middle-finger gesture during England's qualifier against Slovakia last year.

But the midfielder, who despite his reputation has only ever been sent off once in three seasons for Spurs (a Europa League tie), insists he has learned from his mistakes.

"I want to play with passion and I want to play with hunger in every game I play," Alli added. "I've made mistakes in the earlier part of my career, but you have to make mistakes in order to learn from them. If you look at my record, I've definitely learned from my mistakes."

Alli could be deployed in a different position to the one he has played for Tottenham after being moved into a more conventional midfield role by manager Southgate.

But he does not mind playing further back if it means he plays a big role for England in Russia.

"It's not a new position for me," said Alli. "For my whole time at Milton Keynes I was playing there and it wasn't really until I signed for Tottenham that I started playing in the number 10 role, a bit higher up the pitch, so it's not something I'm new to." Agencies