London: England's plan to celebrate their 1,000th international by qualifying for Euro 2020 in serene style against Montenegro at Wembley tonight has been ripped up by Gareth Southgate's decision to drop Raheem Sterling. The Man City winger was involved in a confrontation with Liverpool defender Joe Gomez at England's training base on Monday as emotions spilled over from the highly-anticipated EPL clash between the two clubs on Sunday. Sterling has scored eight of his side's 26 goals in six games.

He has also been a leading figure as England have stood up to the racist abuse in Montenegro and Bulgaria. One of Southgate's strengths has been to foster a unity in the camp, far removed from the club-aligned cliques. That now faces its biggest test as the rivalry between Liverpool and City threatens to spill over. Southgate's first instinct was reportedly to send Sterling home, but the intervention of senior players, principally Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, helped ease the feud and the Sterling has remained with the squad to train.