International Week – The Withdrawals

As always, the midweek raft of international matches has harvested plenty of withdrawals ahead of next weekend’s Fantasy deadline. In general, these do tend to be no more than cautionary measures by clubs and while there’s no real reason to be overly anxious, we thought it’d be worthwhile to roll out an update on those currently affected…

Undoubtedly, the most high profile name affected is Robin Van Persie. The United forward has apparently picked up a “minor” thigh problem and has been omitted from Holland’s friendly clash with Germany on Wednesday. At this stage, it’s fair to say that we’d fully expect Van Persie to be available for United’s trip to Norwich – in many ways, his withdrawal is good news given his past experience on international duty.

Van Persie’s Old Trafford team mate Wayne Rooney is also afforded the midweek off. He has withdrawn from the England squad to face Sweden with the ankle injury which forced him off at Villa on Saturday evening. Theo Walcott has pulled out as a result of the glute injury sustained in Saturday’s draw with Fulham, while ahead of next weekend’s north London derby at the Emirates, Spurs pair Aaron Lennon and Kyle Walker are also unavailable for Roy Hodgson. Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey has withdrawn after failing to recover from the thigh injury which forced him out of Sunday’s draw at Chelsea, while Anfield team mate Steven Gerrard is to have a precautionary scan after picking up a knee problem at the Bridge. The latest from the FA this evening indicates that Gerrard will be fit to win his 100th cap, however.

Demba Ba has this afternoon withdrawn from the Senegal squad to face Niger on Wednesday. Although the forward seemed to have no problems in yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat at the hands of West Ham and played the full 90 minutes, Alan Pardew revealed post-match that Ba was “struggling a little bit” with his recent shin complaint. Sammy Ameobi is another Newcastle man out of midweek action. He missed yesterday’s defeat to West Ham with a hamstring injury and has pulled out of contention for the England U21s.

City’s Gael Clichy has also made his excuses ahead of France’s game with Italy. The left-back picked up a back problem in yesterday’s win over Spurs. He is due to have painkilling injections on the injury this week according to City’s assistant David Platt.

Earlier this evening, QPR’s Ryan Nelsen became the latest “casualty” – he misses out on a lengthy flight to China for New Zealand’s friendly due to ankle and knee injuries according to the club.

Scotland have been hammered by a number of call-offs ahead of their trip to Luxembourg, with as many as seven Premier League players all handing in sick notes so far. Sunderland pair Phil Bardsley and Steven Fletcher have pulled out – the former missed the weekend trip to Everton with a hamstring injury, while Fletcher was replaced on 69 minutes at Goodison after sustaining an ankle problem.

Wigan’s Shaun Maloney has picked up an abdominal problem, while Charlie Adam and James Morrison – who both scored for Stoke and West Brom respectively last Saturday – have been ruled out with groin injuries. Villa’s Barry Bannan (knee) and QPR’s Jamie Mackie (ankle) are also ruled out for their country.

Northern Ireland are without the services of Jonny Evans, after the United centre-half withdrew with the groin injury which forced him out of the weekend win at Villa, while Everton’s Kevin Mirallas is out with a hamstring problem sustained midway through the first-half of Saturday’s win over Sunderland.

This leaves us fretting on those who will be active participants in the midweek matches with the Spaniards – Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla perhaps key concerns given that they face a lengthy trip to Panama for their friendly. Meanwhile, Luis Suarez will likely turn out for Uruguay in Poland, while Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero and Franco Di Santo (no really), all travel with Argentina to Saudi Arabia for their friendly; Carlos Tevez remains at home once again. There’s a whole host of Belgian stars making the trip to Romania, with Eden Hazard and Marouane Fellaini the headline acts in that one from a Fantasy perspective. It’s going to be a nervous few days.

As always, we’re recording all the knocks and scrapes over in the injuries and bans table and this will include any injuries that occur over the midweek matches. Then, later this week, we’ll be working through to clear them out as the latest team news arrives prior to the weekend.