Alexis Sanchez hits two to defy the suicidal odds, Adam Lallana gets one and then walks off injured, Philippe Coutinho is given a whole four minutes of rest and Sergio Aguero has only impending jet lag to worry about. The year’s international jamboree is finally over. Here’s how it bowed out.
On an evening of friendlies in Europe, most of the serious stuff – and many of the Fantasy Premier League issues – took place in South America.
Top of the bill was the return of Alexis Sanchez (11.3).
Arsene Wenger has never been one to understate the importance of his players avoiding international injury and he was true to form when declaring that it would be ‘suicidal’ for Chile to risk his man against Uruguay in the light of a hamstring problem picked up last week.
With his right thigh strapped up, Sanchez promptly played and starred in the 3-1 win, scoring twice. Arsenal travel to Man United to open Gameweek 12 this Saturday lunchtime – Sanchez would appear to be fit enough for that, but how fresh he will be is another matter.
Wenger was given the tiniest crumb of comfort when his man was taken off with six minutes to go. Manchester City’s Claudio Bravo (5.5) played the full 90 minutes, while Middlesbrough’s Gaston Ramirez (5.3) came on after 65 minutes for the visitors.
Pep Guardiola revealed this week that he bans his players from having sex after midnight, but even he must have derived some late-night pleasure from the news that Sergio Aguero (13.1) spent the entire Argentina v Colombia match on the bench.
One second half appearance over the international break is tantamount to a holiday for Aguero, and his 46.5% FPL ownership base will be expecting the reward when Man City travel to Crystal Palace and then Burnley over the next fortnight.
Pablo Zabaleta (4.7) was another unused sub, while Nicolas Otamendi (5.9) and Everton’s Ramiro Funes Mori (4.7) both started.
There are four Liverpool players among the top 12 most-owned FPL midfielders at the moment, and two of them were in Peru for Brazil’s latest World Cup qualifier.
Philippe Coutinho (8.7) is the most popular player in the game, with 47.1% ownership. He played all but four minutes of the 2-0 win, while the 14.8%-owned Roberto Firmino (8.7) watched the entire match from the bench.
The pair chartered a private jet to get them back in plenty of time for Saturday’s trip to Southampton.
City’s Fernandinho (5.4) played the full 90 minutes for Brazil, with Chelsea’s Willian (7.2) coming on for a late cameo.
Everton’s Enner Valencia (5.3) played 90 minutes and scored a late third as Ecuador beat Venezuela 3-0.
England 2 Spain 2
Another of that popular Liverpool quartet, Adam Lallana (7.2), was the main talking point from an entertaining Wembley friendly.
The 11.5%-owned midfielder started with style, scored from the penalty spot and then walked off with a knock in an eye-catching 27-minute performance.
The extent of his injury is yet unknown, with Gareth Southgate hesitant to provide further details post-match.
“He’s being assessed by the medical team at the moment.”
Lallana is an early doubt for Liverpool’s Gameweek 12 trip to Southampton, although a number of the press corps later reported Lallana looking relaxed and unencumbered as he walked through the mix zone at the end of the match, so the signs are promising.
Jurgen Klopp is expected to react to Lallana’s absence by either handing at St Mary’s opportunity to Daniel Sturridge or, more likely, Georginio Wijnaldum.
Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy (9.6) was another who sparkled for England. Brought down for the Lallana penalty, the Leicester man then broke a 14-match goal drought with a fine header from a Jordan Henderson (6.4) cross.
Vardy has lost both confidence and his guaranteed starting place for the Foxes in recent weeks. But 9.4% of FPL managers have stuck by him and he now has Watford and Sunderland away and Middlesbrough at home to build on his tentative return to form over the next three Gameweeks.
City’s Raheem Sterling (8.1) has done little of note over the past five league matches, but looked sharp against Spain – good enough to actually prompt warm applause from the crowd when he was subbed off after the break.
Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne (5.6) took over right-back duties from Kyle Walker (6.1). The Spurs man is the most popular defender in the game, with 37.1% ownership figures, so his rest ahead of a home match with West Ham will be welcome news to many.
Juan Mata (7.4), David Silva (8.7) and Cesar Azpilicueta (6.1) all started for a makeshift Spain team. Nolito (8.7) came on after 78 minutes.
England XI: Hart (Heaton 45), Clyne, Cahill (Jagielka 45), Stones, Rose (Cresswell 79), Henderson, Dier, Sterling (Townsend 65), Lallana (Walcott 27), Lingard, Vardy (Rashford 67).
Elsewhere in Europe, Northern Ireland were beaten 3-0 by Croatia. The West Brom trio of Gareth McAuley (4.7), Jonny Evans (4.5) and Chris Brunt (4.9) kept their places from the 4-0 qualifying win over Azerbaijan in an otherwise vastly changed side.
Steven Davis (5.2) came on for Brunt at half-time. McAuley also only played the first half.
Italy and Germany played out a goalless draw. Shkodran Mustafi (6.0) and Ilkay Gundogan (5.8) started and finished in Milan, but the closest the Man City midfielder came to a goal was getting booked for diving in the penalty area.
Matteo Darmian (5.0) played the whole 90 minutes for the hosts and seems likely to get more for United considering the injury issues in their defence, while the hapless Simone Zaza (6.4) was almost cruelly given just four minutes to impress at the end.
France and the Ivory Coast also failed to trouble the net.
Dmitri Payet (9.3) and N’Golo Kante (4.8) played the full 90 minutes, and of the substitutes, Paul Pogba (8.2) went off at half-time, Laurent Koscielny (6.5) came on and Olivier Giroud (8.8) was given 20 minutes at the end.
Hugo Lloris (5.5) was left out altogether with what coach Didier Deschamps described as a ‘little problem’, while Sunderland defender Lamine Kone (4.4) played the full match for the visitors.
Burnley’s Johann Gudmundsson came on in the 58th minute of Iceland’s 2-0 win in Malta. Gylfi Sigurdsson (7.2) was rested.
Marko Arnautovic (7.2) played a full match for the second time in four days as Austria and Slovakia went scoreless, while Branislav Ivanovic (5.8) was given just 23 minutes for Serbia. They lost 2-0 in Ukraine, but the Chelsea man kept himself busy by conceding a penalty and picking up a yellow card.
Viktor Fischer (4.9) started for Denmark in their 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic, and Artur Boruc (4.6) played the first half of Poland’s friendly with Slovenia on Monday night. Lukasz Fabianski (5.0) was an unused sub in the 1-1 draw.
Spain’s U21 side booked their place in the Euro finals with a 0-0 draw against their Austrian counterparts. Everton’s Gerard Deulofeu (6.0) captained the team and played 89 minutes.
In the Asian World Cup qualifiers, Japan beat Saudi Arabia 2-1. Maya Yoshida (4.3) started, while Shinji Okazaki (5.7) came a long way to be brought on after 90+4 minutes.
South Korea beat Uzbekistan 2-1. Tottenham’s Heung-Min Song (7.3) and Swansea midfielder Sung-Yeung Ki (5.1) played the full match, with Crystal Palace’s Chung-Yong Lee (4.4) an unused sub.
