Marcus Rashford grabs a goal and assist as England come from behind to see off Slovakia. West Brom assets get among the goals for Northern Ireland, while Christian Eriksen turns in another fine Denmark performance as some fingers point accusingly at his Spurs colleague Dele Alli…
Rashford role remains inconclusive
Fans and pundits alike often bemoan a player’s inability to replicate their club form when on international duty.
It seems to be entirely the opposite when it comes to Marcus Rashford, however.
The striker has been in and out of the Manchester United and England sides this season, producing the goods for both while yet to nail down a starting place in either.
He was involved in all three goals against Slovakia, caught in possession for the visitors’ opener, swinging over the corner from which Eric Dier equalised and then hitting a superb long-range winner after the break from a Jordan Henderson pass.
He’s also scored 13 FPL points from a goal and an assist for United, but had to come from the bench for his strike against Leicester City in Gameweek 3.
And therein lies the problem – Rashford can’t be entirely trusted for enough starts to make selecting him in our squads ahead of his team-mate Romelu Lukaku a decision worth making. Not with rival Anthony Martial (two goals, one assist) offering fierce competition for the role on the left.
He certainly brings home the bacon among strikers in the mid-priced bracket. Only Javier Hernandez (7.1) has more points than the 7.5-priced Rashford, the Mexican winning that duel 16-13.
United’s excellent early schedule continues for the next four Gameweeks, with trips to Stoke City and Southampton and visits from Everton and Crystal Palace.
Rashford will no doubt be involved in much of those matches, as he has been in the Red Devils’ first three – his nine attempts from just 178 minutes of pitch-time is bettered only by Lukaku and Harry Kane up front.
Whether that’s enough to promote further investment in the 5.4%-owned asset remains doubtful.
He has the form and fixtures to be a major differential, but only if he is given the time to prove it.
Baggies’ pair in the goals
West Brom’s Jonny Evans continued his return from injury by netting the opening goal in Northern Ireland’s impressive 2-0 home win over the Czech Republic.
The centre-half experienced a singular summer of hamstring issues and big money bids from Manchester City, among others. But he played 90 minutes against San Marino on Friday and did the same last night as he steps up his match fitness ahead of Gameweek 4.
Evans’ return to fitness could now be ominous for Allan Nyom in the Baggies’ back-four.
The versatile Craig Dawson has partnered Ahmed Hegazi in at centre-half for Tony Pulis’ side until this point, but the former is expected to return to his usual right-back berth, placing Nyom’s security of starts in doubt.
Nyom could also be moved to the left-back berth, though, which could see Chris Brunt, who also scored for Northern Ireland last night, switched into a midfield berth out wide. Yet there’s strong competition on the left of defence, too, in light of the arrival of Kieran Gibbs from Arsenal.
Hegazi is currently the most signed FPL asset since Gameweek 1 with over 926,000 transfers in. The Egyptian could be a scapegoat following his error for Stoke City’s goal in Gameweek 3 but, having impressed to that point, he would seem secure for now.
But Gareth McAuley can put more pressure on that situation and local press reports today indicated that he has now returned to training ahead of the weekend trip to Brighton.
West Brom managed a measly seven clean sheets last year, but have started this season with two in three matches.
And they have a decent enough schedule all the way through to the year’s final international break in early November, with a trip to Arsenal and a visit from Man City the biggest tests ahead.
Christian leaves digital Dele in the lurch
We spent most of last season trying to choose between Spurs midfielders Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli.
It’s been the same at the start of this campaign, but if our decision was entirely down to how they’ve come through the September international break, the Dane wins it hands down.
Eriksen, owned by 21.8%, followed up a goal and two assists in Friday’s 4-0 win over Poland with a superb set-piece strike and another assist as Denmark brushed aside Armenia 4-1 last night, Man United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan playing the full 90 minutes for the hosts.
Alli, meanwhile, had to make do with a single assist in the 4-0 win in Malta before grabbing the attention in the 2-1 victory over Slovakia more for his one-finger gesture – supposedly directed at former team-mate Kyle Walker – than anything he did with his feet.
The England man (9.5) is owned by a chunky 34.9% and comes in at 0.1 cheaper than Eriksen, who is currently outscoring Alli by three points, courtesy of three assists and five bonus compared to two goals and two bonus.
A tricky trip to Everton awaits Spurs this weekend, but after that, they’ll host Swansea City and Bournemouth and travel to West Ham and Huddersfield before things turn nasty from Gameweek 9.
Should the authorities feel the need to punish Alli for his digital indiscretion, any potential ban would apply to international matches only.
That would be ironic given that Alli is already suspended from Champions League action and Spurs’ first three ties.
That actually improves his stock as a Fantasy asset, with Alli unlikely to lose minutes around European ties. Eriksen, meanwhile, may be sacrificed for the final minutes of matches around those encounters, with fatigue from the midweek fixtures more of a factor.
Elsewhere…
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil produced a goal and an assist for Germany in a 6-0 destruction of Norway in which new Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger played the full 90 minutes.
West Brom midfielder James Morrison grabbed an assist for Scotland as they overcame Malta 2-0, while Burnley striker Chris Wood was rested as New Zealand completed an 8-3 aggregate win over the Solomon Islands which puts the All Whites into an intercontinental play-off for a place at Russia 2018.
Wood was allowed to return to his new club early having scored a hat-trick in the first leg.
