Jamie Vardy scores for an improving England, Paul Pogba will hope to reprise his French form in Manchester and there’s no rest for a popular Spurs asset on a hectic night of international action.
Leicester City striker Vardy managed not a single touch when fielded as a late sub in England’s win over the Netherlands on Friday, but he enjoyed much better service when starting against Italy last night.
He finished emphatically, from Jesse Lingard’s smart assist, as England held on to a deserved lead until VAR was used to confirm a late penalty for Italy, conceded by Burnley debutant James Tarkowski.
It was a touch harsh on both the player and the team, but Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers would have been more interested in Vardy’s sharpness as he vies for consideration in our late-season squads.
The forward is currently the fourth most purchased player ahead of Gameweek 32, with 91,000+ new owners – presumably many of them on a Wildcard – drafting him in for the Foxes’ favourable run-in.
Leicester travel to Brighton, host Newcastle and then play a double against Burnley (away) and home to Southampton before a Gameweek 35 blank.
They face a trip to Crystal Palace and entertain West Ham after that, with a visit from Arsenal expected to make up Double Gameweek 37 along with the Hammers’ encounter.
After breaking a two-match drought with a Gameweek 30 strike at West Brom, Vardy has scored five goals in the Foxes’ last seven league outings, with a 8.8 price tag persuading 20.1% of managers to back him for the run-in.
Lingard completed a fine international break with an assist to go with his goal against the Netherlands, while Raheem Sterling was a consistently lively performer in the 1-1 draw last night.
The Manchester City winger remains in 18.1% of FPL sides, but has lost more than a million owners since missing two matches from Gameweek 28 with a slight injury.
Based on his display against Italy, he’s fresh and on form, although many managers might wait until Man City complete a tricky three-match run (eve MUN tot) before considering him for the reduced Gameweek 35 clash at home to Swansea City and the attractive schedule (whu HUD sot) that follows. A home match with Brighton is anticipated to fall in Double Gameweek 37 alongside the visit from Huddersfield.
A potential Champions League semi-final, the fact that City might well have wrapped up the league title by the end of Gameweek 33 and Pep Guardiola’s well-documented taste for rotation could all count against Sterling, but that recent two-match mini-break might well persuade the coach to use his England man more than most.
One player barely used at all over the international break was Dele Alli. The Spurs man was reduced to a second-half cameo from the bench on Friday and didn’t manage even that last night, with Gareth Southgate admitting the midfielder was unable to finish training sessions due to a “small problem”.
Southgate again deployed a three-man defence for England, which meant another start for both John Stones and Kyle Walker at centre-half, while those managers with Spurs full-backs Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose in their teams won’t have been overly pleased to see their assets used for a second successive outing.
Trippier played 60 minutes before being replaced by his club-mate, and the pair also started England’s win over the Dutch.
That leaves Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino with a selection dilemma ahead of the Chelsea showdown as his other right-back, Serge Aurier, completed a second straight 90 minutes for the Ivory Coast in a 2-1 win over Moldova.
Man United centre-half Eric Bailly was also handed 180 minutes for the Ivorians over the international break.
Pogba bounces back
United’s schedule, as detailed in our first Notes this morning, is prompting plenty of interest from FPL managers.
Lingard’s good international break and his bargain basement 6.0 price tag should hand him some suitors, but Paul Pogba (7.8) has neither value nor form to promote him.
Until, that is, last night and France’s 3-1 win in Russia.
The United midfielder is enduring a troubled relationship with coach Jose Mourinho, but he reminded him – and the rest of us – of his potential with a goal and an assist in a fine 90-minute showing for Les Bleus.
It will take a Mourinho recall and a replication of that French form for Pogba to receive a boost to his 10.5% ownership – both occurrences that remain no more than a possibility for now.
All of France’s Premier League players got a run-out in Russia.
Hugo Lloris and Laurent Koscielny played the full match, N’Golo Kante (66 minutes) and Anthony Martial (58) also started, while Olivier Giroud came off the bench for the final 18 minutes.
No rest for Son
Harry Kane’s ankle injury and a burst of goal scoring form has triggered a surge in ownership for Spurs and Son Heung-min.
The midfielder – who is likely to play the lone striker role for the north London outfit until Kane returns – has four goals from the last two Gameweeks to confirm his attacking pedigree.
Small wonder, then, that Son is among the most popular purchases heading into Gameweek 32, with close to 100,000 new managers taking his ownership beyond 15%.
A tricky trip to Chelsea on Sunday has been made harder by his international workload, however.
He played 75 minutes in South Korea’s loss in Northern Ireland on Saturday and followed that up with the full 90 in last night’s 3-2 defeat in Poland.
The hosts were 2-0 up and cruising, only for the visitors to strike twice in the last five minutes, with Son providing an assist for the first goal, before a 90+2 winner sealed the win for the Europeans.
Swansea City’s Ki Sung-yueng played 80 minutes for South Korea, while his club-mate Lukasz Fabianski sat it out on the bench for the Poles, as did West Brom midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak.
Elsewhere…
Krychowiak’s Baggies team-mate Matt Phillips scored the winner for Scotland in a 1-0 victory in Hungary.
It was the midfielder’s first international goal in a fine 84-minute performance, with Andrew Robertson (67 minutes) and Ryan Fraser (82) also among the Scottish starters. Reports earlier today suggest that Robertson – who is the most bought defender for Gameweek 32- will be assessed after resportedly sustaining a minor knock.
Victor Moses, Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi all started for Nigeria in their 0-2 loss at home to Serbia.
The Chelsea wing-back played the first half, while the latter pair were handed 85 and 88 minutes respectively.
Nemanja Matic, Dusan Tadic and Luka Milivojevic were Serbian starters. The Man United midfielder played 65 minutes, the others 90 each, although Tadic was taken off in stoppage time.
Marko Arnautovic’s fruitful time with Austria concluded with a third goal of the international break in a 4-0 win in Luxembourg.
The West Ham man opened the scoring and set up another in a busy 68 minutes of action.
Aleksandar Dragovic, Sebastian Prodl and Moritz Bauer all played the full match for the Austrians.
Granit Xhaka was one of the many among the goals for Switzerland in their 6-0 demolition of Panama.
The Arsenal midfielder played 69 minutes and converted a first-half penalty to make it 2-0 on the night as the Swiss made do without their star man Xherdan Shaqiri, who stayed at Stoke City with a calf issue, in fine style.
David Ospina played the full 90 minutes, but Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez stayed on the bench, as Colombia drew 0-0 with Australia at Craven Cottage.
Brighton stopper Mat Ryan was another to watch from the sidelines, a fate that also befell Sweden trio Victor Lindelof, Martin Olsson and Kristoffer Nordfeldt in their country’s 1-0 defeat in Romania.
Cenk Tosun blanked in a 76-minute performance as Turkey blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 in Montenegro, while Oleksandr Zinchenko played 80 minutes of Ukraine’s 2-1 win over Japan in a friendly held in Belgium.
Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan started and finished Armenia’s 1-0 home loss to Lithuania, Southampton’s Sofiane Boufal played the second half of Morocco’s 2-0 win over Uzbekistan and Riyad Mahrez was given 68 minutes as Algeria lost 2-1 in Iran, with Newcastle loan signing Islam Slimani confirming his return to fitness with a 27-minute appearance from the bench.
Liverpool’s bit-part defender Ragnar Klavan played the full match as Estonia lost 2-0 in Georgia, Leicester City centre-half Yohan Benalouane came on in stoppage time of Tunisia’s 1-0 win over Costa Rica and Newcastle’s DeAndre Yedlin got 90 minutes under his belt for the USA as they beat Paraguay 1-0 in California.
Burnley midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson played 73 minutes for Iceland in their 3-1 defeat by Peru, with Watford’s Andre Carrillo handed the full 90 of a match played in New Jersey.
Further south, in Texas, Chicharito earned his 100th cap for Mexico and played the full match as his country lost 1-0 to Croatia.
