Our look back at the assorted fixtures played over the international break continues with the matches contested on Sunday.
We’ve gone over every pertinent game, be it a Nations League encounter, African Cup of Nations qualifier or friendly, to discuss any talking points from a Fantasy Premier League perspective.
That includes how many minutes, goals and assists the various FPL assets have registered and, perhaps most importantly, whether any injuries have been picked up.
Denmark 2-0 Wales
- Kasper Schmeichel (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
- Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen (£4.5m) – 90 minutes
- Christian Eriksen (£9.4m) – 90 minutes
- Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m) – 90 minutes
- Ben Davies (£5.8m) – 90 minutes
- Aaron Ramsey (£7.4m) – 90 minutes
- David Brooks (£5.0m) – 31 minutes
- Ethan Ampadu (£4.4m) – 71 minutes
Without a Premier League goal to his name this season, Christian Eriksen scored twice for his country as Denmark saw off Wales 2-0 in a UEFA Nations League encounter in Aarhus.
One of the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder’s goals came from the spot after Chelsea youngster Ethan Ampadu had handled the ball in the Welsh penalty box just after the hour mark.
Eriksen had opened the scoring in the first half with a low shot that beat Wayne Hennessey and went in off the Crystal Palace goalkeeper’s right-hand post.
Though the Spurs star’s goals will pique the interest of the circa 10% of FPL managers who own him, the post-match comments of Denmark’s head coach Age Hareide highlighted Eriksen’s slightly more advanced role in the national side:
Our style of play in between the lines suits Christian a lot.
There’s a different positioning in the offensive play in our team to Tottenham’s and we are always looking for him in and around the box.
Eriksen has fewer penalty box touches (ten) than both Lucas Moura (18) and Dele Alli (25) in the league this season, by way of contrast.
Denmark were back to full strength after their squad was caught up in a commercial rights dispute last week, which led to a motley crew of lower-league footballers and futsal players turning out for the Danes in a 3-0 defeat to Slovakia.
Kasper Schmeichel and Zanka played the full 90 minutes in Denmark on Sunday, with Jonas Lossl, Andreas Christensen and Jannik Vestergaard all unused substitutes for the hosts.
Aaron Ramsey completed 90 minutes for the second time over the international break, with Ben Davies and Hennessey also lasting the course in the Nations League encounter in Aarhus. Davies has now played 171 minutes of international football in the last week, though will at least return to north London in plenty of time before Spurs’ match against Liverpool this Saturday. His rival for the left-back spot at club level, Danny Rose, will be in action for England on Tuesday evening and could well start for the Three Lions in Luke Shaw’s absence.
Ampadu, so impressive in the 4-1 win over the Republic of Ireland last week, was withdrawn on 71 minutes.
Danny Ward, Paul Dummett and Sam Vokes watched the defeat in Scandinavia from the bench, though Bournemouth winger David Brooks did get just over half an hour as a substitute having played the full 90 minutes against the Irish.
France 2-1 The Netherlands
- Benjamin Mendy (£6.4m) – 28 minutes
- Paul Pogba (£8.2m) – 90 minutes
- N’Golo Kante (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
- Olivier Giroud (£7.8m) – 89 minutes
- Daryl Janmaat (£5.0m) – 8 minutes
- Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m) – 90 minutes
- Georginio Wijnaldum (£5.5m) – 90 minutes
- Davy Pröpper (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
With five assists to his name already at club level in 2018/19, Benjamin Mendy was the creator of France’s winning goal as Les Bleus ran out 2-1 winners against The Netherlands in Paris.
The Manchester City left-back acknowledged his huge Fantasy following in a Tweet on Monday:
Mendy’s defensive contribution was less positive, being pulled out of position and skinned by Dutch full-back Kenny Tete, who crossed for Ryan Babel to equalise on 66 minutes.
More crucially for his owners in FPL, though, Mendy (who was introduced as a 62nd-minute substitute in this match) has played less than half an hour for his country during the international break and will return to Manchester in good time for City’s meeting with Fulham at the Etihad on Saturday.
N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba, however, completed their second successive 90 minutes in the French midfield following the World Cup winners’ 0-0 draw with Germany last Thursday.
Kante, who has been afforded a license to attack in Maurizio Sarri’s 4-3-3 system this season, was stationed in a more typically defensive role alongside Pogba in the double-pivot. The Manchester United midfielder was in the thick of the action, registering more touches than anyone else on the field.
Hugo Lloris‘ thigh injury kept him out of France’s Nations League double-header over the last week, but Spurs are hopeful of his return to fitness ahead of the visit of Liverpool in Gameweek 5.
Olivier Giroud, who has yet to start a league match for Chelsea this season, broke a ten-game goal drought for his national side by volleying home Mendy’s cross on 74 minutes.
Georginio Wijnaldum (who missed a glorious chance to level the scores up just before Babel’s equaliser) and Davy Propper played the full match after only featuring for 45 minutes in the 2-1 win over Peru last Thursday, while Virgil van Dijk completed his second consecutive 90 minutes for the Dutch at the heart of the defence.
Daryl Janmaat made a brief cameo off the bench – as he did against Peru – but Patrick van Aanholt and Nathan Ake were both unused substitutes in the defeat to France.
Madagascar 2-2 Senegal
- Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.8m)
- Sadio Mane (£10.0m) – 90 minutes
A fatal stampede that left at least one person dead marred the African Cup of Nations qualifier between Madagascar and Senegal, a match that Sadio Mane played the entirety of.
The Liverpool man was not among the goals for once, but reportedly came through the match unscathed and will now return to Merseyside – this being Senegal’s only fixture of the international break – in plenty of time for the match against Spurs on Saturday lunchtime.
While team-mate Roberto Firmino faces a dash back from Brazil after playing in the early hours of Wednesday, Mane’s owners and indeed Jurgen Klopp will be confident of the in-form Senegalese midfielder’s involvement in north London in Gameweek 5 given the generous period of time he has to recover from his exertions on an atrocious pitch in Madagascar and the tragic crush that preceded the game.
Cheikhou Kouyate also played for the Lions of Teranga in this match, captaining his nation and lining up in the double-pivot behind Mane.
Germany 2-1 Peru
- Antonio Rüdiger (£6.0m) – 45 minutes
- Ilkay Gündogan (£5.5m) – 84 minutes
Leroy Sane has still yet to start a match in 2018/19 after missing the Sunday night win over Peru to attend the birth of his child.
Sane has played only 37 minutes for club and country from Gameweek 1 of this season onwards, though will surely feature more prominently over the coming month given City’s congested fixture list.
“Personal reasons” were cited for Sane’s exit from the Germany squad on Friday, but the out-of-favour City winger quelled rumours of a bust-up at the weekend by confirming that his partner had given birth.
Sane’s team-mate Ilkay Gundogan played 84 minutes of his country’s 2-1 victory over the South American nation, while Antonio Rudiger came on at half-time for Jerome Boateng in the heart of the Germany defence.
Bulgaria 1-0 Norway
- Stefan Johansen (£5.3m) – 62 minutes
- Mohamed Elyounoussi (£6.4m) – 90 minutes
- Josh King (£6.4m) – 90 minutes
- Alexander Sorloth (£5.0m) – 45 minutes
Ten-man Norway were beaten by Bulgaria in Sofia on Sunday, with all four of their Premier League-based players getting pitch-time.
Stefan Johansen started, as he did in the 2-0 win over Cyprus last Thursday, on the opposite flank to Mohamed Elyounoussi, with Josh King part of the two-man attack.
King was joined up front in the second 45 minutes by Alexander Sorloth, who replaced Bjorn Johnsen at half-time.
King and Elyounoussi have played 180 minutes over the international break, though Johansen was twice replaced midway through the second half.
With Tom Cairney still an injury doubt for Fulham, Johansen is an option to fill the Scottish midfielder’s creative central midfield role with the Cottagers – though Slavisa Jokanovic opted for the steel of Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa in the middle against Brighton and may do so again when his side visit the Etihad this Saturday.
Macedonia 2-0 Armenia
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£7.2m) – 90 minutes
Henrikh Mkhitaryan captained his country as Armenia slipped to a dismal 2-0 defeat to Macedonia in their UEFA Nations League encounter on Sunday.
The Arsenal midfielder has played 180 minutes over the international break, which may come into Unai Emery’s consideration for the trip to Newcastle United this weekend. Mesut Ozil, who lined up on the right flank in the 3-2 win over Cardiff City, will have had a fortnight off by the time the Gunners head north to Tyneside.
Mkhitaryan will, at least, return to London in plenty of time before the Gameweek 5 encounter against the Magpies.
Ukraine 1-0 Slovakia
- Oleksandr Zinchenko (£4.9m) – 19 minutes
- Andriy Yarmolenko (£6.8m) – 90 minutes
- Martin Dubravka (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
Still yet to start a league fixture for West Ham United this season despite his club’s ongoing struggles, Andriy Yarmolenko was Ukraine’s match-winner in the UEFA Nations League meeting with Slovakia and lasted 90 minutes of the encounter in Lviv.
Yarmolenko scored the decisive spot-kick with ten minutes of the match remaining, though Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka got a decent glove on the ball and almost kept the Hammers’ winger’s effort out.
That was Yarmolenko’s 36th goal in 79 international appearances, though the Ukrainian midfielder has played little over 100 league minutes for his new club this season and is yet to deliver an attacking return.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was introduced as a substitute in the last 20 minutes.
US Virgin Islands 0-8 Canada
- Junior Hoilett (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
Junior Hoilett surely won’t play in an easier match this season as the Canadian national team put eight goals past the US Virgin Islands, ranked 199th in the world, in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier.
The Cardiff City winger tapped in Canada’s sixth goal and set up a further two strikes as he played the full 90 minutes of the mismatched encounter in Florida.
South Sudan 0-3 Mali
- Yves Bissouma (£4.9m) – 6 minutes
Brighton’s Yves Bissouma was a late second-half substitute for Mali as his country breezed past South Sudan in an African Cup of Nations qualifier.
Bissouma now returns to the Seagulls a full week before their Gameweek 5 encounter with Southampton next Monday and could possibly be in line to take the place of Pascal Gross, given that Chris Hughton’s side are on the road and the German schemer was dropped to the bench for Brighton’s previous away match at Liverpool.
Guinea 1-0 Central African Republic
- Naby Keita (£7.4m)
- Ibrahima Cisse (£4.5m)
Little is known about the African Cup of Nations qualifier between Guinea and the Central African Republic, with detail thin on the ground even on the FIFA and CAF websites. Naby Keita and Fulham’s Ibrahima Cisse both started the match for the hosts, though.
With this being the only match of the international break for Guinea, the pair will now return to their clubs in plenty of time ahead of their respective Gameweek 5 encounters on Saturday.
Togo 0-0 Benin
- Steve Mounie (£6.0m) – 90 minutes
Huddersfield Town striker Steve Mounie lasted the full match in Togo as his Benin side came away from the African Cup of Nations qualifier with a point.
Mounie played as the spearhead of a 3-4-3 in a match of few chances.
Mounie has been preferred to Laurent Depoitre in each of the Terriers’ four league matches this season and next faces a Crystal Palace team that he scored against on two occasions in 2017/18.
Rwanda 1-2 Ivory Coast
- Eric Bailly (£5.4m) – 90 minutes
- Jean Michael Seri (£5.4m) – 90 minutes
- Serge Aurier (£5.9m) – 90 minutes
Serge Aurier and Eric Bailly both picked up yellow cards as Ivory Coast came away from their African Cup of Nations qualifier in Rwanda with three points.
The Spurs and Manchester United defenders were part of a backline that struggled against Rwanda’s aerial threat and conceded a second-half goal from one of the hosts’ many lofted deliveries.
Jean Michael Seri of Fulham also played the whole game in midfield.
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