Sunday’s international fixtures get the once-over as we round up the goals, assists, injuries and talking points concerning the Fantasy assets on show.
Andrew Robertson completed 90 minutes again for Scotland in their defeat to Portugal, who had previously released Bernardo Silva and Rui Patricio back to their clubs – the Wolves goalkeeper was reportedly withdrawn as a precaution with a very minor physical issue and it would appear his chances of featuring in Gameweek 9 are unaffected.
Helder Costa opened his account for Portugal in that win at Hampden Park, but there was a night of frustration in front of goal for Aleksandar Mitrovic in Romania.
We’ll be back later today with a summary of Friday and Saturday’s matches.
Scotland 1-3 Portugal
- Andrew Robertson (£6.3m) – 90 minutes
- Stuart Armstrong (£5.2m) – 77 minutes
- Kevin McDonald (£4.4m) – 13 minutes
- Cedric Soares (£4.4m) – 90 minutes
- Helder Costa (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
- Ruben Neves (£5.1m) – 0 minutes
There were a few notable absentees as Portugal defeated Scotland 3-1 in an international friendly at Hampden Park on Sunday evening.
Rui Patricio (£4.6m) and Bernardo Silva (£7.6m), who both started in Portugal’s 3-2 win over Poland last Thursday, had been allowed to return to their clubs ahead of the match in Glasgow so played no part in their country’s victory.
There has been no official word on the reason for their early exit, though the journalist Alex Goncalves suggested Patricio had been released as a precaution due to a minor “physical issue”.
Scotland, meanwhile, were without Robert Snodgrass (£5.4m) and Scott McTominay (£4.3m), who had both been allowed to return to West Ham United and Manchester United respectively with fitness issues of their own.
The pair have ankle and knee injuries, though neither problem is thought to be serious.
In the match itself, Andrew Robertson played his second successive 90 minutes for his national team and was back at left-back in a 4-4-2 after Alex McLeish had shelved the 3-5-2 system that looked unconvincing against Israel on Thursday.
That Robertson has played 180 minutes in four days may be of concern to his owners in FPL, though with Scotland playing on Sunday evening the Liverpool left-back has six days to recover from his international exertions ahead of the trip to Huddersfield Town next Saturday.
No player on show at Hampden fired in more crosses than Robertson, though only one of those deliveries led to a chance for a team-mate.
Robertson was directly up against Helder Costa on Portugal’s right flank and the Wolves winger got the better of the Liverpool full-back to prod home a low cross from Kevin Rodrigues. That was Costa’s first goal of the season, with the wide-man yet to even register an assist for his club in the top flight.
Costa’s Wolves team-mate, Ruben Neves, watched the entire match from the bench.
Southampton’s Stuart Armstrong started the game in central midfield and was replaced by Fulham’s Kevin McDonald with less than quarter of an hour remaining. Armstrong was reported to have picked up a calf injury in the second half, prompting his withdrawal.
Romania 0-0 Serbia
- Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.9m) – 90 minutes
It was a frustrating night for Aleksandar Mitrovic and Serbia, who failed to break down 10-man Romania in their UEFA Nations League encounter in Bucharest.
Mitrovic had five of Serbia’s 15 shots on goal and ought to have scored at least once, going within inches of breaking the deadlock in the first half and forcing goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu into an excellent save from a header after the interval.
The Fulham striker, who scored from the spot in the win over Montenegro last week, was forced to watch on as Dusan Tadic wasted his country’s best opportunity when skying a penalty just before the break.
Mitrovic’s evening to forget was compounded late on when he collected a booking for a foul in the 79th minute.
Poland 0-1 Italy
- Jan Bednarek (£3.9m) – 90 minutes
- Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) – 0 minutes
- Jorginho (£5.1m) – 90 minutes
- Emerson Palmieri (£5.2m) – 0 minutes
Jorginho was in an uncharacteristically attacking mood as Italy saw off Poland with a late Cristiano Biraghi winner.
The Brazil-born Chelsea midfielder – who has only registered four shots on goal in eight league starts for the Blues – had gone closest to opening the deadlock before that stoppage-time strike, hitting the bar from distance in the first minute of the match and forcing Wojciech Szczesny into a smart stop later in the first half.
Jorginho was deployed in his usual deep-lying midfield role, dictating play in the metronomic manner we have become accustomed to in the Premier League. The former Napoli man picked up a caution for a foul just after 30 minutes.
Jan Bednarek played the full match in a Polish back four that was forced to soak up a lot of Italian pressure, while Lukasz Fabianski was an unused substitute.
Emerson Palmieri was one of four players in the Italy camp who failed to make the 23-man squad for the clash in Chorzow.
Russia 2-0 Turkey
- Caglar Soyuncu (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
- Cenk Tosun (£6.7m) – 90 minutes
There were 90 minutes apiece for Caglar Soyuncu and Cenk Tosun, who finished on the losing side in Sochi.
Tosun had two attempts saved in the second half, while Soyuncu was prominent at set-piece situations and had earlier had an effort deflected wide from a corner-kick situation.
Both players will perhaps be back among the substitutes for their respective clubs in Gameweek 9, though Soyuncu might be preferred to Jonny Evans (£4.9m) at centre-back for Leicester City with Wes Morgan (£4.5m) serving a two-match suspension.
Israel 2-0 Albania
- Beram Kayal (£4.4m) – 90 minutes
There were 90 minutes for Brighton’s Israeli central midfielder, who came through their UEFA Nations League win over Albania unscathed – relief for Chris Hughton, who is sweating on the fitness of Davy Propper (£4.9m) and Dale Stephens (£4.4m) ahead of Gameweek 9.
If Kayal – who impressed in the Gameweek 8 match against West Ham – is to continue in the Brighton midfield, the Israel international could assume Stephens’ role for the Seagulls as an FPL bench fodder option over their forthcoming run of appealing fixtures.
The former Celtic man, who delivered an assist in the 1-0 win over the Hammers and another against Scotland last week, had two shots on goal in the victory over Albania last night.
Kenya 3-0 Ethiopia
- Victor Wanyama (£4.9m) – 73 minutes
There was a further injury scare for Spurs yesterday, though not one that will have any direct consequence for the vast majority of us FPL managers.
A mere 2,500 Fantasy bosses own Victor Wanyama, who was substituted with a hamstring injury not long after scoring Kenya’s third goal from the penalty spot.
Kenya coach Sebastian Migne said of his captain’s injury:
We were leading and he had done everything to take the team to the Afcon finals so I didn’t want to take chances. It was the right thing to do.
We have a great medical team, they will assess him further but I am yet to get their report, I hope it’s nothing serious.
The Standard reported this morning, however, that Wanyama looks set to be ready to face West Ham on Saturday despite the issue.
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