Mohamed Salah has returned to England following an injury sustained on international duty with Egypt.
The Liverpool midfielder remains a doubt for Gameweek 9 until we hear more from the physios at Melwood.
Meanwhile, in our latest round-up of international matches, there was a much-needed goal for Gabriel Jesus.
UEFA Nations League
Greece 1-0 Hungary
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (£5.2m) – 90 minutes
Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos got another 90 minutes and clean sheet under his belt as he aims to get back into the Arsenal first-team. He was absent for both Gameweek 7 and 8 but played a part in the 3-0 Europa League win over Qarabag earlier this month, scoring in the process. Sokratis continued his progress by keeping a clean sheet in a UEFA Nations League win with Greece on Friday.
Belgium 2-1 Switzerland
Vincent Kompany (£5.2m) – 90 minutes
Toby Alderweireld (£5.9m) – 90 minutes
Eden Hazard (£11.3m) – 90 minutes
Romelu Lukaku (£10.9m) – 90 minutes
Fabian Schär (£4.7m) – 90 minutes
Granit Xhaka (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m) – 90 minutes
Romelu Lukaku extended his remarkable scoring run for his country as he netted a brace in the Nations League against Switzerland. The Manchester United forward has scored five times for Belgium since the start of 2018/19. Lukaku clearly enjoys being part of the national set-up, and that may well rub off on him upon his return to club action. He found the net in his subsequent Premier League match the last time he struck for Belgium.
Eden Hazard also played 90 minutes for the Red Devils on Friday, and while he wasn’t directly involved in the scoring of either goal, he played a pivotal creative role.
Toby Alderweireld and Vincent Kompany lasted the duration of the match, although the latter has not featured in the Premier League since Gameweek 4.
Marouane Fellaini (£5.0m), Christian Kabasele (£4.5m) and Simon Mignolet (£4.8m) were unused substitutes for Belgium. Their next match is on Monday.
Meanwhile, there were 90-minute spells for Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka and Fabian Schär, while Huddersfield’s Florent Hadergjonaj (£4.4m) remained on the bench. The Swiss have another match on Tuesday, October 16.
Croatia 0-0 England
Dejan Lovren (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
Mateo Kovacic (£5.9m) – 90 minutes
Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
Ben Chilwell (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
Harry Maguire (£5.5m) – 90 minutes
John Stones (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
Kyle Walker (£6.6m) – 90 minutes
Ross Barkley (£5.7m) – 90 minutes
Eric Dier (£4.8m) – 90 minutes
Jordan Henderson (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) – 90 minutes
Harry Kane (£12.5m) – 90 minutes
Raheem Sterling (£11.1m) – 78 minutes
Several Fantasy Premier League options will come into Gameweek 9 with memories of a strange behind-closed-doors match against Croatia. England’s trip to Rijeka was a surreal one as a punishment levelled at the Croatian FA, for a swastika’s presence on the pitch in 2015, ensured this latest Nations League encounter was almost like a training session.
Tottenham pair Harry Kane and Eric Dier both hit the post while Marcus Rashford did not help his case for a starting berth for either club or country with two bad misses.
However, Ben Chilwell was strong defensively and, as he has done for Leicester, offered a lot going forward. It was his excellent first-half cross that nearly set up a goal for Raheem Sterling.
“Ben Chilwell was excellent. His use of the ball was good, and his defending was patient. He should be really pleased.” – Gareth Southgate
Meanwhile, Ross Barkley’s return to form earned him a place in the England starting XI although he was a little haphazard in midfield.
For the first time since 2009, we saw a player not based in this country don the Three Lions crest. 18-year-old Jadon Sancho, of Borussia Dortmund, came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Raheem Sterling.
Consequently, there were plenty of FPL options unused on England’s bench, including Kieran Trippier (£6.3m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.2m), Lewis Dunk (£4.4m), Joe Gomez (£5.1m), Harry Winks (£5.5m), Nathaniel Chalobah (£4.5m), James Maddison (£6.9m) and Marcus Bettinelli (£4.4m). Some of these may start against Spain on Monday.
Danny Rose (£5.9m) and Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) were both named in the squad initially. However, neither was involved against Croatia because of recent injuries.
Dejan Lovren and Mateo Kovacic both played 90 minutes for Croatia.
Austria 1-0 Northern Ireland
Sebastian Prödl (£4.2m) – 90 minutes
Marko Arnautovic (£7.0m) – 90 minutes
Craig Cathcart (£4.5m) – 90 minutes
Jonny Evans (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
Steven Davis (£4.7m) – 90 minutes
Marko Arnautovic played 90 minutes and got another goal as he turned out for Austria on Friday night. The West Ham forward came under some scrutiny after a blank in Gameweek 8. Manager Manuel Pellegrini denied suggestions that Arnautovic was playing with an injury, and that claim seems to have been backed up by his latest exploits on the international stage. His latest strike was his fifth in ten matches for club and country in 2018/19.
Arnautovic has now left the Austrian camp due to a pre-arranged agreement that he would only play the Nations League match, and not Tuesday’s friendly in Denmark. Sources in the media claim his withdrawal from the squad is not related to an injury.
Watford defender Sebastian Prödl is yet to play a Premier League minute this season but made a case for his inclusion with a clean sheet on Friday night. Kabasele’s substitution leaves the door open for another centre-back to come into the side, and it could be Prödl.
His colleague Craig Cathcart lined up alongside Leicester’s Jonny Evans for Northern Ireland while Steven Davis played in midfield.
AFCON Qualification
Algeria 2-0 Benin
Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) – 90 minutes
Steve Mounié (£5.8m) – 90 minutes
Manchester City midfielder Riyad Mahrez captained the Algerian outfit that saw Benin off by a 2-0 scoreline. His replacement at Leicester Rachid Ghezzal (£5.3m) was named among the substitutes.
Huddersfield’s Steven Mounié was on the losing side.
Cameroon 1-0 Malawi
André-Franck Zambo Anguissa (£4.4m) – 90 minutes
Fulham midfielder André-Franck Zambo Anguissa played the whole game as Cameroon beat Malawi 1-0. Brighton defender Gaetan Bong (£4.5m) missed out on the match with an injury but the Cameroon FA has not revealed the nature or extent of the knock.
Cote d’Ivoire 4-0 Central African Republic
Eric Bailly (£5.2m) – 90 minutes
Serge Aurier (£5.8m) – 90 minutes
Serge Aurier managed 90 minutes for his country to suggest that he is back to full fitness. That may put pressure on Kieran Trippier’s position monopoly on the right-back berth at Spurs. That and the injury to Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m), a defensive lynchpin for the north London side, may spell the end of Trippier’s time in our squads.
Manchester United defender Eric Bailly was on the scoresheet for the Ivory Coast on Friday night and will be hoping to get straight back into the side after being substituted in the first half against Newcastle.
Egypt 4-1 Swaziland
Mohamed Elneny (£4.3m) – 90 minutes
Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) – 88 minutes
It was a mixed night for Mohamed Salah as he scored and got injured in Egypt’s 4-1 win over Swaziland. The Liverpool midfielder has now returned to England for further assessment.
“Javier Aguirre [Egypt manager] has decided to let Mohamed Salah return to his club and not participate in the Swaziland match on Tuesday to give him more rest. During the previous match against Swaziland, Salah complained of stress in the musculoskeletal muscle. He was examined medically and radiation [an X-ray] was performed on the area of complaint after the game.” – Egyptian Football Association press release
Gabon 3-0 South Sudan
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.7m) – 90 minutes
Mario Lemina (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang captained the Gabon side that beat South Sudan 3-0. He did not score any of the goals.
Friendlies
Japan 3-0 Panama
After reclaiming his place in the Southampton starting line-up in Gameweek 8, Maya Yoshida (£4.2m) was an unused substitute for Japan in their win over Panama.
South Korea 2-1 Uruguay
Ki Sung-yeung (£4.7m) – 85 minutes
Son Heung-min (£8.3m) – 90 minutes
Lucas Torreira (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
Son Heung-min gave a strong indication that he is a player struggling for confidence right now. He is now without a goal in 18 matches for Spurs and missed a penalty for South Korea on Friday. His country actually emerged victorious despite the miss, but he was still upset not to have scored based on his post-match quotes.
“We played a great game as a team to win, but personally, I still have a lot of room for improvement. It hurt my pride to miss the penalty. I don’t think I’ll be taking any more penalties. The Panama match will be my last for the year, and I’d like to finish the season on a high note.” – Son Heung-min
Ki Sung-yeung played the whole match in central midfield, opposite Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira.
Saudi Arabia 0-2 Brazil
Ederson (£5.7m) – 90 minutes
Fabinho (£5.6m) – 90 minutes
Gabriel Jesus (£10.2m) – 72 minutes
Fred (£5.7m) – 45 minutes
Lucas Moura (£7.4m) – 45 minutes
Richarlison (£6.8m) – 18 minutes
Gabriel Jesus netted a much-needed goal as Brazil beat Saudi Arabia 2-0. It was the Manchester City striker’s third of the season having only netted in the EFL Cup win over Oxford last month and the 6-1 thrashing of Huddersfield in Gameweek 2. Jesus played 72 minutes of this match before being replaced by Richarlison, and may still be involved against Argentina on Tuesday, while Aguero continues to rest.
However, Fantasy managers in possession of Brazilian assets need not worry too much about late comebacks or jetlag as the Selecao are facing their fierce South American rivals in Saudi Arabian this week.
Fred and Lucas Moura both featured for 45 minutes on Friday while Liverpool midfielder Fabinho spent the whole game at right-back.
His club-mates Alisson (£5.6m) and Roberto Firmino (£9.3m) were among the unused substitutes.
Euro Under-21s Qualifiers
Denmark Under-21s 1-1 Poland Under-21s
Philip Billing (£4.5m) – 90 minutes
Huddersfield Town midfielder Philip Billing scored the only goal for his country’s Under-21s as they drew with Poland. That demonstrated once again his credentials as a £4.5m midfielder capable of finding the net from time to time after he scored in Gameweek 4.
Slovenia Under-21s 1-1 Bulgaria Under-21s
Jon Stankovic (£4.0m) – 90 minutes
Huddersfield’s Jon Stankovic has not played since Gameweek 2 but he registered a 90-minute performance for Slovenia’s youth side on Friday.
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