We continue to scrutinise the international fixtures involving Fantasy Premier League assets with this look at Monday night’s matches.
Over half of the FPL players in action yesterday evening were present in Seville, as England produced a smash-and-grab performance to register a 3-2 victory over Spain.
Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane all delivered attacking returns as England tore apart a Spanish defence containing Marcos Alonso and Jonny Otto in an astonishing first half, before Gareth Southgate’s side were forced to dig deep after the break.
Sokratis is an injury doubt for Arsenal after being substituted with an ankle injury while playing for Greece, while Xherdan Shaqiri registered an assist in Switzerland’s 2-1 win over Iceland.
READ MORE: Which FPL assets are on international duty this week and when.
Spain 2-3 England
- Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
- Kieran Trippier (£6.3m) – 85 minutes
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.2m) – 5 minutes
- Joe Gomez (£5.1m) – 90 minutes
- Harry Maguire (£5.5m) – 90 minutes
- Ben Chilwell (£5.0m) – 90 minutes
- Harry Winks (£5.5m) – 90 minutes
- Nathaniel Chalobah (£4.5m) – 1 minute
- Eric Dier (£4.8m) – 90 minutes
- Ross Barkley (£5.7m) – 76 minutes
- Kyle Walker (£6.6m) – 14 minutes
- Raheem Sterling (£11.1m) – 90 minutes
- Harry Kane (£12.5m) – 90 minutes
- Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) – 90 minutes
- Lewis Dunk (£4.4m) – 0 minutes
- James Maddison (£6.9m) – 0 minutes
- Marcus Bettinelli (£4.4m) – 0 minutes
- David de Gea (£5.9m) – 90 minutes
- Jonny (£4.5m) – 90 minutes
- Marcos Alonso (£7.0m) – 90 minutes
- Alvaro Morata (£8.7m) – 18 minutes
- Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.4m) – 0 minutes
- Kepa Arrizabalaga (£5.5m) – 0 minutes
Those Fantasy bosses considering a move for Raheem Sterling ahead of Manchester City’s hugely appealing home fixture against Burnley this Saturday would have been further encouraged by the England winger’s brace in the 3-2 victory over Spain on Monday evening.
Lining up on the right side of a front three in a 4-3-3 formation, as he has done for City on countless occasions, Sterling looked far happier in Gareth Southgate’s new system than he had in a 3-5-2 at the World Cup and ended his three-year, 27-match international goal drought after 16 minutes of the UEFA Nations League encounter in Seville.
The confidence that Sterling displayed in lashing home England’s opener underscored his current form in front of goal; the City winger latching onto Marcus Rashford‘s excellent pass to fire past David de Gea in a finish reminiscent of Michael Owen’s strike against Argentina in 1998.
Sterling capped off England’s victory with a trademark tap-in from inside the six-yard box after a cut-back from Harry Kane.
The record will show that Kane has now gone seven England games without a goal but the Spurs striker was integral to the Three Lions’ success, also registering the assist for Rashford’s goal with a superb through-ball for the Manchester United forward.
Kane’s hold-up play, movement and defensive work were exemplary throughout, though of course, that will be of little interest to his Fantasy owners whose primary concern is his goal threat. Once again, Kane flattered to deceive on that front, with his only shot being a blocked effort shortly before Sterling’s second goal.
Kane’s performance was almost Olivier Giroud-esque (in the nicest possible way), with Rashford and Sterling the beneficiaries of his selfless display up top and the space left behind when Kane dropped deep.
While the steely Eric Dier was perhaps the pick of England’s midfield three, Ross Barkley and Harry Winks put in tidy displays, with the Chelsea midfielder’s vision key to his country’s third goal.
Joe Gomez, whose first-team place is far from assured at Liverpool in the medium term with Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip back to fitness, delivered an excellent performance at centre-back alongside Harry Maguire, who would have worried his FPL owners by picking up a knock midway through the second half – the Leicester centre-back shook off that “injury” though to finish the match without any apparent discomfort.
Ben Chilwell and Kieran Trippier had to call upon their defensive attributes in a backs-to-the-wall second-half display but both excelled at full-back, with the Spurs right-back displacing his former team-mate Kyle Walker from the starting XI.
Jordan Pickford‘s distribution was key to two of England’s goals, though as with any ball-playing shot-stopper, the Everton goalkeeper had a nervy moment or two last night – including one incident in which he was lucky to avoid a red card and concede a penalty for a tug on Rodrigo Moreno.
For Spain, Marcos Alonso and Jonny were as culpable as the two centre-halves between them as England’s dovetailing frontline repeatedly pulled the Spanish back four out of position.
Doubts have always been there about the defensive side to Alonso’s game, though the Chelsea left-back at least gave heart to his Fantasy owners by getting forward to join the Spanish attack, firing three shots wide and creating as many chances for his team-mates. Jonny also recorded a hat-trick of key passes, with the two full-backs racking up 15 crosses between them.
De Gea, meanwhile, conceded from every one of the shots on target he was faced with but could hardly be blamed for any of the goals.
Alvaro Morata was handed a brief cameo off the bench, but his Chelsea team-mates Cesar Azpilicueta and Kepa Arrizabalaga remained unused substitutes.
For England, John Stones and Jordan Henderson (both £5.3m) sat out the game through suspension, while Danny Welbeck (£6.5m), Alex McCarthy (£4.5m), Danny Rose (£5.9m), James Tarkowski (£5.0m) and Luke Shaw (£5.1m) had all pulled out of Gareth Southgate’s squad last week.
Finland 2-0 Greece
- Sokratis Papasthopoulos (£5.2m) – 45 minutes
Arsenal may have an injury concern at centre-half for next Monday’s meeting with Leicester City after Sokratis was taken off at half-time of Greece’s 2-0 defeat to Finland with an apparent ankle injury.
No word on the Arsenal stopper’s sprain has been forthcoming from the club, but reports in the media suggest the Greek international is a doubt for the Gameweek 9 encounter with the Foxes.
Rob Holding (£4.4m) and Shkodran Mustafi (£5.4m), then, could be set to continue at the heart of the Gunners’ defence for the visit of Claude Puel’s side.
Iceland 1-2 Switzerland
- Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£6.0m) – 90 minutes
- Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m) – 90 minutes
- Granit Xhaka (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
- Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m) – 90 minutes
- Fabian Schar (£4.7m) – 90 minutes
- Florent Hadergjonaj (£4.4m) – 0 minutes
Xherdan Shaqiri might be pressed into action this weekend if one (or both) of Sadio Mane (£9.9m) or Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) is ruled out with injury and the Swiss midfielder signed off his international week with an assist in his country’s 2-1 UEFA Nations League victory in Iceland.
Shaqiri was deployed as a “number 10” for Switzerland and was at the heart of his country’s play, on duty at set-piece situations and creating more chances than any other player on show in Reykjavik – one of which was a glorious opportunity that Mario Gavranovic spurned.
Shaqiri’s assist was somewhat fortuitous – the Liverpool midfielder’s flicked, back-heeled shot finding its way instead to Michael Lang, who fired home from close range.
Granit Xhaka collected the assist for Switzerland’s opener, a cross that Haris Seferovic nodded in.
Gylfi Sigurdsson wasn’t on the scoresheet but the Everton midfielder, who along with Paul Pogba has fired off more shots than any other FPL midfielder from Gameweek 5 onwards, was again not afraid to try his luck from distance, registering five attempts on goal.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson also played 90 minutes for the hosts, creating two chances for his team-mates.
Newcastle United’s Fabian Schar lasted the course for the Swiss, while Florent Hadergjonaj was an unused substitute.
Croatia 2-1 Jordan
- Dejan Lovren (£4.9m) – 45 minutes
Dejan Lovren played the first half of Croatia’s 2-1 friendly win over Jordan and was one of three players substituted at the interval, with no suggestion that the withdrawal was anything other than an opportunity for coach Zlatko Dalic to look at fringe players in his squad.
Mateo Kovacic (£5.9m), meanwhile, was one of several high-profile names given the night off by Dalic.
Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 Northern Ireland
- Craig Cathcart (£4.5m) – 90 minutes
- Jonny Evans (£4.9m) – 90 minutes
- Steven Davis (£4.7m) – 90 minutes
- Asmir Begovic (£4.5m) – 0 minutes
Three FPL assets with ownerships of 1% or less were in action in Sarajevo last night.
Craig Cathcart and Jonny Evans were Northern Ireland’s centre-back pairing for the 2-0 defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina and appeared to have come through the UEFA Nations League clash unscathed – good news for Watford and Leicester City who will both have centre-halves suspended for their respective Gameweek 9 fixtures.
Cathcart had a late header saved by Ibrahim Sehic, whose inclusion meant that Asmir Begovic sat out this match on the bench.
Southampton’s forgotten man Steven Davis also completed the full 90 minutes for the visitors.
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