We bring you up to speed with the remaining international matches contested on Sunday with this round-up of the goals, assists, minutes played and injury news concerning the Fantasy players involved.
Part one of our look back at yesterday’s fixtures can be found here.
Switzerland 5-2 Belgium
- Granit Xhaka (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
- Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m) – 90 minutes
- Fabian Schar (£4.6m) – 0 minutes
- Toby Alderweireld (£5.9m) – 90 minutes
- Vincent Kompany (£5.2m)- 90 minutes
- Eden Hazard (£11.3m) – 90 minutes
- Divock Origi (£5.0m) – 1 minute
- Romelu Lukaku (£10.7m) – 0 minutes
- Leander Dendoncker (£4.3m) – 0 minutes
- Simon Mignolet (£4.8m) – 0 minutes
- Christian Kabasele (£4.5m) – 0 minutes
Xherdan Shaqiri inspired Switzerland to a remarkable comeback and a win that sealed their place in next summer’s UEFA Europa League semi-finals.
Trailing to two early Thorgen Hazard strikes, the Swiss needed to score at least four times in order to qualify but rattled five goals past Thibaut Courtois to eliminate Roberto Martinez’s side from the competition.
While Haris Seferovic was the headline-grabber with his hat-trick, Shaqiri was the orchestrator of much of what Switzerland did well.
Shaqiri’s beautifully cushioned headed pass set up Seferovic for his first of the night, before the Liverpool midfielder’s teasing cross was nodded home by Nico Elvedi to put the hosts 4-2 up.
Shaqiri also had a big hand in Switzerland’s fifth strike, his superb back-heeled pass giving Kevin Mbabu the time to pick out Seferovic for his hat-trick goal.
No Swiss player on show made more key passes than Shaqiri on Sunday (four).
The result didn’t reflect well on Toby Alderweireld and Vincent Kompany (or rather, Martinez’s ability to organise a defence), both of whom played 90 minutes at the heart of the Belgian backline and who were positionally suspect for more than one of Switzerland’s goals.
That Eden Hazard lasted the full match just three days after playing 75 minutes in the win over Iceland might be of some concern to his Fantasy owners, though the Chelsea star at least has six days to recover before the Blues are next in action.
Hazard had four attempts on goal, with the closest he came to scoring being an 86th-minute effort that Yann Sommer tipped onto the bar.
Romelu Lukaku was once again absent from Martinez’s match-day squad, with the Belgian FA reporting that a hamstring injury continues to plague the Manchester United striker.
Granit Xhaka had a 90-minute run-out in central midfield, while Christian Kabasele, Simon Mignolet and Leander Dendoncker all watched the match from the bench.
Divock Origi made the briefest of cameos as a late substitute, while Newcastle United’s Fabian Schar missed out through suspension.
Guinea 1-1 Cote d’Ivoire
- Naby Keita (£7.2m) – 90 minutes
- Ibrahima Cisse (£4.4m) – 0 minutes
- Serge Aurier (£5.8m) – 90 minutes
- Jean Michael Seri (£5.3m) – 90 minutes
- Eric Bailly (£5.1m) – 0 minutes
Jean Michael Seri scored Cote d’Ivoire’s equalising goal as the Elephants and Guinea played out a 1-1 draw, a result that saw both nations qualify for next summer’s African Cup of Nations.
Seri prodded home after Serge Aurier had rescued an overhit cross. The Spurs right-back played the whole match and will now return to north London, with this being Cote d’Ivoire’s only fixture of the international break.
With uncertainty surrounding Kieran Trippier‘s (£6.2m) availability for Gameweek 13 and beyond, Aurier’s services might well be required by Spurs in the London derby against Chelsea this Saturday.
Naby Keita, who hasn’t started a Liverpool league match since Gameweek 8, also lasted the course and almost got on the scoresheet in the second half when bundling his way into the Ivorian penalty box, only for the ball to be hooked away as it bobbled towards goal.
Fulham’s Ibrahima Cisse was on the bench the hosts.
Eric Bailly missed out for Cote d’Ivoire, with the Manchester Evening News reporting that the United defender picked up an injury in training.
Togo 1-4 Algeria
- Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) – 90 minutes
- Floyd Ayite (£4.3m) – 90 minutes
Riyad Mahrez scored two first-half goals as Algeria booked their place at the 2019 African Cup of Nations with a comprehensive victory in Togo.
Mahrez pounced on 13 minutes when Togo goalkeeper Sabirou Bassa-Djeri came off his line to stop an Algerian attack, only for the Manchester City midfielder to lob the hosts’ custodian and a backtracking defender to open the scoring.
Mahrez then scored his second and Algeria’s third on the half-hour mark, lashing home a near-post finish after a swift break from the visitors.
The former Leicester City player now returns to Manchester in plenty of time for Gameweek 13, with this being Algeria’s only fixture of the international break.
Whether his game-time will be indirectly affected by Benjamin Mendy‘s (£6.4m) injury remains to be seen, with Leroy Sane (£9.2m) occupying one of the wide roles in all three Premier League matches the last time the French left-back was sidelined.
Floyd Ayite played the full game for Togo, meanwhile.
Ethiopia 0-2 Ghana
- Christian Atsu (£5.1m) – 69 minutes
- Jordan Ayew (£5.7m) – 87 minutes
Jordan Ayew, without a Premier League goal this season despite having started seven of Crystal Palace’s last nine top-flight matches up front, scored a brace in Ghana’s 2-0 win over Ethiopia.
Ayew opened the scoring with a cool, side-footed finish on three minutes and then doubled the Black Stars’ lead 20 minutes later from the penalty spot.
Christian Atsu played three-quarters of what was Ghana’s only match of the November international break.
Round-up
Ruben Vinagre (£4.3m), who stands to benefit from Jonny‘s (£4.5m) six-week absence for Wolves, played the first hour of Portugal under-20’s 2-1 win over Slovakia last night.
Domingos Quina (£4.3m) came off after only 15 minutes of that match and news is awaited on any possible injury news affecting the Watford midfielder.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (£5.1m) played the whole 90 minutes as Greece slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Estonia in the UEFA Nations League.
The Arsenal stopper, who was booked in this match, had the chance to open the scoring on 21 minutes but saw his shot from inside the Estonian box saved.
Junior Hoilett (£5.1m) “assisted the assister” and played 69 minutes of Canada’s 1-0 win over Saint Kitts and Nevis in the CONCACAF Nations League.
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5 years, 5 months agoAnyone going uber cheap at the back?
Pereira(bha) - Dunk(LEI) - Vinegre(HUD)
Need Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City to concede 😀