All of the Fantasy Premier League players who travelled to the United Arab Emirates for the 2019 Asian Cup now look unlikely to feature in Gameweek 24.
Victories in the round of 16 for Iran, Japan and Australia mean the majority of assets currently away from their clubs will now be participating in this week’s quarter-finals.
We must wait on Son Heung-min (£8.6m) and his South Korea colleagues as they play their first knockout match on Tuesday afternoon, although we now know that Ki Sung-yeung (£4.7m) has already returned to Newcastle following a hamstring injury.
Iran 2-0 Oman
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£6.7m) was on the scoresheet for Iran as they beat Oman to progress to the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup.
It was his second consecutive start in the United Arab Emirates, having spent the first two matches of the tournament on the bench, a 5-0 win against Yemen and a 2-0 victory over Vietnam.
After featuring in a 0-0 draw with Iraq, he started on the right-wing against Oman, scoring the opening goal in the 32nd minute.
Having sustained a hamstring injury in November, missing most of that month and December for Brighton, Jahanbakhsh has been eased back into action with Iran.
In both of his appearances for Team Melli at the Asian Cup, he has been substituted just after the hour-mark, in the 63rd minute against Iraq and the 69th in the Oman win.
Given his performance in the last 16 meeting, he stands a decent chance of convincing manager Carlos Quieroz of starting him against China in the quarter-finals.
That meeting takes place on Thursday, January 24, which means an Iran defeat could potentially see Jahanbakhsh return to England in time to feature in Gameweek 24. That said, Gameweek 25 might be a more realistic return date for Brighton if the player requires some form of rest or break from his involvement in the Asian Cup.
A win for Iran would extend their stay in the United Arab Emirates, and put them into a January 28 semi-final, one day before the start of Gameweek 24.
Iran XI (4-4-1-1): Beiranvand; Mohammadi, Hosseini, Pouraliganji, Rezaeian; Taremi, Ebrahimi, Dejagah (Ghoddos 78′), Jahanbakhsh (Cheshmi 69′); Amiri; Azmoun (Shojaei 88′).
Japan 1-0 Saudi Arabia
Southampton centre-back Maya Yoshida (£4.1m) was a key player for Japan as they also advanced to the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup.
The Samurai Blue took a defence-first approach to see off a Saudi Arabia side that had 73% possession and more shots on target.
For that reason, manager Hajime Moriyasu will almost certainly select Yoshida once again in Thursday’s quarter-final meeting with Vietnam, the lowest ranked remaining side.
The Southampton man started Japan’s first two group stage games, a 3-2 win over Turkmenistan and 1-0 a victory against Oman, which secured their passage to the knockout stages with one match to spare.
Yoshida was then rested for the 2-1 defeat of Uzbekistan before earning a recall for the last 16.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United striker Yoshinori Muto (£5.6m) will now be suspended for the quarter-finals, picking up his second yellow card of the tournament against Saudi Arabia.
He has started two of the four games in the United Arab Emirates, appearing once as a substitute, and finding the net against Uzbekistan.
An unlikely defeat for Japan at the hands of Vietnam on Thursday could see Yoshida or Muto back in their respective folds for Gameweek 24, although, like Jahanbakhsh, a Gameweek 25 return would be more realistic.
If the Samurai Blue do what is expected of them and see of Vietnam, their semi-final would be on Monday, against the winners of China vs Iran.
Japan XI (4-4-2): Gonda; Nagatomo, Yoshida, Tomiyasu, H Sakai; Haraguchi, Endo, Shibasaki, Doan (Shiotani 89′); Muto (Kitagawa 90+2′), Minamino (Ito 77′).
Australia 0-0 Uzbekistan (4-2 on pens)
Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan (£4.4m) was the hero for Australia as they squeezed past Uzbekistan in a penalty shootout on Monday night.
The Socceroos had dominated the tie in normal and extra time, Ryan called upon sparingly. However, his outfield team-mates could not find a breakthrough, putting the onus on him to help them out in the shootout.
Despite having never saved a penalty at international level in 54 appearances, he produced two big stops to see Australia through to the quarter-finals. Aided by videos of Uzbekistan’s penalty history, he was able to save efforts from Islom Tukhtakhujaev and Marat Bikmaev.
“I just tried to let the instincts take over. With technology in this day and age, you try to take advantage of it and see if you can pick anything up from it. I think at the same time it would be a bit naive of the opposition to not understand that in the world we live in today, they probably know the oppositions are looking and it becomes a game of cat and mouse. So it cancels each other out at the end of the day. You just need a bit of luck as the goalkeeper with the decision you make, if you decide to go to one side or stay up the middle. You need a bit of luck that the shooter makes the same decision. Thankfully it happened twice today.” – Mat Ryan
Australia will now play hosts United Arab Emirates on Friday and even though they laboured to victory over Uzbekistan, they will remain favourites for that tie.
If they do suffer a shock defeat, a Gameweek 24 return to Brighton duties for Ryan could be an outside possibility but would be unlikely, their fixture against Fulham on Tuesday, January 29.
Meanwhile, Aaron Mooy (£5.1m) who was initially named in the Australia squad for the tournament, was unable to travel to the United Arab Emirates as a result of his long-term knee injury.
It appears the Huddersfield Town midfielder could be on course to hit his deadline of a return in late January, as he was spotted participating in a post-match training session at the John Smith’s Stadium after the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in Gameweek 23.
Australia XI (4-2-3-1): Ryan; Behich, Degenek, Sainsbury, Grant; Milligan, Irvine; Ikonomidis (Kruse 96′), Rogić (Luongo 111′), Mabil (Leckie 68′); MacLaren (Giannou 75′).
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