Just as Fantasy Premier League managers were starting to reach stability and were building some momentum in this season’s game, the pause button was hit for the September international break.
This period generally causes a variety of FPL problems, with surprise omissions, injuries and late return dates all responsible for potential headaches as Premier League players arrive back at their clubs from international duty.
So what’s the good news from the past couple of weeks and which players now look like they need to be transferred out of your team? We’ve got you covered!
The good news
We’ll start off with the good news. Joao Pedro (£5.7m) is the most transferred-in player for FPL Gameweek 4. There was promise of a proper break for the Brighton forward as he was initially left out of the latest Brazil squad. However, a late call-up did eventually see him jet off to South America.
Joao Pedro was an unused substitute in Brazil’s first game at home against Ecuador last Friday, then came through unscathed in a 45-minute performance away against Paraguay on Tuesday evening (early Wednesday UK time). He travelled straight back to the UK later on Wednesday, which should give him plenty of time to recover and be ready for the visit of Ipswich Town at 3pm on Saturday.
It’s always a risk to go early with transfers over the international break, but Liverpool’s Luis Diaz (£7.6m) came through Colombia’s two games unscathed, playing 180 minutes against Peru and Argentina across the break.
The scheduling of international matches was definitely kinder to FPL managers than we’ve seen in the past, with all fixtures wrapped up by Tuesday evening in the various time zones around the world.
In the past, we have seen South American players in international action into the early hours of a Thursday UK time, with subsequent late returns to their clubs leading to surprise appearances on the bench for assumed starters at the weekend, which has been the case for Diaz in the past.
News from the England camp that Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (£10.6m) and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) had returned to their clubs early to continue rehabilitation caused initial panic in the FPL community.
Reading between the lines, it seems like their clubs asked for them to not be part of this international break given they are still working their way up to speed for the campaign. Watkins has been carrying a minor problem since the European Championship in the summer, which has seen his early-season minutes managed by Villa, while Palmer has reportedly complained of tightness with a groin issue. He has since been pictured in training this week.
If I owned either of them, I would see it as a good sign that they’ve had an extended break. Expect both to start in Gameweek 4 and be close to completing the 90 minutes.
The case for Phil Foden (£9.4m) is a little more intriguing. He failed to report for international duty with England due to illness, which had also ruled him out of Gameweek 2 and 3 for Manchester City. Let’s wait for news on the midfielder from City manager Pep Guardiola at lunchtime tomorrow (Friday) before their home match against Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) reassured his 12 per cent of fantasy owners that he was fine after suffering a knock as Portugal beat Scotland on Sunday, telling reporters after the game that he had simply suffered “a bump”.
Alexander Isak (£8.5m) is the game’s most-sold player going into FPL Gameweek 4, but the Newcastle forward had some interesting comments to make following his international action with Sweden, where he scored three goals in games against Azerbaijan and Estonia. He told Swedish football talk show Fotbollsmorgon that he would be motivated to score twice for Newcastle, who are away against Wolves on Sunday, to punish those managers who have sold him this week!
“It’s better to hear when people have transferred me out and then I score two goals.” 🔀
Alexander Isak wants to prove the doubters wrong in #FPL 😤
📹 @fotbollsmorgon pic.twitter.com/Qcq3wiXeo6
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) September 10, 2024
The bad news
The most high-profile injury sustained over the international break was to the ankle of Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard (£8.4m), causing him to limp off as his Norway side beat Austria on Monday.
While the initial, unconfirmed prognosis is only for several weeks out rather than something more long-term, that would be enough for him to miss a key period for Arsenal, with Premier League games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City on the road next up for Mikel Arteta’s team, either side of their first Champions League match of the season. This, coupled with a red-card suspension for Declan Rice (£6.4m) against Spurs on Sunday, means the Arsenal squad is severely weakened.
Fantasy managers were already considering jumping off their popular attackers Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) and Kai Havertz (£8.1m) in the short term due to the north London side’s fixtures — a move which now seems justified.
If Odegaard can’t play, we could see Havertz being used as a midfielder in this weekend’s north London derby — not something you want from somebody classified in FPL as a forward. And the fitness concerns don’t stop there for Arteta, with new defender Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) picking up an apparent calf injury in Italy’s win over France last Friday.
There were some late additions to the international break’s list of casualties on Tuesday evening.
Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa (£4.5m), who is in 13 per cent of this season’s sides, was substituted after an hour by England against Finland at Wembley because of his own ankle problem. We are still waiting for an official update on his condition, but we may need to wait for Unai Emery’s press conference. This could be good news for owners of fellow Villa defender Kosta Nedeljkovic (£4.0m).
Elsewhere, we’ve seen new West Ham striker Niclas Fullkrug (£6.8m) rested for Germany’s 2-2 draw with the Netherlands on Tuesday despite only being used as a substitute in the three Premier League matches so far.
Nathan Ake (£5.4m) was carried off with a muscle injury in that one, too, which suggests the Dutchman could be absent for a while. He is only 1.8 per cent owned in FPL at time of writing though, with fellow Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m) looking increasingly secure in terms of game minutes.
(Top photo: Annelie Cracchiolo/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
