Which FPL stars could be rested after international duties?

The October international break is now over – but the real impact on Fantasy Premier League managers is perhaps yet to be measured.

Over 200 top-flight players have been representing their nations over the last week, including many of the highly-owned picks in Fantasy.

Some of those players are now flagged as doubts for Gameweek 8, including Arsenal pair Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) and Kai Havertz (£8.3m). The pre-match press conferences will hopefully help clear up some of those injury concerns.

It’s not just yellow, orange and red flags that Fantasy managers should consider ahead of Saturday’s 11:00 BST deadline, however.

Accumulated international minutes, long-haul flights and late returns may also factor into Premier League head coaches’ thinking when they submit their teamsheets in the upcoming Gameweek.

Late returns

As is often the case, the players from the Americas were the last ones in international action due to the timezone differences.

They also had some of the longest journeys back to their respective clubs.

Premier League bosses may be wary about starting players who are fatigued or jetlagged after midweek minutes and delayed returns to the UK.

For FPL managers, this is far from ideal as their picks’ pitch time could be affected in the upcoming Gameweek.

For example, Luis Diaz (£8.0m) – who had been away with Colombia – was substituted after 60 minutes in Liverpool’s first match back after the September international break. The Reds’ head coach, Arne Slot, later said that he had even come close to starting Cody Gakpo (£7.1m).

Below you can see the players who were in the squad for a match late on Tuesday night or in the early hours of Wednesday morning (BST), and who have had long journeys back to England. You can also see how many minutes they played in their midweek fixtures.

Argentina
Location (kick-off time BST): Argentina (Wednesday, 01:00)
Players (minutes): E. Fernandez (90), Romero (90), Mac Allister (66), L. Martinez (17), Buonanotte (0)

Brazil
Location (kick-off time BST): Brazil (Wednesday, 01:45)
Players (minutes): Gabriel (90), Ederson (90), Guimaraes (79), Savinho (69), A. Pereira (21), Andre (11), Martinelli (0), Paqueta (0)

Colombia
Location (kick-off time BST): Colombia (Tuesday, 21:30)
Players (minutes): Lerma (90), L. Diaz (76), Duran (45), Sinisterra (14)

Ecuador
Location (kick-off time BST): Uruguay (Wednesday, 00:30)
Players (minutes): Caicedo (90), Estupinan (90)

Mexico
Location (kick-off time BST): Mexico (Wednesday, 03:30)
Players (minutes): Alvarez (90), Jimenez (82)

Paraguay
Location (kick-off time BST): Paraguay (Wednesday, 00:00)
Players (minutes): Enciso (88), Almiron (80), Sosa (45)

Uruguay
Location (kick-off time BST): Uruguay (Wednesday, 00:30)
Players: Darwin (90), S. Bueno (90), Ugarte (82)

USA
Location (kick-off time BST): Mexico (Wednesday, 03:30)
Players: Turner (90), Robinson (45)

Players at risk of being rested

Internationals on the books of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United may be the biggest concern, as those two clubs contest the Gameweek 8 early kick-off at 12:30 BST on Saturday.

Cristian Romero (£5.1m) should be fine, given he’s never been benched by Ange Postecoglou after any international break.

By contrast, the Hammers’ Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m) was named among the substitutes as recently as Gameweek 4, which immediately followed the September internationals.

Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez (£7.1m) was among a select group of Premier League players who racked up 180 minutes with their national sides, doing so for Uruguay.

Three hours of pitch time and a late return from South America could be good news for Darwin’s positional rival Diogo Jota (£7.4m), who may be preferred by Slot as a result.

It should be pointed out that Liverpool aren’t in action until Sunday, however, allowing Diaz, Darwin and others an extra day of recovery.

Elsewhere, Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m) was handed 180 minutes for Brazil. The good news is that he has started after all four international breaks last season.

The last international match to be played this week was Mexico v USA, which got under way at 03:30 BST on Wednesday.

Raul Jimenez (£5.6m), the fourth most-bought forward of Gameweek 8, with over 138,000 transfers in, was involved in this contest. Jimenez was handed 82 minutes by his national side, so Fulham boss Marco Silva may handle his in-form forward with care this weekend.

Jimenez went away with Mexico in the opening three international breaks of 2023/24, averaging just 61 minutes per start in his first league match back with the Cottagers.

Total mins played by most-selected players

Of the 30 most-owned players in FPL, four were not representing their nations because of injury: Havertz, Noussair Mazraoui (£4.6m), Alexander Isak (£8.3m) and Ezri Konsa (£4.5m).

Saka, meanwhile, lasted 51 minutes of England’s defeat to Greece last Thursday before his evening was ended early due to a leg injury. He subsequently withdrew from the Three Lions’ squad.

A further six players are fit but didn’t receive call-ups because they were overlooked, were suspended or have retired from international football. Emile Smith Rowe (£5.7m) is the highest-owned of this half-dozen, sitting in 27.3 per cent of FPL squads.

Of the rest, 10 were handed 180 minutes by their respective countries.

Erling Haaland (£15.4m) was among them, although the second of his two starts took place on Sunday – so there is a healthy week-long period of recovery for FPL’s joint-top points scorer ahead of a trip to Molineux.

Similarly, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m) has eight days between England’s win in Finland and Liverpool’s Gameweek 8 home meeting with Chelsea. He, like Haaland, racked up three hours of game time with his nation.

There’s good news for Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) owners, too. After getting 90 minutes for Egypt in their win over Mauritania last Friday, he was then allowed to return early to Merseyside. 

Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m), suspended for the Netherlands’ match against Germany on Monday, was also permitted a premature exit.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa stars Ollie Watkins (£9.1m) and Morgan Rogers (£5.3m) should be relatively fresh, having each had less than 90 minutes of international action over the last week.

For more useful FPL information on the international break, Fantasy Football Scout’s round-up covers all 20 Premier League clubs in detail.