goal Haaland: 7 lessons from the intl break

Don’t worry, everyone – or do, depending on your fortunes in the opening weeks – Fantasy Premier League (FPL) returns this weekend!

As we begin to draw the curtain on what has felt like a painfully long first international break of the season, which included a typically chaotic transfer deadline day (how long ago does that all feel now?), we’ve begun scouring the last week or so’s worth of football results from across the world to dig out some key FPL talking points.

Without further ado, here are some highlights and things we’ve learned from the September internationals.

READ MORE:Minutes played + late returns: Every FPL player on international duty in September

Haaland’s hatful in five-star showing as Odegaard returns

Look away now, non-owners… the relentless scoring machine that is Erling Haaland (£14.1m) bagged five goals in a World Cup qualifier for Norway on Tuesday (9 September). He set up two more for good measure as he and his countrymen ran out 11-1 winners over Group I minnows Moldova.

Yes, it was only Moldova (it’s only Manchester United next, I hear some of you say with a chuckle!).

But goals are goals for a bagsman like Haaland, who has bossed the underlying stats in the opening three Gameweeks of the campaign as he continues his prolific scoring exploits of previous early-season stretches despite this being Manchester City’s worst start to a Premier League crusade during Pep Guardiola’s tenure.

Haaland also scored Norway’s winner, from the penalty spot, in a friendly against Finland the previous Thursday (4 September), and will undoubtedly now have returned to Manchester in good spirits ahead of Sunday’s home derby – a fixture in which he blanked last season but plundered four goals and two assists in the previous two iterations. A bloodied lip courtesy of a title rival shouldn’t cause him much bother.

Also involved in both matches for Norway was Martin Odegaard (£7.9m), who – like Haaland – featured only for the first 45 minutes against Finland but was given a 90-minute run-out in the thrashing of Moldova, during which he contributed a goal and two assists (both for Haaland).

That suggests the Arsenal captain is fully fit again for the Gameweek 4 visit of Nottingham Forest, having been withdrawn early with a reported shoulder injury in Gameweek 2 and then restricted to substitute duty in Gameweek 3.

Isak handed first minutes since May

It was a markedly quieter international break for Sweden’s Alexander Isak (£10.4m), who stayed rooted to the bench during his country’s first game of the break – a World Cup qualifier draw in Slovenia last Friday (5 September) – before emerging from it for a brief cameo in a loss to Kosovo on Monday (8 September).

Those 18 or so minutes of action at Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri were Isak’s first since the 2024/25 season ended in May, given his bitter feud with former club Newcastle led to the striker training alone during pre-season and missing the first three league matches of the campaign before finally landing his desired big-money move to Liverpool.

Save for any revealing comments from Arne Slot in his pre-match conference, it’s probably safe to assume Isak won’t start for his new club away to Burnley this Sunday, and may even be eased in gradually over the next few weeks. A likely ‘wait and see’ situation for any prospective FPL investors, then.

The Swede could of course be handed his debut from the bench against the Clarets, but particularly given Liverpool aren’t exactly short on attacking options there’s no need to tear your squad up for him – yet, anyway…

Wissa up and running

Meanwhile, Newcastle’s ready-made Isak replacement also got some minutes under his belt for the first time this season.

Zero disrespect intended to the Magpies/ club record signing Nick Woltemade (£7.0m), but it’s the more tried and tested Yoanne Wissa (£7.5m) I’m talking about there.

The former Brentford man threw a similar strop in west London to the man he replaced in the North East, meaning his pair of starts in DR Congo’s two World Cup qualifiers – against South Sudan last Friday and Senegal on Tuesday – were Wissa’s first run-outs of 2025/26.

To have not just started both matches but also scored and assisted in the first before grabbing another goal in the second suggests the 29-year-old may be more match-fit than previously thought (and certainly more so than Isak, it would seem). There is surely therefore a decent chance that Wissa makes his Newcastle debut at home against Wolves on Saturday, particularly given the ongoing suspension of Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) means there’s one less attacker to worry about rotation-wise.

Eddie Howe may opt to throw Woltemade – who started both of Germany’s qualifiers, lasting the full match against Slovakia and grabbing an assist during his hour on the pitch against Northern Ireland – straight into the fray, but if either of the Toon’s latest arrivals are going to be given a little more time to bed in, it’s probably more likely to be the Premier League newcomer.

Wirtz bags free-kick, Bradley seemingly fit

Shrugging off the criticism coming his way in some FPL circles since Gameweek 1, as well as his Gameweek 3 cramp, Florian Wirtz (£8.4m) offered a glimpse of his brilliance by netting a superb free-kick – skip to the 3-minute mark – to help Germany down a spirited Northern Ireland last Sunday (7 September).

That match came three days after the Germans suffered a shock World Cup qualifying defeat in Slovakia, with Wirtz handed a full run-out by Julian Nagelsmann on both occasions.

Three matches without an FPL return has seen the 22-year-old’s popularity drop; but there is unquestionably a talented player in there, and one who may find himself more resistant – compared, for example, to Hugo Ekitike (£8.8m) or maybe even Cody Gakpo (£7.7m), who got an assist for the Netherlands last Thursday – to the rotation that threatens to strike in Slot’s squad once Isak gets up to speed and the Champions League ramps up. Burnley (A) and Everton (H) aren’t fixtures that would immediately scream ‘sell!’ in most other circumstances for a relatively nailed-on Liverpool attacker.

As for Michael O’Neill’s NI group, Conor Bradley (£5.0m) started twice to indicate he is seemingly fit again and ready to resume his duties at right-back for Liverpool in Jeremie Frimpong’s (£5.9m) continued absence. Although, given makeshift full-back Dominik Szoboszlai’s (£6.5m) recent starring performances there, perhaps the situation isn’t quite that clear!

‘Quiet’ Salah shares penalties with injured Marmoush

Liverpool’s squad were among the most heavily-involved in international duties over the past week and a bit, and that included star man Mohamed Salah (£14.5m).

A fair few Wildcarders seem to be going without the Egyptian in FPL, but he served up a reminder of his general ruthlessness from 12 yards by dispatching a first-half penalty to help his country beat Ethiopia last Friday. When Egypt won another spot-kick minutes later, Salah – who had an otherwise quieter game, per reporters at the ground – then stepped aside for City forward Omar Marmoush (£8.4m) to convert.

However, Salah failed to provide an answer in his side’s surprise stalemate against Burkina Faso on Tuesday, and Marmoush was substituted early on with a knee injury that looks set to force him into a spell on the sidelines.

Quite how that impacts the overall rotation in the Sky Blues’ turgid squad remains to be seen, but Marmoush had started the last two league matches before the break so his absence could allow someone like Jeremy Doku (£6.4m) – who scored a brace for Belgium against Kazakhstan – back into the fold after being benched twice in a row.

Did Arsenal need Gyokeres anyway?

This is said in jest, as Arsenal obviously did need to invest in a new striker this summer.

Still, it was notable that Viktor Gyokeres (£9.0m) – who has scored only against Leeds thus far in his young Gunners career – registered just one assist in 180+ minutes of action over the international break, while Mikel Merino (£5.9m) – a midfielder who deputised up top for portions of last season before reverting to his bit-part role under Mikel Arteta so far in the current campaign – scored once against Bulgaria and then three more times against Turkey.

For England, meanwhile, Declan Rice (£6.5m) was the sole goal-scorer against Andorra last week and then bagged creative credits twice in the Three Lions’ 0-5 rout of Serbia, when Arsenal teammate Noni Madueke (£7.0m) also grabbed his first for his country.

England’s best game under Tuchel, plus Villa players finally score

In what has widely been hailed as England’s best performance under Thomas Tuchel, Rice’s second assist was for the impressive Marc Guehi (£4.5m).

The Crystal Palace captain started both matches over the break and – ahead of an appealing FPL double header against Sunderland (H) and West Ham (A), in which he could potentially rival the more discussed picks Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m) and Daniel Munoz (£5.5m) – now has two goals and an assist in his last three appearances for club and country, having set up Aston Villa counterpart Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) earlier on Tuesday evening.

Villa had several other players find the back of the net over the break, presenting a conundrum for boss Unai Emery given his side remain the only club in the top four tiers of English football who are yet to score a league goal this season. Morgan Rogers (£7.0m) was also on the scoresheet against Serbia, while Matty Cash (£4.5m) netted in two separate matches for Poland and Youri Tielemans (£5.9m) grabbed a brace for Belgium – in a match where Brighton’s new left-back Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) also started, scored and assisted.

The team’s poor domestic form has seen Rogers’ popularity wane considerably, as Konsa’s did following his Gameweek 1 red card, and Tielemans isn’t generally a go-to option in FPL despite reaching ten goal involvements in 2024/25.

Click here to read article