Fantasy Football: As international break ends, watch out for injuries

It’s always disheartening when the domestic football league season is interrupted three weeks in by an international break – not that we don’t love our respective national sides, it’s just us of the English persuasion have been made to confront our buried anguish at the recent Euros final against Spain. 

Luckily, we can quickly re-bury that sadness – yes, I refuse to get excited by victories against Ireland and Finland, fellow England fans – as the Premier League kicks back off this tomorrow (Saturday 14 September 2024). 

And with the league’s resumption comes the concurrent resumption of the Insurance Times Fantasy Football League, which is arguably even more exciting. 

You have until 11.00am tomorrow to make any last minute changes to your team – and you may need to, given that some team’s key players have become injury concerns over the international break. 

For example, Arsenal fans – including this despondent journalist – will be saddened to hear that key player Martin Odegaard and new signing Riccardo Calafiori were both injured during their international fixtures. 

Fantasy favourite Cole Palmer also missed England duty with a knock, but has reportedly been passed fit to play over the weekend. 

Liverpool youngster Harvey Elliot also fractured his foot during the break, while Manchester City defender Nathan Ake was carried off the pitch on a stretcher during this Tuesday’s game against Germany. 

And, crucially, while not injured, Manchester City talisman is reportedly weighing up his own involvement in his team’s weekend clash with Brentford, after manager Pep Guardiola offered him compassionate leave following the death of a close friend. 

The Fantasy game app will helpfully inform you of any injury concerns with a red flag for a confirmed outage, or a yellow one for a risk of not playing. 

Managers should be sure to check out their teams before tomorrow’s deadline.