Plethora of international absentees set to feature in GW13

It’s been an anxious couple of weeks for Fantasy Premier League managers with Danny Welbeck, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Kieran Trippier, Benjamin Mendy, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Andre Gomes all pulling out of their respective UEFA Nations League squads after being called up by their national teams. However, the latter 5 were all pictured in training this week, suggesting that their participation in GW13 is more likely than not.

Spurs versus Chelsea takes centre-stage this weekend  but the pick of the remainder may well be Fulham against Southampton, with Claudio Ranieri installed in the Cottagers’ hot-seat.

Fulham have the worst xGA stats in the division so a match-up against a goal-shy Saints’ side could be the perfect tonic to kick-start their season.

There isn’t too much to choose between the sides judging by our GW13 goal projections (above) but one player that will be champing at the bit is Charlie Austin.

The Saints’ striker, who has had his fair share on injuries in the past, certainly hogged the headlines following his GW12 tirade against the match officials but even the man himself couldn’t have imagined that he would have been credited in many quarters as being responsible for the introduction of VAR in the Premier League from next season!

Surely he won’t go one better and spoil Claudio’s big day as well?