I hate the international break

The World Cup, and to a lesser extent the Euro Championships, are some of the best weeks of any year but the process by which teams get there is trying. I hate the fact that the start to the season loses momentum and I especially hate the fact that teams (both real and fantasy) lose players through no fault of their own. In truth, many of the injuries below have nothing to do with the international break but it's a good excuse to bemoan the fact that I had nothing to do on Saturday morning.

Injuries
This one wasn't actually suffered while on international duty but Rafael van der Vaart has been ruled out for 6 weeks and the 5% of managers who own him will need to look elsewhere. Luckily there are a number of good replacements out there who I'd currently rank as 1. Young, 2. Silva, 3. Nasri, 4. Nani, 5. Adam (pending an injury update) 6. Mata. Of those, Mata and Nasri are on the rise but I still like Young and Silva until further notice.

Jack Wilshere's injury status keeps getting worse, with the Arsenal man ruled out for another couple of months.

Chaz Adam had to leave the Scotland game early and will miss the mid-week encounter. It isn't clear as to his status for Liverpool's next game.

Both Darren Bent and Micah Richards missed the England game and will do so again midweek. Physio room don't show Richards as injured while Bent is showing as due back on the weekend, but be sure to have backup plans for both these players if you own them (Kompany and Hernandez/Suarez are the natural replacements).

Dalglish has indicated some concern over Luis Suarez's commitment to Uruguay and you have to think he's going to get rested at some point in the future if he continues to play for the national side. This isn't a major mark against Suarez but it's worth noting in the back of your mind.

Asamoah Gyan was on the scoresheet but was later stretchered off. Early indications suggest he will be ready for the weekend though with relatively tricky fixtures coming up, it's starting to look like other options might be worth looking at.

Shane Long is out of the midweek game and so his place in the West Brom side set to face Norwich looks in doubt. He's been good value to date but it's unlikely he will keep his impressive goal scoring form going, so if he is indeed out it might be better to move on sooner rather than later.

Hot hands
Robin Van Persie was given a free role for Holland, who out 11-0 victors over San Marino, and responded by notching 4 goals. He's been a forgotten man in the early season with Aguero and Rooney being in fine form, but he took his goal against Man Utd extremely well and needs to be considered if the new Arsenal arrivals gel quickly.

Wayne Rooney continued his tremendous start to the season and reminded up that he remains the best prospect to own right now with a brace for England. United have some good looking fixtures on the horizon and it's going to be very hard to drop Rooney anytime soon.