Southampton: Mixed results for Elyounoussi and Vestergaard
By Marc Walker
There were mixed results in the UEFA Nations League for Southampton players Mohamed Elyounoussi and Jannik Vestergaard this afternoon.
Elyounoussi started Norway’s clash with Bulgaria in Group C3, whilst Vestergaard was an unused substitute for Denmark’s home match against Wales.
An impressive performance by the Danes saw them triumph over Ryan Giggs’ Welsh side by a scoreline of 2-0. A double from talisman Christian Eriksen was enough to give them in a win in their first match in Group B4.
Norway were playing their second game in the newly formed competition after a 2-0 over Cyprus on Thursday, but would fall to a 1-0 defeat to the Bulgarians with Elyounoussi playing the full 90 minutes.
Both players will now return to England ahead of Saints’ next Premier League game which sees them take on Brighton at St Mary’s next Monday.
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After no minutes during this international break, Vestergaard will hope to be more involved in October for games against Shane Long’s Republic of Ireland and Austria.
Elyounoussi will also hope to play again in a months time as Norway face the return Nations League fixture with Bulgaria and another versus Slovenia.
More international action for Saints representatives is likely in the coming week. Tomorrow sees Cedric’s Portugal face Italy in Nations League Group A3, whilst Stuart Armstrong and Scotland play Albania in their first fixture of the competition.
Tuesday could see a long awaited England senior debut for Alex McCarthy as he travels with Gareth Southgate’s squad to Leicester’s King Power Stadium to play Switzerland.
Jan Bednarek, Angus Gunn and Steven Davis could also see starts on the same evening. Tuesday evening is the last day of international actions for the 10 Saints players away and leaves them with a healthy six days to return to the South Coast to prepare for Brighton.
With many key players included in those to have been called up, Mark Hughes will be hoping that no fresh injury concerns crop up.