Hazard, Eriksen, Asensio - who makes your Nations League fantasy team?

This weekend sees the final round of Nations League fixtures, bringing the inaugural edition of the competition’s group stage to a close (there will be a final mini-tournament played in June).

With relegation and promotion (or qualification for the end-of-year finals) up for grabs at the top and bottom of each mini-group, the games are sure to be fierce.

FansBet have a free fantasy game to make every game as important to you as it is to the players playing in them, and our friends at Football Whispers have chosen their XI for the weekend.

Play the FansBet Nations League fantasy game for free

The Nations League has already proved its worth, although with relegation looming there might be some countries who will soon become a lot less fond of the format.

However, it’s hard to say that these are ‘crunch matches’ given how competitive every match in the tournament has been so far. It’s thrown together top-level teams with every round, and the FansBet Nations League fantasy game lets you pick a squad from the best games across Thursday, Friday and Saturday, for the chance to win a share of £100.

It’s free to join before the deadline at 19:30 on 15 November and we think we’ve picked a pretty good team considering you only have £100m to pick an XI plus four substitutes.

Goalkeeper

Jasper Cillessen (£4.5m)

The Dutch are back in business with their crop of impressive youngsters coming through and, as several of these are defensive players, they have a good chance of keeping a clean sheet.

With players like Matthijs de Ligt and Virgil van Dijk in front of him, it’ll make his job a lot easier, even against world champions France.

Defenders

Joao Cancelo (£5m), Sergio Ramos (£6m), Virgil van Dijk (£5m), Toby Alderweireld (£6m)

Van Dijk, as a towering part of the strong Dutch defence, has a strong chance of getting a clean sheet or a goal against France when the sides face each other in the Netherlands on Friday.

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Ramos and Alderweireld have a similar profiles, and given that Belgium have a home tie against Iceland then the Tottenham Hotspur man seems a shoe-in for a clean sheet points.

Meanwhile Joao Cancelo is a particularly exciting full-back and Portugal’s opponents on Saturday, Italy, are not the force they once were. Although Roberto Mancini’s side beat Poland in their previous Nations League fixture, that was their first win since beating Saudi Arabia in May (before the 2018 World Cup, which they didn’t qualify for).

Midfielders

Marco Asensio (£7.5m), Christian Eriksen (£9m), Luka Modric (£7.5m), Eden Hazard (£11m)

Between them, this quartet has four goals and five assists in the Nations League so far. Check out their stats and their opponents though — Hazard’s only picked up 12 points in two matches despite his hefty price tag, while Asensio’s part in Spain’s 6-0 demolition of Croatia earlier in the tournament has racked him up 26 points in three games.

In Hazard’s favour is that Belgium play Iceland on Thursday, a team who are struggling to replicate their Euro 2016 success. Roberto Martinez’s side beat Iceland 3-0 when they played a couple of months ago in the land of fire and ice, but this time they’re in Belgium.

Forwards

Romelu Lukaku (£12m), Lorenzo Insigne (£9.5m)

Belgium hosting Iceland is why Lukaku is our first pick of the teamsheet. Although he’s going through a difficult time for Manchester United, the Belgium team seems to be a much better set-up for him. He’s scored two goals in each of his previous two Nations League appearances, and will be looking for more against Iceland on Thursday.

UPDATE: Or, Lukaku would have been our first pick on the teamsheet, until he picked himself up a hamstring injury. He’ll be out for the Iceland game, but Edin Dzeko (£10m) for Bosnia and Herzegovina or Rodrigo (£9m) for Spain are good alternatives. They’ll also free up cash for your midfield.

Play the FansBet Nations League fantasy game for free

Insigne is a bit of a curveball. While he hasn’t scored in the Nations League yet, he’s notched up seven in Serie A for Napoli and would seem to be due one for Italy. He also has three league assists, meaning he’s directly had a hand in a goal in ten of his 11 appearances in this season’s Serie A.

Think you can do better? Free to enter, the FansBet Nations League fantasy game covers the following games: Austria vs Bosnia and Herzegovina; Belgium vs Iceland; Croatia vs Spain; Netherlands vs France; Slovenia vs Norway; Wales vs Denmark; Turkey vs Sweden; Italy vs Portugal.