EIGHT key takeaways from November's international break

Football writer Ben Bloom rounds up key moments of interest to Premier League fans from November's international matches.

Haaland's incredible streak secures World Cup spot

The Erling Haaland show will play out on the grandest stage in football after the Norway striker fired his country to their first FIFA World Cup since 1998.

The Premier League's leading scorer, with 14 goals in 11 appearances, is also top of the goals chart in World Cup qualifiers across every continent, after taking his tally to 16 in just eight games with a brace in Sunday's 4-1 victory over Italy.

The Manchester City forward has scored at least once in every one of those matches for Norway. Indeed, it is more than a year since he last failed to score in an international fixture.

Top goalscorers in European qualifiers for 2026 World Cup

Haaland's main supply line has come from Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard, whose seven assists put him top of the European qualifying charts.

Gabriel injury gives Arsenal concerns

A major factor in Arsenal’s club-record eight successive clean sheets was the brilliance of centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes, who has also frequently displayed his abundant attacking threat at set-pieces.

Worryingly, he departed little over an hour into Brazil’s 2-0 victory over Senegal on Saturday, after picking up a thigh injury.

That match was played at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, and Gabriel did not then travel to France for Brazil’s second friendly against Tunisia.

Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti said: "We are really sorry for this, really disappointed. When a player has an injury, you hope they can recover well and soon."

The extent of Gabriel’s problem is not yet known, but Arsenal next face north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, before welcoming Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League the following Wednesday.

Arsenal's next PL fixtures

Van de Ven unleashes his speed again

The 2025/26 campaign is barely a quarter of the way through, but it will take a spectacular goal to better Micky van de Ven’s incredible solo run and finish for Spurs earlier this month.

The centre-back covered almost the entire length of the pitch to score against Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League.

Yet, for a moment on Friday, it looked as though he might repeat the trick.

Deployed at left-back for the Netherlands in their World Cup qualifier against Poland, Van de Ven won the ball barely 10 yards from his own goal line before embarking on a rapid dribble down the flank, leaving defenders trailing in his wake.

Watch Van de Ven's run against Poland

Only when he approached the Poland penalty area was he finally fouled to end his marauding run.

When asked whether he thought he could have re-created his Spurs goal, Van de Ven replied: "That would have been nice, wouldn’t it? I have to say, when that guy made that [missed] sliding tackle, I thought 'I can keep going' but it was difficult to maintain that pace. A better goal than the last one will be tough."

England flawless - and Spain could follow them

A Harry Kane double in a 2-0 victory over Albania on Sunday rounded off a perfect World Cup qualifying campaign for England.

Having already booked their place at next summer’s tournament with two games to spare, Thomas Tuchel’s side won both of their final two matches to finish with a remarkable record of eight wins from eight games, having not conceded a single goal.

That flawless record may well be matched by Spain this week. Luis de la Fuente's team have won all five of their qualifying games, also keeping clean sheets throughout. One more match awaits, against Turkey in Seville on Tuesday.

Spurs graduate Parrott is Irish hero

Just one point from their opening two qualifying fixtures left the Republic of Ireland with a mountain to climb to make it to the World Cup, but a couple of remarkable performances over the past week has kept them in the hunt.

With Evan Ferguson (Brighton & Hove Albion, on loan at Roma) injured, Dublin-born striker Troy Parrott (formerly of Spurs, now at AZ Alkmaar) led the line with aplomb.

Having scored twice in a 2-0 win over Portugal on Thursday, Parrott then scored a dramatic hat-trick in a 3-2 comeback victory against Hungary three days later, netting the winner in the sixth minute of injury time. The Republic of Ireland will now take part in European qualifying play-offs.

"This is why we love football," said Parrott. "I love where I’m from, so this means the world to me. It’s the first time I’ve cried in years as well. I really, really can’t believe it. I don’t think I’ll ever have a better night in my whole life. That is really a fairytale."

Goals galore for Premier League contingent

Bruno Fernandes has scored only twice in the Premier League this season, but the Manchester United captain bettered that tally in just one game for Portugal on Sunday.

Fernandes scored a hat-trick in a 9-1 rout of Armenia to ensure his country will be at the World Cup.

Portugal now await news of Cristiano Ronaldo’s punishment for his straight red card against the Republic of Ireland earlier in the week, with the former Man Utd forward potentially facing a suspension for their opening two World Cup fixtures.

A host of Premier League players scoring for their countries include Chelsea’s Estevao and Man Utd's Casemiro, who both netted for Brazil in their 2-0 friendly win over Senegal.

Italy in danger of missing World Cup again

They failed to qualify for the World Cup in 2018 and again in 2022. Now Italy could make it three missed global tournaments in a row after finishing six points behind Norway in qualifying.

UEFA Group I standings

Scroll right to see the full table on mobile devices

A comprehensive 4-1 defeat against the Norwegians on Sunday, extinguished Italy’s automatic qualification hopes, to leave them relying on the European play-offs.

That puts the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie (both Spurs), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal) and Sandro Tonali (Newcastle) in real danger of missing out again.

Although they are four-time World Cup winners, Italy have failed to advance past the tournament’s group stage since lifting the trophy in 2006.

African heavyweights Nigeria miss out

A penalty shootout win in the African qualification playoff final kept alive DR Congo’s hopes of reaching the World Cup, but ensured Nigeria will not make next summer’s tournament.

Nigeria have competed at six of the last eight World Cups, but this is their second successive missed tournament after an underwhelming qualification campaign in which they had three different managers.

Brentford’s Frank Onyeka gave them the lead in the final, but DR Congo levelled and then triumphed on penalties.

Fulham trio Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze, as well as Wolves striker Tolu Arokodare, will all now not feature at the World Cup.

Victory means DR Congo will compete in next year’s World Cup inter-continental play-offs, bidding for the last two tournament spots against five other nations from across the globe.

The six-team playoffs, to be held in March 2026, will feature Bolivia, New Caledonia and three further qualifiers (one from AFC and two from CONCACAF).

DR Congo will hope to have Newcastle's injured striker Yoane Wissa fit for those games, alongside the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham United), Axel Tuanzebe (Burnley) and Noah Sadiki (Sunderland).