The national football team's head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson substituted Elanga already at half-time against Azerbaijan in the opening match of the Nations League.
Since then, the Premier League player from Nottingham Forest has made a brief appearance against Estonia. Against Slovakia on Friday, he had to sit on the bench.
Nothing strange about that. Form, sharp competition, and a certain adaptation to the opponent are always considered in every coach's team selection. But Elanga is far from alone in being benched.
"JDT" has stated that he and his closest colleagues follow 51 players they see as national team players. In seven national team matches this year, he has used 26 different players in the starting line-up.
"He's cunning"
Jon can put together a team in training and then change it when we have a meeting. You never know with him. He's cunning, says Anthony Elanga.
Unpredictable is another word. At the press conference on Sunday, Tomasson got the direct question:
How unpredictable do you want to be?
That's a very deep question. It's important that we have fresh players. We're in phase 2 where we're trying to introduce an attacking playing style. We're not where we want to be yet, but we're taking steps and I think it can get really good with time.
I want to make sure we have a large number of players who can handle that game. When it comes to the crunch, you have to perform as a player and if you do, you'll get to play more. It's all about the team. You can start a match or you can finish a match. What's best? I don't know.
The most important thing is how much you as a player contribute to the team, says the head coach.
Bergwall is missing
All players except lightly injured Lucas Bergvall are available for play. The head coach wanted to wait for the meeting with the medical team before he finalized the starting line-up.
It's clear that goalkeeper Viktor Johansson will play his fourth consecutive national team match and Isak Hien will start as centre-back.
Elanga doesn't make a big deal about whether he plays or not.
I always want to play, but it's Jon who chooses and I'm just happy we didn't lose the match (against Slovakia). Now we have an important match against Estonia. So hopefully, we'll win, he says.
The kick-off is at 20.45 at Lilleküla in Tallinn.
The players who have started in the national team under Jon Dahl Tomasson's seven national team matches as head coach:
Goalkeepers: Robin Olsen and Viktor Johansson.
Defenders: Emil Holm, Isak Hien, Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, Ludwig Augustinsson, Emil Krafth, Carl Starfelt, Linus Wahlqvist-Egnell, Alex Douglas, Gabriel Gudmundsson.
Midfielders: Mattias Svanberg, Jens Cajuste, Dejan Kulusevski, Anthony Elanga, Simon Olsson, Samuel Gustafson, Emil Forsberg, Anton Salétros, Niclas Eliasson, Yasin Ayari, Ken Sema, Jesper Karlström.
Forwards: Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres, Gustaf Nilsson.
