A couple of weeks ago we put together an article that looked at the recovery times for each Premier League club over the festive period.
The absence of a round of fixtures between Boxing Day and New Year means that most clubs (bar Leeds United and Manchester City) were handed a healthy breather between Gameweeks 17 and 18. We didn’t see too much rotation as a consequence.
But it’s the short gap between Gameweeks 18 and 19 that could pose a few problems on the teamsheet front, so we here make a quick revisit to this piece to look at the upcoming turnaround times.
“Sports science says you need at least 72 hours to recover.” – Jurgen Klopp
“It’s a ridiculous schedule. We all know that players aren’t fully recovered for 72 hours after a game.” – Brendan Rodgers on previous years’ scheduling
It’s worth mentioning a few factors here that may make rotation not the threat it usually is: many players go into this busy period off the back of a lengthy rest thanks to the World Cup, there are no 48-hour turnarounds as in previous years and an upcoming FA Cup third-round weekend allows Premier League managers to rest and rotate further.
GAMEWEEK 18-19: OVERVIEW
Thanks to moderator Legomane for the colour-coded graphic above (click to expand).
TURNAROUND TIMES: GAMEWEEK 18-19
| GW18-19 Turnaround (in hours, to the nearest half-hour) | |
| Liverpool | 67.5 |
| Brentford | 68 |
| Arsenal | 72.5 |
| Brighton | 72.5 |
| Nottm Forest | 73 |
| Bournemouth | 75 |
| Everton | 75 |
| Fulham | 75 |
| Newcastle | 75 |
| Aston Villa | 76 |
| Spurs | 76 |
| Man Utd | 77.5 |
| Leicester City | 94 |
| Chelsea | 97.5 |
| Southampton | 98.5 |
| Crystal Palace | 99 |
| Leeds United | 99 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 101.5 |
| West Ham United | 118 |
| Manchester City | 123 |
Liverpool were handed the harshest turnaround times in the busy period between Gameweeks 11-13 and the schedulers have it in for the Reds again, with their gap between Gameweeks 18 and 19 the shortest in the division.
Jurgen Klopp’s troops play in the early kick-off in Gameweek 19, at least, so we might at least get a heads-up on any early team news.
Brentford are the only other side with a sub-72-hour turnaround but at least they are in the same boat as their Gameweek 19 opponents from Merseyside.
Manchester City – whose manager Pep Guardiola made only one line-up change against Everton anyway – are on easy street, with a full five days in between their Gameweek 18 and 19 fixtures. That doesn’t mean Guardiola won’t change things around for the Chelsea game (who knows what diabolical schemes he has in mind), just that fatigue ought not to be a factor.
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