Four of the seven Premier League sides involved in European competition sit in the top half-dozen clubs of our Season Ticker over the next four Gameweeks.
Chelsea, Arsenal, Wolves and Manchester City are the four teams in question, while Manchester United only have the visit of Liverpool to come before they too are catapulted up to the top of our Season Ticker.
Many of those clubs may be towards the forefront of Fantasy managers’ thoughts ahead of Gameweek 9, then, although ongoing involvement in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, along with participation in the Carabao Cup, leaves several FPL assets exposed to the risk of rotation.
Already we have seen Nuno Espirito Santo break last season’s habit of maintaining a settled side, with Raul Jimenez (£7.1m), Conor Coady (£5.0m), Willy Boly (£5.0m) and Rui Patricio (£5.1m) the only Wolves players to avoid being benched in the first eight Gameweeks of 2019/20.
Raheem Sterling (£12.1m), Riyad Mahrez (£8.7m), Sergio Aguero (£12.2m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£10.0m) have all warmed the bench at least once this season, too, as Pep Guardiola rotates his squad with frustrating regularity.
For other clubs, the effect has not quite been so pronounced: Mohamed Salah (£12.5m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m), Andrew Robertson (£6.9m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) are all ever-presents in the top flight, while Sadio Mane (£11.7m) and Roberto Firmino‘s (£9.6m) benchings in Gameweeks 1 and 5 were influenced by their late returns from international duty.
Unai Emery and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have mostly fielded second-string players and academy products in the Europa League, meanwhile.
With the fixture congestion in mind, we thought it was worth a look at the upcoming schedules for Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers over the next two months, given that all of these teams are still involved in European competition and all bar Spurs remain in the Carabao Cup.
If any of these clubs progress to the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup, they will play twice a week, every week, from now until the turn of 2020 – with the exception of the international breaks.
We have stopped at Gameweek 14 as the TV fixtures for December and beyond have yet to be announced, so there is a lot of rejigging to the Premier League calendar still to factor in.
Below is a club-by-club itinerary, with the fixtures in italics Champions League/Europa League/Carabao Cup ties.
We will look at how the respective clubs’ managers approached team selection in Gameweeks 5-8 in closer detail in a follow-up article tomorrow.
MANCHESTER CITY
Saturday 19 October: Gameweek 9 – Crystal Palace (a)
Tuesday 22 October: Atalanta (h)
Saturday 26 October: Gameweek 10 – Aston Villa (h)
Tuesday 29 October: Southampton (h)
Saturday 2 November: Gameweek 11 – Southampton (h)
Wednesday 6 November: Atalanta (h)
Sunday 10 November: Gameweek 12 – Liverpool (a)
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Saturday 23 November: Gameweek 13 – Chelsea (h)
Tuesday 26 November: Shakhtar Donetsk (h)
Saturday 30 November: Gameweek 14 – Newcastle United (a)
LIVERPOOL
Sunday 20 October: Gameweek 9 – Manchester United (a)
Wednesday 23 October: Genk (a)
Sunday 27 October: Gameweek 10 – Tottenham Hotspur (h)
Wednesday 30 October: Arsenal (h)
Saturday 2 November: Gameweek 11 – Aston Villa (a)
Tuesday 5 November: Genk (h)
Sunday 10 November: Gameweek 12 – Manchester City (h)
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Saturday 23 November: Gameweek 13 – Crystal Palace (a)
Wednesday 27 November: Napoli (h)
Saturday 30 November: Gameweek 14 – Brighton and Hove Albion (h)
CHELSEA
Saturday 19 October: Gameweek 9 – Newcastle United (h)
Wednesday 23 October: Ajax (a)
Saturday 26 October: Gameweek 10 – Burnley (a)
Wednesday 30 October: Manchester United (h)
Saturday 2 November: Gameweek 11 – Watford (a)
Tuesday 5 November: Ajax (h)
Saturday 9 November: Gameweek 12 – Crystal Palace (h)
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Saturday 23 November: Gameweek 13 – Manchester City (a)
Wednesday 27 November: Valencia (a)
Saturday 30 November: Gameweek 14 – West Ham United (h)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Saturday 19 October: Gameweek 9 – Watford (h)
Tuesday 22 October: Red Star Belgrade (h)
Sunday 27 October: Gameweek 10 – Liverpool (a)
*free midweek*
Sunday 3 November: Gameweek 11 – Everton (a)
Wednesday 6 November: Red Star Belgrade (a)
Saturday 9 November: Gameweek 12 – Sheffield United (h)
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Saturday 23 November: Gameweek 13 – West Ham United (a)
Tuesday 26 November: Olympiakos (h)
Saturday 30 November: Gameweek 14 – Bournemouth (h)
ARSENAL
Monday 21 October: Gameweek 9 – Sheffield United (a)
Thursday 24 October: Vitoria Guimaraes (h)
Sunday 27 October: Gameweek 10 – Crystal Palace (h)
Wednesday 30 October: Liverpool (a)
Saturday 2 November: Gameweek 11 – Wolves (h)
Wednesday 6 November: Vitoria Guimares (a)
Saturday 9 November: Gameweek 12 – Leicester City (a)
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Saturday 23 November: Gameweek 13 – Southampton (h)
Thursday 28 November: Eintracht Frankfurt (h)
Sunday 1 December: Gameweek 14 – Norwich City (a)
MANCHESTER UNITED
Sunday 20 October: Gameweek 9 – Liverpool (h)
Thursday 24 October: Partizan Belgrade (a)
Sunday 27 October: Gameweek 10 – Norwich City (a)
Wednesday 30 October: Chelsea (a)
Saturday 2 November: Gameweek 11 – Bournemouth (a)
Thursday 7 November: Partizan Belgrade (h)
Sunday 10 November: Gameweek 12 – Brighton and Hove Albion (h)
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Sunday 24 November: Gameweek 13 – Sheffield United (a)
Thursday 28 November: FC Astana (a)
Sunday 1 December: Gameweek 14 – Aston Villa (h)
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Saturday 19 October: Gameweek 9 – Southampton (h)
Thursday 24 October: Slovan Bratislava (a)
Sunday 27 October: Gameweek 10 – Newcastle United (a)
Wednesday 30 October: Aston Villa (a)
Saturday 2 November: Gameweek 11 – Arsenal (a)
Thursday 7 November: Slovan Bratislava (h)
Sunday 10 November: Gameweek 12 – Aston Villa (h)
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Saturday 23 November: Gameweek 13 – Bournemouth (a)
Thursday 28 November: Sporting Braga (a)
Sunday 1 December: Gameweek 14 – Sheffield United (h)
4 years, 11 months ago
Those City fixtures are sweet but City need KDB back