You wait ages for one Gameweek, then three come along at once.
After a period of 43 days without any Fantasy Premier League (FPL) action, we now face three deadlines in the space of a week.
The spectre of rotation looms large whenever we get such tight turnarounds, although the shock benchings might be more scarce this year.
Firstly, many players go into this busy period off the back of a lengthy rest. Even the vast majority of those involved in the World Cup have had at least a fortnight off, so fatigue isn’t the issue it usually is at this time of year.
Secondly, the fixture compilers have been fairly kind. In past years we’ve seen teams playing twice within the space of 48 hours but they’ve avoided such brutal scheduling this time around, with most sides getting at least 72 hours between their games.
“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
And thirdly, an FA Cup third-round weekend follows the third and final Gameweek in this little stretch, allowing Premier League managers to rotate to their heart’s content – as they invariably do when domestic cup competitions cut into the calendar.
GAMEWEEK 17-19: OVERVIEW
Legomane‘s colour-coded graphic above (click to expand) is a handy guide to see when the tightest turnarounds are over Christmas.
The absence of a round of fixtures between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve/Day means that most clubs have a healthy breather between Gameweeks 17 and 18.
It’s the short gap between Gameweeks 18 and 19 that looks a bit more challenging although again, there are none of the harsh 48-hour turnarounds of past festive periods.
SHORTEST TURNAROUNDS: GAMEWEEK 17-18
| GW17-18 Turnaround (in hours, to the nearest half-hour) | |
| Leeds United | 65 |
| Manchester City | 65 |
Only two clubs have a turnaround of shorter than 85 hours between Gameweeks 17 and 18.
It’s the two sides who play last in Gameweek 17, Leeds United and Manchester City, who follow their evening game on December 28 with a 3pm kick-off on New Year’s Eve.
A dozen teams have four or more full days of rest in between their Gameweek 17 and 18 fixtures, so rotation – you’d hope – wouldn’t be a widespread issue.
SHORTEST TURNAROUNDS: 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 |
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-offs on deadline day in both of those Gameweeks (their Gameweek 18 match gets underway 15 minutes after the curtain-raiser between West Ham and Brentford), so we at least might get a heads-up on any teamsheet trauma.
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.
- READ MORE: The complete guide to the FPL Gameweek 17 restart: Best players, fixtures, injuries + more
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 17 early team news: The latest injury updates
- READ MORE: Team Guides: Half-term reports on all 20 clubs
