Christmas season is here! 40 EPL matches in 14 days. Sounds good in ads, but its a hard phase for managers to rotate their players and keep them fit. This season we have seen managers not scared of resting big hitters like Salah, Hazard, Kane when the match-days get crowded. GW18 ended on Sunday and GW19 starts on Wednesday. Lets have a look at the most owned players and their match-times in GW18!









Player Ownership Minutes Played Alonso 44% 90 Salah 39% 90 Auba 37% 90 Hazard 35% 90 Robertson 35% 90 Wilson 34% 90 Richarlison 31% 74 AWB 31% 90 Kane 31% 90 Fraser 27% 25

As you can see from the table, almost every player has played out the entire match in Game-week 18 which makes team selections and captain choices difficult for Game-week 19. Liverpool and Wolves are the only teams to play on a Friday but with Liverpool playing Arsenal and Manchester City in the next two matches, their fixture against Newcastle looks like a perfect resting match for their big guns. With a lot of potential attacking power in the form of Lallana, Origi, Keita, Sturridge and Solanke; we may see Salah getting rested for this fixtures.



Alonso’s shot getting deflected off the post may as well symbolically define the ambiguity regarding his rest as talks of Sarri wanting to test out Emerson for that position emerged after the match. This, coupled with lessened attacking returns from the Chelsea defender have triggered a mass transfer out for the Blue with over 100k+ managers getting rid of the Spaniard.



Aubameyang also faces a challenge to start as he has played all 90 minutes of the match on Saturday and Emery surely wants his best XI to start against Liverpool on the coming Saturday. This makes Lacazette going as the lone striker for their fixture against Brighton this week a viable strategy.



Kane who is looked upon as a worthy captain’s pick as he plays almost all of Spurs’ matches may face the bench too. Although the possibility is less likely than other big hitters, the excellent form of Son as well as the fact that Son may leave for Asian Cup in January means that the manager will want to fully utilize Son’s available time. This is seen from the fact that Son was subbed off during their match against Everton even as he was on his hat-trick. Pochettino has already played with Kane on bench this season and that formation is known to the manager, in case he needs to rest his star player.



Midweek matches are known for rotations and the only way to beat it is to have your VC on a guaranteed starter in-case your captain doesn’t start. Make sure you have plenty of depth on your bench, and keep enjoying FPL!