The busiest part of the congested fixture list begins this week, as each Premier League team will play at least four matches between this Friday and Jan. 3. I broke down the entire schedule in an earlier article, but for reference, here's what we still have left:
While fantasy players don't necessarily have to think about this week's Carabao Cup matches, it will still put a strain on the depth of those six clubs, some of whom are more well equipped to deal with the quick turnaround between matches.
One team that will get more attention than usual, if that's even possible, is Manchester United, who sacked manager Jose Mourinho on Tuesday in one of the least surprising moves of the year. While sitting sixth in the table is bad enough, United are 19 points behind Liverpool at the top, 18 points behind in-town rival Manchester City and eight points back of fifth-place Arsenal. And while plenty of people blame Mourinho for United's lack of scoring, they only have two fewer goals scored than Tottenham and six fewer than Chelsea. The problem lies in their 29 conceded goals in the Premier League, more than every team except Fulham (42), Cardiff City (33), Burnley (33) and Southampton (32), who are 20th, 16th, 18th and 17th, respectively, in the table. The defense has been a mess, and from a fantasy standpoint, David de Gea's TWO clean sheets is the most shocking outcome from their poor play, especially after leading the Premier League with 18 just last season.
On the attacking front, I'm not sure we can expect drastic changes, though hopefully we see more Paul Pogba, who has been on the bench for the past three Premier League matches and yet still leads United in shots, shots on goal, chances created, duels won, touches and fouls drawn. If you love to play the narrative game, it might be the perfect time to jump on the Pogba Train.
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