Merry Christmas one and all
It’s very hard to keep track of the days of the week now, isn’t it? If someone asked you right now what day it was, would you be able to say, with certainty, which day of the week it is without looking at a calendar? Probably not. “Christmas Eve”, you’d say, because who cares what day of the week it is? It’s Christmas and that means booze, turkey and lots of Premier League football.
We were treated to a fantastic weekend of entertainment in Gameweek 18; Spurs hit Everton for six, Andros Townsend scored goal of the season and Manchester United looked unrecognisable from the lifeless, rigid corpse they had become under José Mourinho.
Gameweek 19 begins on Boxing Day, and with managers set to rotate their squads during this busy period, it’s only right that you do the same.
1. Gylfi Sigurdsson – Everton, £7.3m
Everton’s Icelandic playmaker scored one of the Toffees’ goals in their 6-2 defeat to Spurs at the weekend, and was their biggest creative threat despite their obvious inferiority in the tie. Everton travel to Turf Moor on Boxing Day, which is no longer the fortress it once was. Sigurdsson should have some fun.
2. Heung-min Son – Spurs, £8.5m
Heung-min Son has got it going on. He’s all you want and you’ve waited for so long. Sané can’t you see, you’re just not the winger for me. I know this might be wrong but I’m in love with Heung-min Son, who has three goals in his last two games for Tottenham, albeit one of them was in the League Cup.
3. Kevin de Bruyne – Man City, £9.7m
Pep’s babyfaced Belgian made an impact off the bench against Crystal Palace on Saturday, scoring a flukey cross that reduced Palace’s cushion to just one goal. It turned out to be just a consolation, but having returned from injury, De Bruyne looks raring to go and will likely step into the starting XI as Pep rotates his midfield.
4. Georginio Wijnaldum – Liverpool, £5.5m
Another midfielder who should play on Boxing Day having missed Liverpool’s win over Wolves on Friday night, Wijnaldum is not Liverpool’s highest scorer, but is an excellent option for one of your cheaper midfielders. He likes to pop up with the occasional goal, and will be hoping to bag his second of the season against a struggling Newcastle side.
5. Glenn Murray – Brighton, £6.5m
Like a fine wine, Murray seems to improve with age. The 35-year-old has racked up 70 FPL points this season – more than Romelu Lukaku, Álvaro Morata and Gabriel Jesus. Brighton host Arsenal on Boxing Day in a fixture which should see goals at both ends. You can bank on Murray to score, given Arsenal’s current defensive injury crisis.
