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Game week 17 understandably saw some big players succumb to the frequently employed strategy of rotation. Regular starters including big names such as Dele Alli, Pascal Gro?, Leroy Sane and Kyle Walker were given a rest.
The hectic month of December is halfway through now and there is still a long way to go though, as English teams will fill our stockings with the gift of playing a lot of games this Christmas season.
The Carabao Cup is back next week and 7 out of the 8 teams featuring in it are from the top flight. You can be rest assured that there will be considerable rotation in the squads of these teams, so consider yourself warned.
Two of FPL's three most owned players, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah, blanked on midweek despite facing easy opposition. Kane continued the much dreaded curse of most transferred in player, so be wary if you have transferred in David Silva this week. Among other significant gainers, Lukaku scored the winner for United, Aguero continued his 'scores when he starts' policy and Pope impressed for Burnley with 11 points.
Let's now take a look at some of our top picks for Game week 18:
#5 Adrian (West Ham United) - Goalkeeper (£4.3)
David Moyes has warned Joe Hart that he must wrestle the starting shirt back from Adrian, who has featured in just three games this season, all under Moyes himself. The three games were all against tougher opposition, in the form of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
No team had not conceded against the league leaders, and predictably West Ham couldn't keep them out either. Adrian did fare well in that game though, having made 6 saves. West Ham then incredibly kept clean sheets against their London rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal. Adrian even managed to grab a bonus point for his performance against the Gunners.
With much easier opposition lined up now, the Hammers could be in for some clean sheets. They play Stoke City, Newcastle United and Bournemouth in their next three fixtures.
West Ham won't feature in gameweek 21 but will play two games in gameweek 22. Pair Adrian up with another cheap goalkeeper (Pope, Gomes or Lossl to name a few) and you can really capitalize on the double gameweek.
#4 Phil Jones (Manchester United) - Defender (£5.4)
After being sidelined for 5 weeks with an injury, Phil Jones made his return to help Manchester United keep yet another clean sheet against Bournemouth during midweek. The timing of his return couldn't have been better from a fantasy point of view as Manchester United have an attractive run of fixtures lined up.
The Red Devils have conceded just thrice in the 12 games that Jones has featured in - two against Stoke City, and one against Chelsea. The defender has also bagged bonus points on five separate occasions in these 12 games.
All these stats make him an incredible Fantasy Premier League asset to have. Managers have clearly recognized this and his price is constantly on the rise, so look to get him in before he gets costlier.
On the flip side, Jones is an injury-prone player and Jose Mourinho will be looking to keep him fit which could see Jones being occasionally rotated across the busy festive period. However, with Bailly's injury being labelled as 'serious', Jones should feature in the starting eleven more often than not.
#3 Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City) - Midfielder (£8.6)
Riyad Mahrez took the English Premier League by storm in the 2015/16 season with 17 goals and 11 assists which saw him bag the much coveted laurel of player of the season. In fantasy premier league, he marshaled an astonishing 240 point haul over the course of the season.
Surprisingly, in the following season, Mahrez was nowhere close to his yesteryear alter-ego, with a mere 6 goals and 4 assists, earning him the tag of being a one-season wonder.
He managed to muster only 120 points in the FPL last year, which was half of what he'd managed in the miraculous Leicester City season. FPL managers had clearly lost their faith in the Algerian at the onset of the ongoing season, with an ownership of under 5%.
However, Mahrez seems to have found his stride again, having managed to notch up 7 assists and 5 goals already this season. Only four midfielders have accumulated more FPL points than him so far.
The Algerian has had been involved in 9 goals in the last 10 game weeks, which has seen many managers restore their faith in him as his ownership has risen to 7.3%. Could he suddenly turn up at his very best after a bad season, much like Hazard did last year at Chelsea?
#2 Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City) - Midfielder (£6.2)
The dynamic Swiss international has had an impressive season so far, having racked up 4 goals and 5 assists. He put in a terrific performance in gameweek 17 against Burnley, where he showed how creative a player he could be.
The traveling Stoke City fans chanted "You don't know what you're doing" in response to Stoke manager Mark Hughes' decision to withdraw Shaqiri in the 84th minute.
Stoke City play West Ham and West Brom in the next two game weeks, with both the fixtures being played at the bet365 stadium. Shaqiri could prove to be worthy of his reasonable £6.2 price tag.
#1 Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United) - Striker (£11.3)
Yes, the towering Belgian features in our top picks this season despite his constantly decreasing popularity among FPL managers. Romelu Lukaku has seen his price plummet from £11.8 to £11.3, and unsurprisingly so considering he's managed to score only 2 goals in the last 10 league games. Why then should we invest £11.3 in him, you ask?
For starters, Manchester United played the rest of the 'big 6' in their last 10 games. It's no secret that the Belgian fails to deliver against the big teams. Manchester United have a great run of fixtures now, and Lukaku has known to be lethal against minnows.
After a disastrous performance against rivals Manchester City, the big man will be looking for redemption. He scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Bournemouth and will be looking to add to his tally in the upcoming weeks.
Another major reason to consider the Belgian is simply the dearth of options. Alvaro Morata lacks match fitness and his minutes will surely be saved by Conte in this busy run of fixtures. Aguero and Jesus are constantly being rotated and it's near impossible for managers to use up their transfers trying to juggle them around.
Firmino also is being rotated a lot of late by Klopp. Lacazette has not been consistent for Arsenal and almost never plays a game in its entirety.
Harry Kane is the only other good option. However, with Manchester City, Burnley and a blank game week in the next 4 gameweeks, it'll be advisable to bring him in for his double gameweek and not before that. Romelu Lukaku is incredibly fit and is likely to feature in most, if not all of the games in this festive period.
