Fixture List

Help me out here. 

I'm looking at Yahoo!'s fixture listings for the next few weeks... Is it my imagination or are there some teams with more upcoming matches than others?  I'm going to break down what I'm seeing, but can someone/anyone help confirm these issues?

• This week (12/19-21) there is a full slate of matches.  Everyone plays once.
• Next week (12/26-30) is a double week. There will be a full slate of matches Saturday and Sunday, with the teams' second matches Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  Now if I'm reading this correctly Manchester United and Wigan DO NOT HAVE TWO MATCHES.  They are the only two teams playing once this matchweek.  [See the corrections in the comments below.]  Additionally, everyone has the second match after just one off day save for Liverpool, Bolton, Portsmouth and Arsenal who each have two days off before their second match.
• Matchweek 17, following the New Year (1/5-6) will consist of only two midweek matches - Stoke v. Fulham and Arsenal v. Bolton.
• The rest of January sees all teams in action four times with a double week sandwiched between two vanilla "everyone plays once on Saturday through Monday" weeks the last game of which is Sunderland v. Stoke on February 1.
• February then "starts" with a double week followed by two regular weeks.
  

Of course there is the added complications of teams participating and progressing in the FA and League Cups.  The next rounds are arleady scheduled, but weeks further out may be impacted by Cup games.

The League schedule has a hard stop this year because of the World Cup so we're likely to see a lot of fixture pile-up come the spring.

In the mean time, what does this all mean?  For me it means Rooney and Rodallega, while they would be tempting otherwise, are out of the discussion.  If you have Kirkland for ridiculously cheap you're going to lose a game unless you're in for the long haul.  Arsenal players become very attractive in the short-term and we'll try to keep up with who is actually available for selection at any given time.  It also puts Bolton players on the map, which if you've read the blog for any length of time, you know we don't bet on or against Bolton.  Unless we do.