In the words of Andy Williams, "It's the most wonderful time of the year" with 10 deadlines (that's over 25% of the season) within just 36 days.
And it's due to the craziness involved in this, that I've decided to make the most boring of transfers this week and bring in Diogo Jota.
As with his teammate earlier in the season, Jota is too much of a gift to turn down. Available at just £7.8m, playing up front for arguably the best attacking team in the league, and his main competition for his place is injured, with no sign of his coming back to full fitness yet.
Even when Firmino does come back, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah are liekly to be leaving for AFCON at the back end of December/early January, meaning that Jota will be likely to take up one of those roles, if Firmino is back fit with Jota likely to be the main hope of goals (apart from Firmino's inevitable hot spell over Xmas that happens every year).
Whilst I looked at other options, namely Ilkay Gundogan and James Maddison, but Jota's goal threat outweighs the both of them this season, per appearance stats shown below (image from the Fantasy Football Scout Members area)
Gundogan and Maddison both offer more of a creative threat than Jota, and the Portuguese international is the more expensive option of the three (Maddison is a very affordable £6.6m), but is the more secure in his starting position currenty (watch him get rested tonight now) and has the added advantage of playing out of position. With so much going on over the next few weeks, it sometimes makes the most sense to take the easiest decisions.
In terms of line-up, I'm going for a 4-4-2 this week, but a little concerned at the comments from Tuchel about Reece James today, but he's a keeper so I wouldn't even dream of selling him. Salah perma-captain as always.
