Arsenal were the shock casualty from Sunday’s FA Cup third round encounter as the Gunners were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest, while other Premier League sides, Liverpool, Spurs and West Ham eased into the fourth round.
Elite FPL managers focused their transfer efforts on adding players with two games in the recent double gameweek, but did not move heaven and earth to alter their squads.
Arsenal showed they can thrive without axed star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the Gunners moved into fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-0 win against West Ham, while the top-flight's coronavirus crisis deepened on Wednesday.
Barcelona will face Napoli in the Europa League knockout round play-off stage after the Catalan giants crashed out in the Champions League group stage for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
The hectic festive fixture schedule often prompts a mixture of excitement and fear for FPL bosses, with Premier League sides likely to rotate more than usual during the congested period.
Manchester City and Liverpool took advantage of Chelsea's slip-up at West Ham on Saturday to climb above Thomas Tuchel's men in the three-way race for the Premier League title.
Jurgen Klopp felt Liverpool were on the wrong end of two key decisions as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at West Ham and missed out on a slice of history.
Antonio Conte got a glimpse of what life at Tottenham is like with a dramatic 3-2 win over Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League while West Ham edged towards the Europa League knockout stage despite 2-2 draw at Genk , but Leicester have work to do after being held 1-1 at home by Spartak Moscow.
West Ham ended Manchester City's four-year hold on the League Cup on Wednesday as Liverpool and Tottenham booked their places in the quarter-finals.
David Moyes has defended his decision to send Mark Noble on for a last-minute penalty after his miss cost West Ham a point against Manchester United.