With six months of the 2021-22 Premier League season played and clubs enjoying an ersatz, staggered "winter break," this feels like a good time to look back and take stock.
While plenty of big-name players have lit up the league in the opening half of the campaign, many more have had to be content to wait patiently on the sidelines for a rare opportunity to impress. Very patiently.
Here we take a look at those fringe players at the "big six" clubs -- Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur -- who have struggled to establish themselves in the top flight this season, and who are perhaps hoping that the new year will usher in a fresh chance to make it off the bench and into their managers' first-team plans with a little more regularity.