## 1 Introduction  
In team sports, especially in soccer, the external workload quantification is measured through microtechnology such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) [1; 2; 3]. These systems quantify distances covered with different intensities, accelerations, and decelerations that allow to produce other measures such as player load and metabolic power [2; 3; 4]. It is well-known that high-intensity activities, such as accelerations and decelerations, can contribute to the most decisive action in soccer, such as scoring a goal [5]. In recent studies, higher values of accelerometer-based variables have been related with neuromuscular fatigue, which may increase the likelihood of injury [6; 7]. On one hand, accelerations have a higher metabolic cost [8], while decelerations have a higher mechanical load [9]; both actions can produce higher damage on soft-tissue structures due to their association with high load and force impact [10]. On the other hand, when these actions are not properly executed, a higher risk of fatigue and, consequently, injury may occur [11]. Because of these higher number of accelerations and decelerations, better load adjustment is required to avoid negative effects for soccer players. Another variable that could help to better adjust the load through the season is the metabolic power average (MPA), which allows to quantify energy expenditure, which contributes to reflect the average work intensity [12; 13]. The concept of this variable estimates the energy demands of acceleration and deceleration derived from GPS, and it assumes that linear acceleration and deceleration are the primary drivers of energy cost [13]. Moreover, soccer matches usually are related to the day of the week with higher workload [14; 15]. Thus, they induce significant biochemical and neuromuscular responses related to fatigue [7]. In this sense, only eleven players can participate in a competitive match, and for that reason, there are differences between starter and non-starter players. This also leads to different weekly training loads between starting and non-starting players [16]. These differences and discrepancies in physical workloads, between players with different status, could lead to differences in the training process [17]. Along with these differences, another problem can be to maintain higher levels of physical fitness in the entire team throughout the season, because of the organizational and traditional training practices inherent to professional soccer [18]. During the full season, some load variations may occur. One way to explore these variations are through the analysis of accumulated workload by microcycle and mesocycle across the season [19]. In this sense, some studies analyzed different periods of the season (pre-, early-, mid-, and end-season) in order to verify if starters presented, or not, higher values than non-starters [16; 17; 20]. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, few studies have analyzed the weekly variations of accelerometer and metabolic power variables for starters and non-starters throughout an entire season, which can assist better planning and periodization approaches for training prescriptions [16; 17], and no studies have included such variables simultaneously. For instance, [PERSON] et al. [16] showed that MPA training monotony and training strain presented higher values for starters than non-starters during the season analyzed in four different periods (pre-, early-, mid- and end-season), with a tendency to decrease from the beginning to the end of the season; while [PERSON] et al. [17] also found that training monotony and training strain, calculated through the number of accelerations and decelerations, presented higher values for starters than non-starters during the same periods, with pre-season revealing higher values than other periods of the season. None of the previous studies used an accumulated period analysis; instead, the accelerometer-based variables were used through indexes such training monotony and training strain [16; 17].