Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 15

Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 15

What a Kun! Please feel free to alter and insert your own letters in that sentence accordingly… Yes, the little maestro returned to many a fantasy team this week and served up a reminder of why many others just didn’t bother. He did manage to break the hallowed 60 minute mark, just about, so at least that’s something. Ok, we are clutching at straws for you here. He did however, in typical and now almost inevitable fashion, exit stage left with a limp. Are you listening Alexis, limping after 60 is ok (ish), more on you later… It wasn’t as big a limp as that displayed by those who transferred out Kevin de Bruyne in order to finance the move though, as the Belgian sprang back to life with a goal, two assists and all three bonus points. A stark reminder as to why a couple of blank game-weeks really aren’t good enough reason to transfer out a big hitter on a whim. They command the big fees for a reason – they deliver the goods. They don’t and won’t deliver every single week, but it’s more often than not. Speaking of injury prone big hitters, what is it with these short, stocky South Americans and their dodgy hamstrings. We refer of course to the aforementioned Sanchez who didn’t quite make the 60 minute mark and quite possibly won’t make the next few weeks judging by that grimace as he clutched said hamstring on his way off. Speaking of the next few weeks, let’s go see who has it good and who has it rough as we explore the fixtures ahead…

The Tracker…
We have rated each teams fixtures on a sliding scale. Remember that this is just our opinion and you may feel differently but if nothing else it gives you a nice easy visual aid as to each teams upcoming games…

We do have a comprehensive library of other useful trackers including the all singing, all dancing interactive one from Calvin Clyne and you can find them all here – Fixture Trackers

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FAVOURABLE FIXTURES

Manchester United – West Ham (H), Bournemouth (A), Norwich (H)
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[/three_fourth]A lot can be, and has been said about Manchester United and the style of play under Louis Van Gaal but each week The Red Devils continue to pick up points. A 1-1 draw with Leicester isn’t exactly the most colourful of results but given the form shown by the recent league leaders and current second placed team, a point away from home is a decent one. Bayern legend Bastain Schweinsteiger’s goal cancelled out man-of-the-moment Jamie Vardy’s record breaking opener as United again scrapped their way to a result, giving us clear indication of what lies ahead. A so far rock-solid defence looks very appealing over the next three games and if form can improve at the other end of the field, there may well be a lot of FPL points up for grabs via United cover. United’s back-line does however still look to be the most consistent source of points.

Not long ago, West Ham were being drooled over, and rightly so, as their attacking play dazzled many an unsuspecting foe. Summer signing Dmitri Payet was hacking through defence after defence but now that their talisman is sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Hammers are beginning to struggle. Two away defeats on the bounce and no wins in four suggests this game is there for the taking for the home side. Payet is the type needed to unlock this staunch United defence but without him it’s hard to see West Ham hurting United. Still, it wouldn’t be the first time the Hammers upset United but all things considered, we’re favouring the home side to take the points this time around.

Just what everyone wants to see – a juicy fixture against Bournemouth. Recent draws with Everton and Swansea have come somewhat of a surprise after a dreadful run of defeats for the Cherries but all is not well just yet. Five goals have been shipped in those games which is worrying, and there has also been some iffy defending from the opposition too. United generally don’t give away silly goals these days though and even with the below par production of United’s forwards, a comfortable win looks a very likely outcome in this fixture. Eddie Howe will have to work a minor miracle to pull off a win here, or even a draw, but we cant see an upset happening. Famous last words!

Back to Old Trafford for our final featured game for United and it too is one that is easy on the eye. Free-falling Norwich City are the visitors in a game that promises much the same outcome as the Bournemouth game. Not much to worry about for United at the back, with the opportunity to put a few away at the other end. Arsenal gave up two points to the Canaries last time out but that is just the second result in six with four defeats to boot. That three point cushion over the drop zone may not be there for long and victory at Old Trafford doesn’t seem likely.

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Chelsea – Bournemouth (H), Leicester (A), Sunderland (H)
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[/three_fourth]This season has so far turned out to be an absolute nightmare for Chelsea. Between in-house shenanigans with club doctors, rumored bust-ups with players and an unprecedented amount of defeats, The Special / Happy / Moaning One is under pressure, big-time. A string of results is needed very quickly and a couple of recent, decent, results might just set them off. Or not. Whatever way we look at it, the games ahead do look very appealing and as well as that, they are must win affairs. The goals are still fairly hard to come by for Chelsea as Costa, Hazard and Pedro continue to be outshone in most weeks by Willian, of all people, but the Blues back-line has begun to to show something. Two clean sheets on the bounce against Norwich and Spurs will be most welcome for Jose and there may well be a few more on the horizon as the fixture schedule takes a steep increase in favourability.

Ah, our old friends again, Bournemouth. How hilarious would it be if they rocked up to Stamford Bridge and got a win? Jose’s P45 would be in his office waiting for him after the game, that’s for sure! It’s probably on standby every week these days days though, to be fair. If only there was a prayer for The Cherries in this one. Even an out of form Chelsea should have no problem dispatching Bournemouth and even failure to keep a clean sheet will, and should be, seen as disappointing. Many fantasy managers taking the plunge on Eden Hazard as a replacement for Alexis Sanchez will be hoping for big things from this fixture and it’s easy to see that it could, COULD, be a breakout week for the Belgian.

Now here’s an intriguing game. What the Champions make of this Leicester team will either highlight Chelsea’s slight improvement from a few weeks back, or, once again show the frailties that have squeaked their way into the fabric. In seasons gone by, The Blue Machine would arrive for fixtures like this full of confidence and nullify the opposition but this Leicester team doesn’t lie down for anybody. Fourteen teams have now failed to record a clean sheet against Leicester so Chelsea have their work cut out. Much like United last weekend, a draw would be an acceptable result given the form of both teams but, if Jose can get his defence solid again then Chelsea could sneak a win here. A draw sounds more plausible though, to be fair.

It’s unusual to see Sunderland out of the bottom three in the form table, and indeed the actual league table itself! They have managed it though and since Sam Allardyce took the reigns from Dick Advocaat there has been a sizable improvement. Three wins from the last six outings, including two on the trot in recent weeks, is a far cry from the regular beating the players have been used to but, in an away tie with Chelsea, we feel it’s a game that will be be one step too far for them. Recent history weighs heavily in Chelsea’s favor with the Blues succumbing to just just three defeats since 2001 against Sunderland in a total of twenty-three games, eighteen of which were victories.

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Liverpool – Newcastle (A), West Brom (H), Watford (H)
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[/three_fourth]If the management hadn’t been changed, who knows if Liverpool would have ever made this article again. Luckily for the Scouse contingent the change was made before it was too late and, more importantly, it was a good change too. Liverpool all-of-a-sudden find themselves in the top four of the form table with just one defeat from the last six accompanied by a pair of draws and three wins. Not exactly Championship form, but a lot better than the “Championship” form shown a couple of months back, we think you’ll agree. Looking forward, we see a number of games that are favourable and indeed winnable for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping Phillipe Coutinho will return to action sooner rather than late and, if he does, these games look all the more interesting for us fantasy folk. The nifty Brazilian had been looking razor sharp in recent weeks and will be needed to keep thing ticking over in the Liverpool attack.

Another week, another complete humiliation for Newcastle and increasingly under fire boss, Steve McClaren. No matter what route the Toon go, things seem to unravel quickly more often than not, and this season is proving no different. A very brief turnaround in fortunes has been followed by two big defeats at the hands of Leicester and Crystal Palace to the tune of a combined 8-1, suggests Liverpool will have an easy afternoon’s work ahead, especially if young Coutinho makes a return to the starting lineup. Even without him Liverpool should stroll to a win in this game with Dutch international Georginio Wijnaldum being the only obvious threat to them. Once he’s quiet, then so are Newcastle.

Back-to-back home games is always a welcome sight and that’s what Liverpool have in game-weeks sixteen and seventeen. West Brom are the first to make the trip to Anfield, a team who on their day can frustrate the life out of anyone, as much away from home as they can do in home comforts. In seven league away days to date, the Baggies have only conceded five times, which is an excellent statistic and one Tony Pulis will want to see extended further. Still, Palace, United and West Ham managed to break them down and we think Liverpool will too and this is usually enough to result in a victory against one of the leagues lowest scoring teams. An ugly home win seems a likely outcome.

Okay, so a meeting with Watford isn’t looking as appealing as it was a while back, but is it a fixture to view with any degree of worry for the teams aiming high in the table? Not really. The Hornets have shown they can keep things relatively tight at times and with Troy Deeney now finding some form, to go along with that of Odion Ighalo, the Watford puzzle is getting a bit more complex as the season wears on. It would still take a brave man to bet against a home win here and Klopp and his players will be very disappointed if the three points are not won, in comfortable fashion.

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Arsenal – Sunderland (H), Aston Villa (A), Manchester City (H)
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[/three_fourth]Arsenal have taken a bit of a dip recently, much to the displeasure of those who have doubled, or even tripled up on their players in recent weeks. No clean sheets in three and, more worryingly, no wins in that time, has seen the Gunners drop to fourth in the table albeit just a couple of points off top spot. Still, wins in these games, are they were winnable, would have seen Arsenal sitting pretty with a comfortable lead. Injuries to Laurent Koscielny and talisman Alexis Sanchez will no doubt hinder them going forward but with two excellent fixtures ahead, followed by a clash with Manchester City suggests there is more than enough opportunity to get back to winning ways. The shining light this season has unquestionably been Mesut Ozil. The German slickster has been outstanding in most games and will be needed more than ever if Arsenal are to keep in touch with City and, errr Leicester.

As stated, the Gunners have two very handy games up next and the first of those is a home tie with Sunderland. Sanchez owners will surely have been looking at this game as one where the Chilean could be entrusted with the armband and left to do his thing against weaker opposition. Now he’s a big doubt, Arsenal will turn to Olivier Giroud and the aforementioned Mesut Ozil to deliver the creativity and firepower needed to scoop the points. The slight improvement in the Black Cats means a slightly tougher afternoon’s work but it’s hard to look past the home side and they may still batter Sunderland, Alexis or no Alexis.

Aston Villa are next in the firing line, in a game where all hell could break loose. Five defeats and one draw form the last six league games is not what any manager likes to see but that’s what Remi Garde is dealing with and, in truth, there may not be a whole lot the new man can do to stop the avalanche of goals going in. Twelve goals conceded in six matches is bad, but with a lonesome, weird 0-0 with City involved, those goals have come in five games and it would come as no surprise to see Arsenal add to that tally by a couple at least. Ozil and Cazorla will be looking at Villa’s weak midfield as one they can exploit for ninety-minutes and if they can create about ten chances for Giroud, he may even get himself a brace.

Now, a sharp drop in favourability if ever there was one! From Sunderland and Villa, to Manchester City. City have been yo-yo’ing a bit in recent weeks as Manuel Pellegrini has understandably struggled to keep on top of a mounting injury list, most of which have been star players or ones who would usually be at the very least competing closely for a first team spot. This chopping and changing has resulted in some unpredictable results and if Arsenal can get Alexis Sanchez back for this game before Sergio Aguero finds his feet again then they could conceivably win this game. A score draw does seem the most likely outcome though so any attacking jewels from either team remain good shouts and, you never know – if both teams are firing then we could well be in for a cracker.

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Tottenham – West Brom (A), Newcastle (H), Southampton (A)
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[/three_fourth]Everton were, and continue to be a great shout for us fantasy managers this season and they could well have been allocated this last slot for this weeks favourable section. However, with so much being talked about them we’ve decided to have a look at another team in their place, and that team is Spurs. Still undefeated since that early season snooze-fest against United, Spurs have this season been something that they haven’t been in a long time: solid. The resurgence of Harry Kane was halted momentarily last time by Chelsea but going forward, the English international is highly touted to keep the goals coming, and indeed keep Spurs on the march toward their goal, a return to the top four. They may fall short of that in the end but ahead lie a number of fixtures that will be viewed as winnable and we feel they’ve got the form to get a lot of points, both in the league and of course FPL wise, over the next couple of months.

First up is an away trip to West Brom. The Baggies are usually rock solid but have shown this season, on occasion, that they can be hammered if pressure can be kept on them. Home form has been weaker than usual for Pulis’ men and they have managed just two wins from the last six at home, with Chelsea, Everton and Leicester all managing to score three times against them. This bodes well for Spurs and they have done well against West Brom in recent times. Eriksen has scored in two games on the bounce at the Hawthorns while Harry Kane has gone one goal better in those same games, which makes for good reading for those with Spurs cover. It might be a tight affair but either way we favour Spurs to come out on top in this one.

Game-week sixteen throws up a juicy fixture for us to sink our teeth into. There are some teams that the better sides in the league just love to play at home on a Saturday afternoon and Newcastle are certainly one of those teams. All evidence suggests the Toon are in for a pasting in this one as Spurs have been excellent at home all season while Newcastle have been utter dirt, be it home or away. Eriksen, Kane, Alli, Alderweireld, Walker – hell, even Lloris might get in on the act in this one! As close to a banker win as we dare to predict, this could be a week for a sneaky Kane / Eriksen pick for captain, with a monster haul one or both being quite possible. Or guaranteed. Again, famous last words!

Lastly, a match-up with Southampton at St Mary’s. Not exactly a fixture that that drops with jaw by any stretch, this will probably turn out to be a tough game, as it usually is for most teams. Southampton have been pretty good so far but there have also been signs that all is not as well as it once was. There’s only so many in’s and out’s a club can take but in fairness they’re doing the best they can. A perfectly split two wins, two draws and two defeats from the last six games shows that things maybe aren’t as they should be and if that doesn’t change in the coming weeks then the Saints will be in for a tough evening against Spurs. It might end up all square but we’re going to shade it for Spurs based on current form and momentum.

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BE WARY OF…
Aston Villa – Southampton (A), Arsenal (H), Newcastle (A)
Micah Richards had a lot to say for himself this week but to be fair to him he as at least backed it up in fantasy terms with a goal to his name. The bad news was that he probably only made the bench for most managers that owned him, given Villa’s defensive record. Sure enough, they conceded a few as we expected they might. They’ll be conceding a few more in the weeks ahead as well as they visit Southampton and then play host to Arsenal. GW17 sees them go to Newcastle in the battle of the feckless so that one could be anything from 0-0 to 5-5.

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Bournemouth – Chelsea (A), Man United (H), West Brom (A)
They’re not going down without a fight these Cherries. They are however going down, we fear. They somehow grasped a last gasp point against Everton but that may be just papering over the very visible cracks left by so many unfortunate injuries. The next three above look tough and even beyond those they have Palace and Arsenal on the horizon. On a lighter note we did laugh on Saturday as one unfortunate manager who tweeted us said “sold KdB to Stanilas so I wouldn’t have to worry about benching a point scorer”. You’ve got to love FPL at times…

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Sunderland – Arsenal (A), Watford (H), Chelsea (A)
The Big Sam comeback is on! Two wins in two has seen them clamber out of the relegation zone and we wouldn’t be wholly surprised to see them somehow secure their Premier League status once more. Before plunging into the relegation zone once again next season, replacing their manager and then climbing to safety… repeat, etc. Regardless of any resurgence we still wouldn’t touch them from a fantasy point of view and especially so given their next few fixtures. Add in that they face Man City and Liverpool after those mentioned above and their ‘comeback’ will be severely tested.

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Stoke – Man City (H), West Ham (A), Palace (H)
A 0-2 loss to Sunderland just about summed up Stoke’s season so far. Inconsistent at best, capable of beating the likes of Chelsea and Southampton, capable of losing to the likes of Sunderand, they can’t be trusted and boast the least goals scored in the league with just 11 so far. With such a poor tally it’s a surprise they aren’t lower than 12th but that tells you that when they do score they make it count with a resolute defence and a narrow victory. So with their attack out of the question would we back their defence for these fixtures? Probably not! Their next three look daunting and beyond that they have Man Utd and Everton.

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One Week Wonders
Let’s chase goals! This is our weekly ‘punt’ where we attempt to pinpoint any games or teams where we feel there may be a high chance of goals and therefore fantasy points on offer…

1) Arsenal v Sunderland
Sunderland’s new found resolution will be severely tested this weekend as they visit the Gunners while boasting the joint worst away goals record with 18 conceded on their travels so far. We wouldn’t bet against them adding a few more to that unwanted tally in this one.

2) Newcastle v Liverpool
Sky show this game every season, without fail, simply so they can roll out the highlights of the previous 4-3 epic encounters of many a moon ago. We don’t expect a 4-3 but Liverpool have scored 7 in their last 2 away games and those were at tougher places than Newcastle in the shape of Chelsea and Man City. For their part, the Toon now have the joint worst goals against record in the league with 30 conceded.

3) Everton v Crystal Palace
Only Man City have scored more goals at home than Everton and the Toffees have notched 14 in their last 4 games alone. Palace come into this having just knocked 5 past Newcastle. Both teams are in form in front of goal then and this should be a high scoring encounter.

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Fixture Fun
We have Capital One Cup quarter finals to contend with this midweek which means that Everton, Stoke and Man City all play on Tuesday and Southampton and Liverpool do battle on Wednesday.

Be sure to keep an eye and ear out for any news after those have finished.

GW15 DEADLINE
We have an early game on Saturday in the shape of Stoke v Man City at 12.45pm and so we are back to our normal deadline of 11.45am, UK time.

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Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 15 – Fantasy Premier League 2015-16. This article was written by Inittowinit and NIN

Follow @AdamalcockFF247