Fantasy Football Fixtures and Tips Game-week 18

Fantasy Football Fixtures and Tips Game-week 18

Actual football and fantasy football have a lot in common of course but this week reminded us of a crucial difference in that we as managers don’t have a billionaire Russian judging our performance from the stands. Which is probably just as well this season as we wouldn’t be talking to a bunch of Cookies, Kops and Mitos right now, we’d talking to their fancy new replacements Biscuit, Trafford and, well, probably Mito, given his teflon like qualities. Point is that we run our own fantasy team from top to bottom, we make the transfer decisions right down to washing the spoiled undies at the end of each week. One such manager, who took this analogy a bit too literally, not so long back, is this weeks Fixtures writer NIN. For those that don’t remember – he lost it, turned all Roman on himself and actually sacked the manager! Having seen sense he has fortunately since reinstated said manager and is back with us once more. He may be prone to the odd x-rated rant on site but when it comes to actual football knowledge he’s all over it and we just wanted to take this opportunity to thank him for not only being a regular site contributor on the forums but for also stepping up so ably and giving us many a great fixtures article this season.

The more eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that this weeks edition is entitled Fixtures and Tips and so to explain – this is because we are on holiday wind down and time is tight this week so we are going to give you the usual run-down on which teams have the best fixtures over the next three weeks and on top of that the players from each of those teams that we fancy will do well and then at the end we will look at One Week Wonders, as per usual, but also look at some specific players that we feel merit consideration just for this coming week.

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
Arsenal – Southampton (A), Bournemouth (H), Newcastle (H)
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[/three_fourth]Having just about seen off Man City Zippy should, and will surely be looking at these next three games for Arsenal as ones that are there for the taking, bringing in a sweet nine points over the busy period. Just what the doctor ordered. In truth, it couldn’t be laid out any better for them with a trip to struggling Southampton being the first, a team who have lost four of the last five and the solitary point earned was against Championship bound Aston Villa. At St Mary’s. Dreadful. And not what most expected from them. We think Arsenal will do away with them pretty easily this time around. Now, here we go, possible huge Fantasy points available in these next two. Bournemouth, although doing pretty darn well for themselves recently, can’t really be expected to rock up to the Emirates and pull off an upset. If they can pull off the win it would complete an incredible run of results but the home side are strong favorites, and rightfully so. The last of our featured fixtures is one that could get very messy. Traditionally a team who takes big-time beatings throughout a season, Newcastle can never really be fancied in a fixture like this. Could they do it? Maybe, under crazy circumstances perhaps, but they wont. Arsenal all the way in this one and, again, things could get very, very messy!

With that lovely run fresh in our minds, some consideration for which players from Arsenal to have in our squads is the next step, in an attempt to maximize their sweet schedule over the busy festive period. To their owners frustration, the Gunners defence has somewhat softened in recent weeks with very few clean sheets or attacking returns to be seen. There are points to be had in these coming games though and any one of the back-line could do well. Ex-Chelsea stopper Petr Cech has been ever present in the league this season and has done as well as was expected of the big man. He’ll be the most nailed on for the December madness and would be a shrewd pickup, if there happened to be a situation where what ‘Keeper to have was the main issue with your team! Unlikely, but hey, he’s worth a mention for sure. Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin are featured in many a Fantasy squad around these parts so we turn our attention to Laurent Koscielny this week. At the time of writing the Frenchman’s ownership is a lowly 10.9% and, with the covered schedule, could be a great addition if he were to grab an attacking return or two.

Mesut Ozil continues to steal the headlines for Wenger’s army and rightly deserves the spotlight. After a blistering start to his Arsenal career, ol’ Gizmo petered out for a long period but now looks like the creative force we saw at Real Madrid. He has hit the back of the net just twice thus far but a staggering fifteen assists clocked-up highlights just where he is at the moment. Everywhere. How the body of former FPL-Gold Aaron Ramsey will hold up in these coming games is a worry, but should he manage to pull through and play a decent amount then we feel like he’ll be a great differential pickup. Featuring in just 4.4% of teams so far and straight back in the goals once shifted to a more favored central role, the Welsh dynamo can be the huge-haul-scoring, outside-the-box scoring FPL player to get some of us out of a hole and get climbing these poxy rankings. We know from past how good he can be and is definite Captain material when in one of these purple patches. This might be one just ahead. Finally, a quick mention for Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud who can do very well on their day but it’s just too hard to know which will play when both are fit although both did against City and both scored!

Favoured selections: Petr Cech, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil

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Manchester City – Sunderland (H), Leicester (A), Watford (A)
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[/three_fourth]A few short months ago, who would have thought that early season wrecking balls Manchester City would be trailing anyone in this league at Christmas, let alone a bunch of savage Foxes? That’s the reality though and Pellegrini needs to work his squad carefully over this break or risk more crippling injuries. Wins are needed, and the fixtures are there. It looked, for a short time at least, that Big Sam had done his thing again and gave Sunderland a much needed lift but three defeats on the spin is a big setback. Granted, two were against in-form Watford and Arsenal, but they got spanked by Chelsea too, so all is not well and City are primed to dismantle them with ease, even more so if the last of the injuries ease up on City. A Brutal encounter is next for City as they travel to everyone’s new favorite team, Leicester City. How on earth does one go about predicting this match? Much like the Leicester v Everton game, there will probably be a lot of goals scored and which way it goes is up to anyone. Still, having attacking cover from both teams will be as much of a must as ever, making this a favorable fixture for us all. Another in-form team round us off but again it’s hard to ignore the City attack in these games. Watford are giving a good account of themselves but even so City are the big favorites here, especially if “you know who” is back in business.

Is there anything good to be said for the Manchester City defence? Not really, in fairness. They started off really well but without Big Vinny, they’re very suspect. Joe Hart will as usual remain the only nailed on City defensive payer so we feel like he’s the shout if you must venture this way. Pretty much all of their outfield defence can be great picks but who plays and when is about as big a minefield as any in the world of FPL. Nicolas Otamendi is currently selected by just 1.1% of teams and has a proven record of scoring goals, making him an interesting punt if one has the cohones to go there. He’s our tip this week but, again, be extra vigilant with City defence and have some worthy backup lying around if possible. If not, then maybe look elsewhere for defenders as the City attack is where all the action is and that’s what we’ll look at now..

He’s not been back from injury very long but we have already seen a few flashes of the brilliance that is David Silva. City have missed him badly over the last while and although not fully up to speed just yet, he’s their main man in midfield and as his fitness improves we feel he’ll return pretty quickly to the form from last season that saw him net twelve times, and gain the same amount of assists, in a little under thirty full games, minutes wise. An extremely healthy level of production, we think you’ll agree. And it’s not just himself that will benefit from more game-time, Belgian maestro Kevin De Bruyne will be loving the prospect of playing with, and feeding off a player of Silva’s quality and is one who could take advantage of the extra opportunities coming his way. For an explosive player, 26.8% ownership at the time of writing isn’t all that high but a price-tag of £10.8m most certainly is. If carefully managed, KDB could be City’s main man over this period, quite easily.

Two who have been on the periphery this season happen to be two of City’s absolute best players. They are, of course, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero. A lot has been said about Yaya but one fact remains: he can play through this grueling schedule no problem and has the ability to rack up big points. Aguero is having a mare, even by his standards. One eruption vs Newcastle and a screamer against Liverpool is about all he has done this season but we know what the story is with him. Have him at the right times or suffer badly, basically. Both come with risk but both come with big potential, and a bit of differential too.

Favoured selections: Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Sergio Aguero

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West Brom – Swansea (A), Newcastle (H), Stoke (H)
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[/three_fourth]Although victims of the Bournemouth mini-revival, West Brom have a number of good games ahead and as usual it will be the stern defence that will see the most points. Some untimely red cards for James McClean and Salomon Rondon may actually see even more emphasis on defence than usual, making this a potentially good time to invest in one of their cheap delights and hope for the best! Our first featured game is against a team in a bad place these days, Swansea City. After a solid start to the season there was talk of a European place come season end but that all looks laughable now. Oh how the times change. A dreadful run of results has seen them plummet and we see WBA as a team who should be able to frustrate the life out of them and get a 0-0 or maybe a 0-1 win. Typical Pulis. A pair of home games follows (always a good sign) against two very differing, but in a way similarly appealing teams. First is everyone’s favorite whooping boys, Newcastle. Not that West Brom will whoop them or anything but much like the Swansea game, a 1-0 looks nailed on for the home side, or maybe even the dizzying heights of, wait for it… 2-0 could be achieved! Now, on to Stoke. They’re doing well this season despite the defeat to Palace last time out. They themselves have been doing really well defensively whilst being utter garbage up front most of the time, as their tally of just fourteen goals to date clearly shows. If this doesn’t end 0-0, then we give up altogether as there will be no hope left. Plan a snooze for this one, it’ll probably be a stinker.

This should be funny. A tips section for a team with pretty much no attacking players worth picking up for the most part! This wont take long. As it stands, West Brom’s four highest scoring players are Boaz Myhill (70), Craig Dawson (60), Gareth McAuley (53) and James Morrison (48). Three defensive player in there says it all and any one of those, plus of course Jonny Evans might be a worthy pickup for these few weeks. If money happens to be an issue and you’re feeling punty enough then Jonas Olsson comes in at a nifty £4.3m and just 0.6% ownership but whether he plays all these games is another issue. Morrison is the only real option as far as mid’s are concerned but he’s not much cheaper than someone like Bamidele Alli so there’s no real point in buying him. Up front, Salomon Rondon is banned until the 13th of January, meaning his spot is free for a few games and this actually brings the only viable attacking option for West Brom, and it’s still dodgy. Berahino and Lambert will battle it out for the spot but we feel that Berahino’s pace will give him the edge and he may do well in these games. After all, there’s no-one else to put the ball in the net!

Favored selections: Boaz Myhill, Craig Dawson, Gareth McAuley

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Crystal Palace – Bournemouth (A), Swansea (H), Chelsea (H)
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[/three_fourth]Victory away at Stoke capped off a solid last six games for Palace. The only eyesore is the loss to Sunderland but four wins and a draw against good opposition has more than made up for it. Ticking along nicely and with some good games ahead Palace might be worth a shout for the festivities as a nice differential, if picked well. We start with an away day at Bournemouth and as previously mentioned, they’ve done well recently. Still, Palace are capable of putting a few past them and with good form on their side, we feel they’ll do enough to scoop the points and soar back to London for a cosy home game with Swansea. The latter have been nosediving in recent weeks and it’s hard to see them beating, or even drawing with Palace just now. The way this season is going though, you just never know but we’re going for a home win. Lastly, we have an interesting encounter as fellow Londoner’s Chelsea are the visitors. Jose was given his marching orders after a truly horrendous run and it’s hard to argue with the decision. The team did seem to respond a bit last time out but Sunderland are no benchmark themselves, to say the least. It all depends which Chelsea turn up but if they aren’t on their game yet then Palace will probably beat them or at least earn a score draw.

The pre-season conundrum of who would be the Palace keeper looks to have been finally solved. Wayne Hennessey has not let the side down as of yet and continues to pick up decent FPL returns. Save points are coming in most games as you would expect for a team like Palace and any clean-sheets added to those tends to result in good scores for Hennessey. Cheap as chips, he’s a great pick going forward as a budget friendly option. Scott Dann is having a great season so far, as evident from the 0.5m rise from his starting price. Some clean-sheets, a few goals and a solid ten bonus-points see him well up there with the highest scoring defenders so far. Ward and Souare have been popular so far but in truth there’s not much between the two and the same could be said for Delaney too. All dirt cheap and capable of good scores.

On the offensive side we have what basically amounts to a bunch of hot-and-cold budget options just waiting for us to waste a transfer on, or hit the jackpot for a big week or two. Interestingly, Johan Cabaye is the only Palace midfielder with an ownership higher than 10% (14.3%). That’s still a pretty low number and may be lower by next game-week. Set-piece duty is favorable for us Fantasy managers and Johan can supply both goals and assists form them, as well as having a knack for getting on the end of things too. £6.6m is a fair price should he be fit for the coming weeks. A touch cheaper again, for £6.2m, is Yannick Bolasie who comes in at just 6.1% ownership and could prove a huge differential if he has one of those big weeks that he’s capable of. It would be no surprise to see either of these two rack up some good numbers over the next few weeks if Palace can keep their form up. The remaining attackers like Puncheon, Zaha and Wickham are what they are, punts. Whether or not it’s worth going for one of these when the other two have so few owners is another matter. Probably not, in truth.

Favoured selections: Scott Dann, Yohan Cabaye, Yannick Bolasie

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BE WARY OF…
Stoke City – Manchester United (H), Everton (A), West Brom (A)
Stoke have been in good form of late and managed to pick up some unlikely points too along the way against City and Chelsea. Okay, maybe not so much the latter but still. Jack Butland owners might now be reliant on saves alone as fixtures get a bit tougher over the festive period for the Potters. United are next in line and although they’re in shocking form themselves you’d have to think a response is coming at some stage. Either way, it will be made very hard for Stoke and doesn’t really offer much. The toughest of the three games is Everton away and they too have hit a bit of a slump recently, although, a loss to Leicester is becoming a formality these days rather than a possibility! Everton should have no problems with Stoke either way and lastly is that snooze fest mentioned earlier. A clean-sheet in this game looks like all there is for Stoke in these games.

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Watford – Chelsea (A), Tottenham (H), Manchester City (H)
Before we begin, Watford’s inclusion in this section is not to say that Ighalo, Deeney etc are to be sold or benched by any means but you should at least give consideration to the fixtures should you be looking to actually purchase either or any. Watford and the aforementioned forwards have been excellent recently but as always in this league, a horrid run of games comes about and can quickly halt everything. Stamford Bridge is the destination for the first game over Christmas and Chelsea will be looking to capitalize on their recent win against Sunderland. Hiddink has been here before and knows his stuff so expect improvements at Chelsea, they really couldn’t get much worse! Two home games follow but unfortunately, they’re against two very good sides in Tottenham and City. Spurs are really taking shape under Pocchetino and have been playing some good stuff all season. A tough evening lies ahead there. Then City, well, it’s City. They could lose 2-0 or produce a master-class and blow Watford away. It will likely be something in between.

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Swansea – West Brom (H), Crystal Palace (A), Manchester Untied (A)
Swansea’s demise has been well spoken about so we wont dwell too much on that. Form is bad and that’s all we need to know. Travelling to West Brom doesn’t bode well for Swansea just now. Even with an iffy attack Pulis’ men really should have no problem in this game. Where the Bafetimbi Gomis form from a few months ago has gone is anybody’s guess but he’ll have to produce something in this game. We’ve covered the Palace game already so lastly it’s Old Trafford and Manchester United. Far from the fortress of the Ferguson days, OT is no longer intimidating but still Swansea will not be looking forward to it after a couple of games in quick succession. A home win is the favored outcome but the Swans have p*ssed in United’s corn-flakes before. Still, even this useless United should have enough to beat Swansea. They better!

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Southampton – Arsenal (H), West Ham (A), Norwich (A)
Okay, so not the most daunting of fixtures in those three, but over a short burst of games it doesn’t read all too favorable for a team in their form. Scoring few, conceding too many, it’s all gone wrong for Southampton recently. Just one home game over the festivities and it’s against Arsenal, typical for a struggling side. Kicked while down. Having predictably stuttered after an injury to star player Dimitri Payet a while back, West Ham have at least finally tightened up a bit. They’re not going to batter anyone but with the Saints looking so poor up front a narrow home win looks a likely outcome here. Again, not the scariest of fixtures here but Norwich are a team that gives their all every game and they will at least give Southampton a tough afternoon, after a tough week. Unless the games against Arsenal and West Ham go well for Koeman then he may well be the latest to feel the boardroom heat in the Premier League.

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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. Last week we struggled to find more than one to feature but sure enough it did as Everton and Leicester shared five between them. This week we are spoilt for choice! Here are our choices but also our one week tips from each.

Chelsea v Watford
Both scored three last time out and both will fancy their chances of scoring a few more this week. Chelsea will be under new management for this one and that alone usually boosts performance (Villa fans look away in shame). Watford have won their last four games and score more away than they do at home (Liverpool fans look away in shame).

One Week Tip: Odion Ighalo
Would you bet against him continuing this fine form? Probably not. If we had him we’d be happy to play him here despite this traditionally looking like a ‘home win banker’. How times have changed indeed as it actually doesn’t look like that any more at all! With Watford in this mood anything can happen and they are better on the road.

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Liverpool v Leicester
Leicester have now scored 21 goals on their travels which is more than twice as many as Liverpool have scored at home. Let’s not forget though that they won hearts and minds last time out at Anfield with the much celebrated… erm… draw with West Brom. They scored two anyway and despite Leicester being top they have conceded the joint most goals of anyone in the top thirteen. Both will score here and probably a few to boot.

One Week Tip: Riyad Mahrez
Not so much a one week tip as a season long one now and potential captain material every week! The fact that he can produce brilliantly from open play is supplemented by the addition of penalties as he displayed against Everton. If you haven’t got him yet then… no words

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Man City v Sunderland
Only Leicester have scored more than City and they are at home to a team who have conceded the most goals against in total and by far and away the most goals against away from home. They are on 24 against on the road in just 9 games and their nearest challengers have conceded 5 less. City, goals…

One Week Tip: Sergio Aguero
With the likes of Suarez and Ronaldo having departed to sunnier climes we are left with very few players who at least carry the potential to strike fear in the hearts of those who don’t own them. Especially when the the fixture reads Sunderland (home). The trouble is that Kun has showed that explosiveness just once this season. The trouble is that we know it can come at any given moment. He causes more FPL headaches than any other and for a variety of reasons! Dare you or dare you not, that is the question.

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Spurs v Norwich
One of those nearest challengers to Sunderland’s away record is Norwich who boast 19 conceded on the road but they have managed to score 11 away which is decent and 4 more than Man City have! This one could be a decently high score affair then as Spurs themselves are the 4th highest scoring home team in the league and the 5th overall.

One Week Tip: Harry Kane
If Kun is ‘Level 1’ explosiveness material then Harry is probably ‘Level 2’ in most peoples thoughts but much like Kun there isn’t a great deal of evidence to actually back that up this season! The feeling is still there though, as evidenced by his hat-trick at Bournemouth and the sudden clamour to get him in for Newcastle at home two weeks ago. Which went well! Norwich at home feels like another such game but again we are being suckered in. Or are we?

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Newcastle v Everton
Newcastle may not score a great deal but when they do it’s generally at home as no other team in the bottom half has scored more at home than them (14) and only four teams in the top half actually have. Everton score more at home but are still the joint 5th highest scoring team away from home. Both will attack this one with relish and we should see goals as a result.

One Week Tip: Romelu Lukaku
We used to lament that Lukaku was inconsistent and disappointing at best. Now we simply lament that all he’s done is score just once! He’s hot in pursuit of Vardy’s new scoring record and we certainly wouldn’t bet against him getting one step closer this week.

Southampton v Arsenal
Arsenal like an away goal being 2nd only to Leicester in that respect with 18 of their 29 so far being on the road. Southampton are on a poor run as per above and have conceded more at home than any of the actual bottom three have with 13 against. We’d expect Arsenal to notch a few here.

One Week Tip: Aaron Ramsey
Fit, back in his favorite position and suddenly producing. Coincidence? Probably not. He’s showing glimpses once more of what we expected given last seasons glimpses! He did a more disciplined job against Man City but even so managed to get himself forward at times and will be unleashed more in this one.

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Fixture Fun – Deadlines!
This is the bit where you need to pay attention, get your diaries or phones out, set some reminders, write them on post-it notes, whatever works for you… Here are the deadlines ahead.

We’ve added in GW21 there because despite it not really being part of the Christmas fixtures it is still worth noting as it’s an odd one being on a Tuesday evening and the first one back after the break.

Article Schedule
In order to manage expectations over the holiday period and this week in particular we will be on a scaled back version of our usual full throttle selves! This is obviously because there just aren’t enough days between each game-week to have each article and of course because we ourselves will probably / hopefully be drunk! Sorry, we mean busy with family stuff…

We shall have the Captain Picks article later this week and then hopefully the Site Team one too. Tips has been included in here and Team Talk will be covered by Cookie on Christmas Eve but in the comments on whichever article is up at that stage! There will be a fresh Live Match Chat for each game-week and we endeavour to post our (ailing) Site Team in between each game-week at the very least. Depending on how bored one, some or all of us get you may well see some other articles pop up too but hopefully not another ill fated ‘Cookie site quiz’… We wish you all a very Merry and Happy Christmas from the Fixtures Team!

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Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixtures and Tips Game-week 18 – Fantasy Premier League 2015-16. This article was written a bit by Inittowinit and NIN