Fantasy Football Fixtures

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 26 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 26. Well, we’ve finally made it to the bye week that everybody has been fretting over for so long now. If you still have your wildcard intact, this ‘ain’t nothin’ but a thang’. If you blew your wildcard early on in the transfer window, you may be crapping your pants right now trying to figure out how you’re going to offload so many players and get them all back before the inevitable DGW’s roll around. And that’s a perfectly justified response for that situation. As you well know, Arsenal, Man City, Man United and Southampton are all on byes this round. And that’s even more significant now that Southampton have really come on with some strong performances. There will be no captaining Sanchez this week. No relying on...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 25 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 25. In plotting the ins and outs of a gameweek, you typically try to allow for yourself to be completely wrong about a pick or two. It’s not allowing for ‘human error’ exactly, it’s more allowing for the humans on the pitch that will rise above their station every once in a blue moon. As the adage goes: “This is why we play the game.” But what do you do when multiple pieces of the puzzle don’t seem to fit? What do you do when multiple tribes seemingly topple empires? You grab a beer, count your blessings and move on. There’s no sense in trying to decipher how Hull went ahead and beat Liverpool by the score of 2-0. Even after Hull had supposedly sold all their best pieces, they still came out on top with a comfortab...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 23 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 23. Well that last round certainly was…something. I mean, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. Of course Ibrahimovic was going to slow down at some point. And of course Tottenham were going to concede a goal or two eventually. I guess the only real certainty was that Chelsea were going to win with a shutout and Aguero was going to blank again (LOL’s to the 20% of you wasting nearly 13m still hoping for a miracle). But all in all, it was a week that went pretty much according to script. Arsenal and Chelsea both got wins. Sunderland and Leicester looked like complete messes, and owning some WBA coverage paid off big. Really, unless you put down your rent money on Liverpool to win (and I’m sure somebody out there ...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 21 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 22. To quote Shawshank Redemption: “I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.” That about sums up my mood yesterday after Everton beat City 4-0. I tell you truly that I walked on clouds my entire Sunday. I smiled at my wife a bit more, I listened more attentively when my kids spoke to me. From that win, I was a better husband, a better father, a better man. But now today is Monday, and I’m supposed to revert back to the same lesser version of myself that you all know and love. And for the purposes of this article, that’s probably a good thing. Had I written this article yesterday, I’m sure Everton would’ve been #1 on my list of buys, and I probably would’ve put City as the top team...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 21 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 21. After an extended writing break due to the congested schedule, it looks like we can all get back to business as normal. And to kick off said business, we have to look at the best (and worst) schedules coming up. This obviously isn’t completely cut and dry, we are now in the middle of the transfer window – so teams that look a certain way now could certainly improve their lot with a few savvy moves in the coming weeks. And we also have the Africa Cup of Nations depleting several rosters of key players. I’m not sure if AFCON or the MLS gives a bigger middle finger to the norms of global football, but Africa calling up all of their best players in the middle of the season always strikes me as a truly crap th...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 18 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 18. Just so you know, I’m writing this article for the GW18 fixtures prior to the last game from GW17 – the Liverpool Derby. And for that, I am grateful. Right now I’m nervous, but I’m not yet emotional. I can still think about stats and probabilities in a rational manner. Had I waited until after the Everton game, win or lose, I would have been a manic wreck. So you’re getting the ‘best’ of me here, whatever that is worth. It’s been an interesting weekend in FPL, and I’m glad that I just get to break down the fixtures and leave some of the bolder recommendations to others. With Diego Costa getting his last elusive yellow card, Kane blanking, and Arsenal continuing to concede goals…there will be a lot o...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 14 2016-17 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 14 2016-17. It’s important to remember that there are 38 gameweeks in the FPL season. This is something I had to remind myself of constantly this weekend. No matter how badly your season is going (and there are a few stinkers out there), you still have 65% of the season remaining to get right again. Have there been some anomalous results? For sure. Have I failed to accurately predict a sufficient amount of those strange scorelines? You’re damn right – but I’m still staying positive. Because here’s the thing: for the most part, things are actually going to script. Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all won this past weekend. Were they wins in the fashion that you’d hoped they’d be? Probabl...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 13 2016-17 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 13 2016-17. I think it’s best if we can all just agree that last round should just be written off in its entirety. It was evident that there were some tired legs out there from most of our key players. And there were also a few teams that really looked like they hadn’t played together for a while. Results didn’t go as planned, and many fantasy teams suffered as a result. On a normal week, Liverpool would’ve probably put at least 2 goals on Southampton given the form they’re in. And Chelsea probably would’ve scored more than a single goal on Middlesbrough. And nobody is quite sure how they feel about Yaya scoring two goals for City, but that stat alone should tell you how abnormal this last round really was....[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 15 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 15. We’re coming into a bit of a log jam for fixtures here in the next three rounds. GW15 will start this coming weekend, but GW16 will then take place midweek with GW17 starting the weekend after. For active players, this is always a good time to shoot above some of those managers who only check in on their teams on Fridays. Without a doubt, there will be managers who completely forget to check their teams for midweek adjustments. So when you see the three matchups listed for each of my selections this round, know that you’re really looking at one full weeks worth of fixtures. Because of this, there won’t be a typical fixtures article going into GW16, but I’ll still have some tips for you for GW16 in lieu of fixtu...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 12 2016-17 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 12 2016-17. It’s always a bit of a tough ask to write an FPL article when the international games are still taking place. Will a key injury happen (Eden Hazard) and ruin a team’s chances for the next round? Will South American players be given a bit of rest after their lengthy travel back to the UK? And will teams just not practicing together disrupt any rhythm they had prior to the break? It’s all very speculative. So just to be safe, I’ll go ahead and say that I will only accept responsibility for this article if all of my picks go off as projected. If some of these teams come back playing a reduced squad and blow it, I’m telling you now that it’s not my fault. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, ...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek11 2016-17 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 11 2016-17. I think we can all agree that this last week went a little more according to the script that we all had in our heads when this season started. Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man City all getting 4 goals in easy wins? Check. Eden Hazard attacking the ball and looking like a true superstar? Check. Jose Mourinho completely making a mess of things? Check. After the crazy season last year, it’s almost nice, comforting even, to be back in a predictable cycle within the Premier League. Sure, we’ll still root for that underdog team to make a bid for Top 4, and we’ll still root for a surprise promotion team to surpass expectations in their first year up; but when it comes to fantasy purposes, we have no qualms w...[Read More]

FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek10 2016-17 Welcome to FPL Fixtures Analysis Gameweek 10 2016-17. I went back and reread my previous week’s Fixtures article this morning. It’s usually something I do with a bit of trepidation, because once those picks are locked in, there’s really no turning back. Once the article is published, I’m either going to be right or wrong on those picks, and I just have to live with the shame if I really messed up. I’m usually OK with a single missed pick – after all, not everything is supposed to turn out 100% correct (if it did, I’d be a millionaire sports bettor right now). And I have to say, looking at the picks last week, even knowing how those matches played out, I’m not sure I could honestly say that I wouldn’t make the same picks again if I had to do it...[Read More]