Fantasy Football Fixture Analysis Gameweek 18

Welcome to Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 18. With Christmas just around the corner, I can thankfully rely on the writers of upcoming articles to bring the festive spirit and cheer. All you get here is my half-baked attempt at bringing Christmassy joy to your screens. Unfortunately, this article has not been ‘oven-ready’ for weeks so you will have to hope that my fantasy team fares considerably better on Sunday – whilst I am writing this article – than it did on Saturday, otherwise my inner Ebenezer might come out. Edit: I took out Kevin de Bruyne for Jack Grealish…

I made the trip to Wigan this weekend to watch Huddersfield Town take on the Latics in what can only be described as a game of two halves. Literally – nothing happened other than two halves of ‘football’. Bill Shankly famously said: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death… I can assure them it is much more serious than that.” Well, it isn’t in Wigan. 8000 home fans spread themselves spaciously across approximately 23,000 seats and seemingly challenged themselves to remain as quiet as possible throughout the 90 minutes. The Huddersfield fans quickly followed suit – after all, there are only so many times you can tell the opposition that their support is effin’ sh*t. You know when people go to music concerts and sporting events and wax lyrical about the atmosphere and how you don’t get that same sensory experience from watching it on the telly? Mute the commentator and you were essentially at the game yesterday. I was reliably informed that the half-time pies were excellent. HA, you don’t get that on the telly!

Anyway, enough of the lower leagues. Let’s look ahead to the Premier League’s final set of fixtures before we all get annoyed about running out of Buck’s Fizz before the first present is opened, get sick of Mariah Carey, get stressed about cooking the Christmas dinner but insist on doing it without assistance and keep schtum when it comes to the washing up. As a slight aside, I hope you all have a smashing Christmas and New Year. It’s been another superb year on this site and I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone – the site team, the writers and the community – for making FF247 what it is.

FPL FIXTURE TRACKER
But first up that all important Fixture Tracker itself…

FIXTURE TRACKER LINK

FIXTURE TRACKER 2019/20

If Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ was a set of fixtures
Tottenham Hotspur – Chelsea (H), Brighton (H), Norwich (A)
Without trying to cause an argument in the comments about the best and worst Christmas songs, Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ has to be right up there and Spurs’ upcoming fixtures are too. I can pithily summarise the next three games for Spurs in four words: GOALS (at both ends). Mourinho has four wins out of five since taking over the reins at Tottenham and they have all been high scoring affairs with the Lilywhites scoring 14 in the process. In contrast, Chelsea’s dream start under Lampard is turning into a distant memory after four losses in five. Even when they were winning games, they weren’t much good at keeping clean sheets; 17 goals conceded in eight away matches is so bad it borders on impressive, especially when the opposition has included Norwich (2), Southampton (1), Burnley (2), Watford (1) and Everton (3). It is worth noting that Chelsea have managed to score in every away game so far this season and still notched up five in their last four at home despite drawing a blank twice (against West Ham and Bournemouth) whilst Spurs have only managed two clean sheets all season. I do love a BTTS tip.

Boxing Day brings Brighton to White Hart Lane. After three back-to-back defeats, the most recent 2-1 victory over Arsenal and 2-2 draw against Wolves will at least have turned Mourinho’s head. He shouldn’t be too worried though as those three points against Arsenal only increased Brighton’s away tally to seven for the season. Since the start of October, Brighton games have seen over 2.5 goals on 7/9 occasions with Arsenal being the only home side in that period (rather uncharacteristically) not to score two goals. Brighton have scored in their last four away games though. Not as strong a tip here but I wouldn’t be surprised to see plenty of goals again here, with BTTS.

With the games coming thick and fast, Spurs travel to Norwich on the 28th. The Canaries have not re-entered the Premier League with a view to sitting deep. Whilst the weekend’s 1-1 draw against Leicester was exciting to watch, and Pukki really should have had a few more (and perhaps would have done if it wasn’t for a broken toe!), what I gleaned from the match is that Spurs should have great attacking joy again here. Since their first home game of the season (a 3-1 victory over Newcastle), Norwich have conceded 2+ goals in every home game. However, they have scored in every home game bar a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Watford, including Chelsea (2), Manchester City (3) and Manchester United (1).

I’m slightly worried about Spurs’ Christmas period with just Son and Gazzaniga in my side. Gazzaniga looks like he’ll get diddly-squat and Son arguably won’t be enough. With rotation looming, and buckets of goals incoming, another Spurs attacker looks prudent. Lucas’s regular appearances under Mourinho have peaked my interest – I’d be more than happy with 60/70 minute appearances four times over by the time the New Year’s Day fixtures are over.

Aston Villa – Southampton (H), Norwich (H), Watford (A)
One kick of the ball made the difference between a masterstroke of a transfer and a flop for me this week. It wasn’t actually that bad a penalty from Jack Grealish but a miss is a miss. Villa have only lost three games at home this season (against Bournemouth, Liverpool and Leicester), which is partly why I am encouraged by the upcoming trio of fixtures which features two home games. With eight goals in their last five home games, scoring in all of them, I am backing Villa to continue their scoring run against their upcoming home opponents in the shapes of Southampton and Norwich.

Southampton and Norwich both have two clean sheets away from home. Southampton have conceded 12 in the other six matches and Norwich have conceded 15 in their other seven. Whilst I expect Villa to get on the scoresheet (perhaps even more than once), I would also expect their opposition to do so too so maybe now is not the time to grab Heaton and co. Southampton have scored in every away game since losing 3-0 to Burnley on the opening day of the season and, whilst Norwich have only actually scored in 4/9 away from Carrow Road, they have scored in each of the last three.

The final game of December for Aston Villa is a trip to Watford. I really cannot call this one. Villa have scored in just three of their last five away games and only picked up one point. Not great but then the fixture list has been tricky: Manchester City (0), Wolves (1), Manchester United (2), Chelsea (1), Sheffield United (0); am I allowed to say this was an inch from being a ‘1’?). Watford haven’t won at home yet, they’ve only scored four goals in eight matches and conceded 13 in the process. However, three of their last five home games have ended 0-0 (against Sheffield United, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace). An Alan Partridge shoulder shrug perfectly sums up how I feel about this game – I really don’t know. However, the Southampton and Norwich fixtures are good enough to make me want to roll the dice on the Watford game. That’s why I’ve bought Grealish, who did impress me at the weekend. Well, impressed me until De Bruyne got to work!

If ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ was a set of fixtures
Wolves – Norwich (A), Manchester City (H), Liverpool (A)
In a shake-up from the norm, I’ve got three categories of fixture this week. This is the ‘I don’t know what to make of the fixtures’ category, much like I don’t know what to make of (particularly) Jackson 5’s Christmas hit. Why would it have been funny if daddy had seen mommy kissing Santa Claus? Why are the child and his brothers so unconcerned about this apparently adulterous behaviour that they have a sing-song about it? And when you take the Santa costume off daddy, a slightly creepy song about a ‘peeping’ kid watching his parents crack on is being played in shops up and down the country throughout December.

Wolves’ fixtures similarly confuse me. Next up is a trip to Norwich. The Canaries’ high-scoring home games have been discussed above in relation to Spurs. Wolves have scored in seven consecutive away games, scoring two on three occasions, and conceded in six of those games (bizarrely managing to keep a clean sheet against City). It’s likely to be a 2/3 goal game in which your Wolves assets will concede but could grab a goal or an assist.

The thing is, that sums up Wolves pretty much every week. Facing Manchester City and Liverpool within two days of each other is grim but I still don’t expect them to be totally outgunned. With the exception of the 5-2 defeat to Chelsea in September, they never are. That game aside, since the start of the season they haven’t lost by more than a one goal margin. Indeed, they have only lost three matches this season and the winner for Spurs on Sunday in the dying embers brought an 11 game unbeaten streak to an end. Interestingly enough, eight of those games had two goals, two ended 2-1 to Wolves and just one saw more than three goals (a 2-2 draw against Brighton). That run included a 2-0 victory over Manchester City.

Last season’s results saw Liverpool roll out as 2-0 winners on both occasions and a 1-1 draw and 3-0 victory for Manchester City. Probably not a time for bringing in Wolves assets then but I also wouldn’t be particularly fussed about carrying a Wolves player through the festive period. Indeed, tricky fixtures usually ward off the risk of rotation which is worth bearing in mind.

Liverpool – BLANK, Leicester (A), Wolves (H)
What to do with your Liverpool boys? Well, that probably depends on what the rest of your team looks like. Back-to-back clean sheets puts TAA/Robbo owners into a state of uncertainty after a string of disappointing returns. Watching the game on Saturday, the clean sheet was far from comfortable. The nervous atmosphere in the ground seemed to precipitate many mistakes which a wasteful Watford will have been disappointed not to get anything from. Even Virgil van Dijk was at it when he almost passed the ball straight into the bottom corner of his own net.

With this defensive vulnerability in mind, I’m not all too convinced about hanging onto a £7m defender over the festive period. Despite Vardy’s eight-game scoring streak (just!) coming to an end at the weekend, Leicester have still scored in every game at home this season since the 0-0 draw with Wolves on the opening day of the season, scoring 2+ in 7/8 of those games. The following game is a visit from Wolves. That opening day game against Leicester was also the last time Wolves failed to find the net away from home.

From an attacking point of view, Leicester have also only conceded five goals in their nine home games this year, never conceding more than one (although they have played relatively easy opposition). Wolves on the other hand, have only kept one clean sheet on the road (against Manchester City), although they have only conceded more than one on two occasions (against Everton (3) and Brighton (2)). Despite this, I still can’t see myself ditching my Liverpool attacker.

If Chris Rea’s ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ was a set of fixtures
Leicester – Manchester City (A), Liverpool (H), West Ham United (A)
Surely I won’t cause any arguments with this one. Chris Rea’s ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ just isn’t a Christmas song. It’s the antithesis of Slade’s banger. I have the same negative feelings towards Leicester’s upcoming fixtures. With the length of this article in mind and the fact that I can’t really see anyone dropping Jamie Vardy right now, I won’t go into detail here. The immediate two fixtures are, of course, going to really test Leicester. The third fixture is a trip to West Ham who have conceded nine in their last three home games, which might be worth weathering the storm for.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixture Analysis Gameweek 18. This article was written by AT.

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