Fantasy Football Fixture Analysis Gameweek 7

Welcome to Fantasy Football Fixture Analysis Gameweek 7. Last time, I wrote about how much I hate international breaks, especially now that friendlies are dressed up as competitive matches. This time I will backtrack. International friendlies are great. Rather than having to face red arrows week-in-week-out, international friendlies let you get on with your normal life. You aren’t in a mood because England lose to Spain, but you are when your team gets its third consecutive red arrow. I knew my good start would only come back to bite me at some point, but I didn’t expect it to last just three gameweeks! Anyway, that’s enough about how my team is falling off a cliff to keep Init amused for the week, so let’s look ahead to next weekend’s fixtures.

The fixtures are starting to pile up for the ‘big’ teams now. Not only is the next round of the Carabao Cup mid-week, the following week sees the second set of European fixtures. It might be prudent to have a bench player or two over the coming weeks.

*Looks at bench* Injured Mendy. Injured Peltier. Non-starting Kamara. Meh, looks okay to me.

The all important FPL FIXTURE TRACKER itself…

Favourable Fixtures
Spurs – Huddersfield (A), Cardiff (H), West Ham (A)
The away games continue for Spurs as their rehousing appears to be being carried out by the local authority, although their next string of fixtures is particularly favourable. Huddersfield and Cardiff are joint-bottom of the league having both only managed to score three goals whilst shipping 14 in the process. And who are Tottenham’s next two opponents? Huddersfield and Cardiff. More embarrassingly for the two sides, their stats include a 0-0 draw against each other. Even more embarrassingly for Cardiff, their stats include a 0-0 draw against Newcastle, who occupy the final relegation spot (although in fairness to Newcastle, their fixtures have been rough)! Huddersfield have not scored at home yet and Cardiff have only managed one away from home (a headed goal which put them 1-0 up against Chelsea before going on to get pumped 4-1). Cardiff have lost their last three matches 5-0 to City, 4-1 to Chelsea and 3-2 to Arsenal. Harry Kane has probably already tied his boots in anticipation for this one, or, more likely, had to get someone else to do it for him.

The only caveat, and it is a fairly large one, is that Spurs face Barcelona on the Wednesday that lies in between these two matches. The game is at home, so that is a plus, but having lost to Inter in their opening group stage tie, I would not be surprised to see Pochettino exploit the relative kindness of their upcoming Premier League fixtures to try and progress to the Round of 16 by utilising his bench players more in the league. The same goes for the West Ham game with a must-win game away to PSV the following Tuesday followed by Manchester City the weekend after, although the fact it is a derby probably reduces the risk of rotation. As such, if you are looking for a midfielder from Spurs, I would only feel comfortable with Alli or Eriksen, who were ever-presents last season (bar the odd game explicable by injury or illness).

Anthony Knockaert’s late consolation goal scuppered Spurs’ chances of registering just their second clean sheet of the season, although with Huddersfield and Cardiff only managing a combined six goals for the season and West Ham so far only managing one goal at home, which was a penalty, Spurs should be disappointed with anything less than two clean sheets over the coming period. Who do you bring in though? The centre-backs feel too expensive for their relatively low attacking threat in comparison to the abundance of wingbacks-cum-strikers this season and accurately predicting which of Trippier and Aurier and Davies and Rose will start is about as easy as Theresa May is good at hiding the fact she has absolutely no idea what to do next (uh oh, let’s not start a political debate in the comments). Since coming back from injury, Trippier has started every Premier League game with Aurier starting against Inter. Whilst this suggests Trippier is Pochettino’s favourite, my concern is that this would mean starting him against Barcelona. I told you she has no idea what she is doing!

Arsenal – Watford (H), Fulham (A), Leicester (H)
Away from home Arsenal are still unpredictable. Yes, they have won two in three but conceding six in the process is worrying, as is the fact that two wins is already half the number they chalked up last season. Luckily, their next away tie is against Fulham, who have already shipped five to Palace (2), an in-Europe Burnley (2) and Watford (1) at home.

At home Arsenal seemingly remain superb, which bodes well with their kind home fixtures. Watford’s away form from last season, where they failed to win a game after November, would suggest that their victory against Burnley in GW2 was an anomaly and Leicester still haven’t remembered how to defend since lifting the title what seems like ages ago now. They conceded four to Bournemouth for crying out loud. Watford have scored four in their first two away games, although their dry spell last year is too fresh in the memory to deter me from considering Arsenal defenders. Leicester are always good for a goal though, so I wouldn’t expect a clean sheet there. That was possibly my most half-arsed sentence ever, although I did research it. I promise.

Despite blanking against Manchester City on the opening day, Arsenal have gone on to put three past West Ham and two past Everton at home so far. They scored 2+ in an impressive 16/19 home games last season; three against Watford and four against Leicester. What is more, they play Brentford in the Carabao Cup this week. I am now looking at my Arsenal-less side with considerably more angst than my-ignorant-self was about two hours ago.

Does the fact they have to make the long journey to Qarabag on the Thursday before Fulham ease my concern? Does it for you? Didn’t think so.

Wolves – Southampton (H), Crystal Palace (A), Watford (H)
With just one loss so far and draws against both the Manchester clubs, Wolves are doing exactly what we thought they would do; thriving. Their next three fixtures give them the opportunity to push on now, although they do have a fairly tough Carabao Cup tie against Leicester to negotiate first (or don’t because, you know, even fewer people care about that cup now than they did when it was just called the League Cup). ‘Define: Carabao’; ‘a swamp-type domestic water buffalo native to the Philippines’. ‘Define: swamp’; ‘uncultivated ground where water collects; a bog’. Apt name for it then.

First up is a visit from relegation-dodgers Southampton. After Liverpool taking the p*ss out of them for many years in the transfer window, the signing of Danny Ings was an excellent piece of business for all involved; Southampton got a clinical finisher and Liverpool ensured that they hadn’t pissed off their most reliable wholesaler. Whilst also somehow ensuring it wouldn’t come back to bite them on the arse.

Southampton only scored 2+ goals away from home on four occasions last season, blanking seven times. Wolves, who have conceded just two goals in their last four matches despite matches against both Manchester clubs, have a really good opportunity to get their third clean sheet of the season against Southampton. As for attacking prospects, Wolves, and Diogo Jota in particular, have hardly set the league on fire. Six in six is fair if not spectacular, although Southampton’s defence has already conceded five in their first three away games (three against Liverpool and two against Everton) and Watford conceding in both their away games is reminiscent of their failings away from home last season.

As for the trip to Crystal Palace, the Eagles haven’t scored at home yet and with Mamadou Sakho missing an open net Christian Benteke would have been embarrassed by at the weekend, Wolves could be good for another clean sheet (at least until Hodgson realises that Zaha should play up front).

Unfavourable Fixtures
Liverpool – Chelsea (A), Manchester City (H), Huddersfield (A)
No, I don’t think ‘David Wagner’s magic’ again all of a sudden. Before the respite in the form of Huddersfield, Liverpool must face the only other two sides in the league to remain unbeaten. You have to go back to 2011 to find a Premier League game where Liverpool managed to stop Chelsea from scoring at Stamford Bridge, and with just one clean sheet on the road so far they might struggle to keep out a free-flowing Chelsea side that has managed nine goals in their first three home games. As if it wasn’t bad enough playing Chelsea away from home next weekend, they also play the Blues in the Carabao Cup this coming Wednesday. Liverpool have managed to score two in each away game so far though, so don’t expect your Liverpool attacking assets to come home empty-handed (unless you have Salah – he’ll probably blaze three one-on-ones over the bar or wide!).

Next up it is Manchester City; the clash of the Titans. The sides boast the best defensive records in the league as well as topping the scoring charts. The last four encounters have gone Liverpool’s way with the Mersey club scoring an impressive 11 goals in those matches. Last year in the league, City beat Liverpool 5-0 at home before Liverpool got revenge in an entertaining 4-3 victory at Anfield. We should probably expect goals, but beyond that I would not like to predict the score. Of perhaps key significance is that in the next fortnight Liverpool will play Chelsea twice and Napoli away before facing Manchester City whereas City will play Oxford United away, Brighton at home and Hoffenheim away. Sure, there are similar road miles, but Liverpool won’t get much chance to rest their key players.

Huddersfield – Tottenham (H), Burnley (A), Liverpool (H)
The Terriers’ next three games are against three of last year’s top seven. With just three goals to their name so far (two by centre-halves, one by a holding midfielder), Huddersfield are doing exactly what most people thought they would do; failing. I was shocked to see that they didn’t try to buy an experienced striker this summer and it seems to be costing them. Perhaps the new transfer window confused Wagner. Spurs and Liverpool are averaging two goals a game away from home and Burnley’s four-nil stuffing of Bournemouth this weekend was probably the last thing Wagner wanted to see with a trip to Turf Moor sandwiched in between the two home games which are unlikely to do anything other than a test the resilience of the Town fans. Without Europa League fixtures to worry about now, Burnley’s threadbare side can concentrate on the league again, unfortunately for Huddersfield.

West Ham – Manchester United (H), Brighton (A), Tottenham (H)
Last season, West Ham conceded the joint-most goals in the league (68) and their summer defensive signings do not appear to have done much to change that, at least until they (read: ‘Fabianski’) managed to keep Chelsea out at the weekend.

West Ham’s fixtures have been cruel so far this season, but the storm is not letting up any time soon. First up is a visit from Manchester United, who had the second tightest defence last season. Although United have only managed to keep a solitary clean sheet so far (against Burnley), West Ham could well be added to that list having only managed to score one (penalty) at the Olympic Stadium so far this season and registering just one shot on target against Chelsea at the weekend, albeit without the injured Marko Arnautovic. Things don’t really get any better for the home fans as their next visitors are Spurs. Pochettino’s outfit have had a similarly modest start to the season to Manchester United, in comparison to the trio leading the way so far, although Spurs did have the third-best defence in the league last season and I would expect Hugo Lloris, who managed to keep Spurs’ only clean sheet so far (against Manchester United), to be back in between the sticks by the time they face West Ham.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixture Analysis Gameweek 7. This article was written by AT

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