Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 11

Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 11

There seems to be a slightly worrying trend developing here. Namely, players notching incredible scores out of the blue with previous performances suggesting nothing of the sort was on the cards. This week was the turn of Harry Kane to blunder a hat-trick having previously grabbed just 1 goal and 0 assists in 9 games. Aguero began all this back in GW8 with that 5 goal haul having previously boasted a run of 7 games with just 1 goal and 1 assist to show for his efforts. Wijnaldum picked the baton up in GW9 with 4 goals and funnily enough the exact same record of 1 goal and 1 assist in his previous 7. Not to be outdone, Raheem Sterling also grabbed 3 in GW9, and guess what… yep, 1 goal and 1 assist in his previous 7 league appearances. Worryingly for Harry Kane, his owners and his suitors alike, in the GW immediately following the above heroics the aforementioned managed scores of 0, 2 and 1… Can Harry buck the trend this week? The fixtures certainly suggest he has every opportunity to do so. And that’s why we are here, to simply point you in the direction of those teams who have favourable fixtures and those teams we feel are best avoided…

[divider_1px]

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

[divider_1px]

FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Everton – Sunderland (H), West Ham (A), Aston Villa (H)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]It’s been a rough ride for Everton so far. This seasons fixture schedule saw them hit hard from the start with an opening ten games that many deemed a nightmare. Just about as tough as it gets. Despite this, Roberto Martinez’s team sit in a relatively decent 11th place having somewhat weathered the storm and they can now look forward to a much more favourable list of opponents. Last time out a trip to red-hot Arsenal was the task and, predictably, the home side put them away, albeit by a closer margin than Arsenal’s previous form suggested. Just a couple of results away from a dreaded Europa-ish position, the Toffees can now breath a sigh of relief as they look ahead to a tasty run of games littered with basement dwellers and mid-table sides for the most part as they look to push up the table. Unfortunately for us fantasy folk, defender Phil Jagielka picked up a knee injury against Arsenal and has been ruled out for up to eight weeks. This means that recent new signing Mori will likely come in as his replacement and quite frankly the blokes a walking disaster waiting to happen. So the Everton defence is beginning to look a little ragged to say the least and a little more caution when looking at their back line for our teams may be required. Right, on to the fixtures themselves..

The perfect way to exit a nasty run of games: Sunderland at home. Despite ending a disastrous run of results last time out Sunderland remain one of the weaker teams in the league. A much needed win against fierce rivals Newcastle brought Sunderland to an astounding six points for the season and they remain in the bottom three. Big Sam will be desperate to get his team on a run as quick as possible but he may have to wait another week, at least, for that to transpire. Everton will enter this game eager to get back to winning ways themselves and they have the firepower to cause the away side all sorts of problems. Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku and even young Gerard Deulofeu have shown some promise in previous weeks and they will all be looking to get in on the act against a defence that has shipped nineteen so far.

The second of our featured games is quite a bit trickier, it’s a trip to London for a meeting with West Ham who have been rubbing some peoples noses in it up to this point. Second in the form table and unbeaten in six, the Hammers will prove stern opposition and this may be a game where any missing first choice defenders for Everton gets shown up badly. Still, West Ham aren’t really defensive minded themselves and are capable of conceding rather cheaply. This promises to be an exciting encounter, with a high scoring draw being a decent possibility.

If Sunderland at home was good, then this next fixture is somewhat of a dream. Aston Villa are currently bottom of the league and they’ll still be there by the time this fixture comes around. Four points to their name so far says it all really and nothing can be expected of them in an away game to Everton. We fully expect the home side to put them to the sword with relative ease.

[divider_1px]

Manchester United – Crystal Palace (A), West Brom (H), Watford (A)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]It’s not pretty, not one bit. And no we aren’t just talking about Phil Jones. United are a different animal to the one who dominated English football for two decades. Long gone is the free flowing attacking play and last gasp winners aplenty, instead we have a much slower and frankly boring style. Still, a return to the Champions League was the goal last season and Louis Van Gaal delivered it. This season was meant to be the start of something glorious but United have tip-toed through the first ten weeks and still find themselves in fourth (Nice one Jose). The Red Devils have just last weeks draw with City and the pasting by Arsenal as blemishes in their last six – if the derby draw can be considered a blemish – with wins over Liverpool, Southampton, Sunderland and Everton. Thirteen points from that run isn’t too bad at all and going forward there are much softer games ahead.

An away trip to Lord Pardew’s Palace gets us started, a fixture that United traditionally fare well in. A single win and three draws is all Palace have to show for themselves in the last eighteen meetings with United, a run which goes as far back as 1991, a time when perms and denim jackets were the “in” thing. As previously mentioned, United are in good form of late and they’ll fancy themselves against a team coming off back-to-back losses. Palace wont be a walk in the park but we favour the away side to come away with the points in this one.

Back to home comforts, United welcome Tony Pulis and his Baggies to Old Trafford for a game that promises to bore the arse off the lot of us. Known for their defensive prowess, West Brom will, as usual, come to defend, stifle and frustrate and hope to nick one at the other end. In recent times West Brom have done well for themselves in this fixture, picking up a pair of wins, but with United looking a more solid outfit themselves this season it’s unlikely that the away side can repeat past performances. A narrow, and tedious home win is our prediction.

Our third and final fixture for this section brings the second away trip from three. Newly promoted Watford have so far taken advantage of the current bottom three’s woeful form and opened up a seven point gap to the relegation zone. It is of course early days yet and a lot could go wrong but so far so good. United will, and should still fancy their chances in this one especially when looking at Watty’s attacking threat, or lack thereof. Strikers Deeney and Ighalo are quite capable but Watford haven’t been creating enough chances thus far, as evident from their tally of just eight goals so far. Not too much to worry about at that end then, the other end is where the home side will prove stern. Still, United have enough to at least get a narrow win but it should be a comfortable enough game.

[divider_1px]

Southampton – Bournemouth (H), Sunderland (A), Stoke (H)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]Hats off to Southampton and manager Ronald Koeman. Their team has been gutted on more than one occasion in recent years but they remain competitive and at times play some great stuff. Recent results have been so-so but when looking at the opponents they’ve faced it’s actually not all that bad. Koeman would have been frustrated to see a two goal lead slip against Leicester a couple of weeks ago but had the result been offered to him before the game, he may well have taken it without question, such is the potency of the current Leicester attack. The same could probably be said for the weekend’s trip to Anfield and again they got their result. Just. Sadio Mane did leave a bit of a bad taste however, getting himself sent off for two quick fire yellow cards deep into their Anfield encounter, leaving many’s a Fantasy manager cursing their luck. Still, just a one game ban for the Senegalese international which will be served in the midweek Capital One cup game, so no harm done really, especially when we look at their upcoming game, and schedule..

Bournemouth kick off this fine little run for the Saints fresh off of a 5-1 thumping by Spurs, and a run of four defeats from six, the Cherries have hit a brick wall in recent weeks and look increasingly weak as the season progresses. Even goal shy strikers are banging them in against Bournemouth, which bodes well for Southampton as their forwards have been far from goal shy thus far. Pelle, Tadic and the aforementioned Mane should do well here and, at the other end, any of Saints’ backline players look great options.

Pitiful Sunderland make another appearance, and that’s only a good thing for us fantasy managers, or at least those with some Saints cover in their squad. Home, away, on Mars, it doesn’t really matter this season. Sunderland are poor and there for the taking. Struggling for goals (except against Newcastle) and leaking freely at the other end (except against Newcastle), the Black Cats should pose little to no threat to Southampton.

Stoke City make the venture south in Game-week thirteen for a game that could well be a very entertaining one. Free from the Pulis shackles, Stoke are a lot easier on the eye than in previous seasons and despite some injury problems and an unpredictable defence, they’ve managed to get themselves on a bit of a run. Three wins from six is pretty decent but as mentioned, their defence is causing problems and it showed last week when Watford rolled up and beat them. Stoke are prone to these odd results but one would think that this game against Southampton will be a lot easier to predict. It doesn’t look good for the Potters, we’re going for a home win.

[divider_1px]

Manchester City – Norwich (H), Aston Villa (A), Liverpool (H)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]Now on to our usual slot, that of Manchester City. The hiccups against West Ham and Spurs have long been forgotten as the Blues have taken seven points from their last three, scored eleven and conceded just two in those games. Bournemouth and Newcastle were brushed aside with minimum fuss and City looked razor sharp once again heading into the Manchester derby. The previous five derby’s saw a total of eighteen goals scored between the two sides and a goal frenzy was always on the cards once again. However, it didn’t quite work out like that as United held firm and stuck in there for a good point. A fit and firing David Silva or Sergio Aguero, or both, may have resulted in a different outcome but it wasn’t to be. All things considered, it was a good point for City too and one look at their next three suggests the points, and the goals, will continue to flow.

Alex Neil will be dreading this one as much as he will be looking forward to it. Away games against Champions League clubs is the stuff of dreams for the fans, and players alike, for the clubs who’ve spent a previous long hard season battling away in the Championship. As they say, there are two sides to every coin and whilst travelling to the big boys is what Norwich dreamed of, it can quickly become a nightmare scenario. As we know, City are a ruthless attacking team and rarely, if ever, do they let up when the opposition is weak. A massively one sided affair is on the cards here, all our eggs are in the Blue basket.

After that feast it’s Villa next. Errr, buy more eggs! And baskets! Villa may well have a new victim, ahem sorry manager, by the time City arrive and he better be good or at least just have the good luck that the City squad is hit with a sickness or injury crisis of some sort but in all honesty the reserve team would probably give Villa a spanking. Thankfully for the new guy there will still be no Aguero for this game but Silva may well have returned. Things could get ugly in this one. Us fantasy managers might as well get our CV’s in to Villa Park early. Get scribbling.

In the last of our featured favorable fixtures this week, we have a big one. Newly appointed Jurgen Klopp gets thrown in at the deep end as “his” Liverpool “team” get tasked with dealing with City on their own patch. The last four meetings between these sides have all been won by the home team and we expect that trend to continue. The Scousers will need every drop of experience and knowledge that Klopp has mustered down the years in an effort to spot the City flow and get a result here but it’s very difficult to look past the home side, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and ex-Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling set to prove too much for the Liverpool defence.

[divider_1px]

BE WARY OF…
West Brom – Leicester (H), Manchester United (A), Arsenal (H)
The Baggies have had a decent schedule thus far and they’ve done okay from it. Sitting bang in the middle of the table after ten games with six clean sheets, Tony Pulis should be relatively happy with what he has seen so far but with their fixtures taking a turn for the worse it might be time to begin to look elsewhere for defensive cover. The visit of Leicester puts a dent in anyone’s clean sheet potential. The Foxes are averaging two a game and it’s hard to see anyone keeping them out just now. Manchester United then entertain West Brom in GW12 in a game that the home side should take in their stride, before Arsenal make the trip to the Midlands. The Gunners are in excellent form of late and, again, should see off the Baggies in a routine win. Those who have a defensive double up from West Brom have had some decent returns from it but now is probably the time to break it up if possible and look elsewhere.

[divider_1px]

Norwich – Manchester City (A), Swansea (H), Chelsea (A)
Hovering three points above the drop zone after ten games is not where anyone wants to be, especially when those ten played games having been, for the most part, games where gaining points was a realistic aim. Unfortunately that’s where the Canaries find themselves and things are about the get rough for them with a run that may well see them nailed in the bottom three for a while yet. This weekend it’s only Manchester City, away. Not a good experience for most middling to weak teams who visit the Etihad. A stuttering Swansea are next up and the home side will almost certainly need all three points here to stop what could end up being a five game losing streak. The last of that run, and our last featured game is another away day nightmare. Stamford Bridge is the destination and despite the problems Chelsea are having this season you’d have to think they’ll get a win in this one. Somehow.

[divider_1px]

Sunderland – Everton (A), Southampton (H), Crytsal Palace (A)
If there’s one thing we can say about Sam Allardyce it’s that he knows how to get a team organized. Sunderland are the big man’s latest project but he has a tough job on his hands. A ‘surprise’ result against rivals Newcastle, to the tune of three nil, will do a lot for the confidence of Sam’s players but at the same time we fantasy managers have to be realistic. They’re not good. Does anyone even still have Sunderland cover? If some do then it’s time that deadwood was removed. The Black Cats are off to Merseyside to face an Everton team who have been good in patches this season and now have the schedule to really make a push, with Sunderland at home being one of the juicier fixtures on offer. It gets worse too. Away to Southampton. Not where Sam wants to be, we’re sure. Top those off with an away day at Palace and it’s really, really difficult to see where Sunderland’s next points are coming from.

[divider_1px]

Aston Villa – Tottenham (A), Manchester City (H), Everton (A)
Our beloved FF247 articles wont be the same anymore. Well, at least not until someone else bonkers enough to hire Tim Sherwood emerges from the shadows. Yep, poor Timmy has been given the boot and it’s not at all surprising, although it’s hard to see what the Villa board expect from their well below average squad. What a three games to have in wait for a manager-less team, bottom of the league. Oh dear. Spurs are beginning to find their groove and having notched a hat-trick last week Harry Kane will be gunning for another one against Villa and we wont be surprised if he gets it. Next is City at home, do we even need to elaborate? Everton then round off a trio of horrible games from which the Villans are highly likely to come out with no points from. The likes of Brad Guzan and Micah Richards are still hovering around some squads, somehow, but like Sunderland and Norwich, dealing with those players is looking like becoming a necessity.

[divider_1px]

One Week Wonders
This is where we attempt to highlight any individual games or teams that look particularly enticing for this week alone. Last week we were struggling to find one, this week we are spoilt for choice!

1) Man City v Norwich
This is our bread and butter for this section, the leagues top scorers at home against the leagues joint 2nd worst defence. This should be one way traffic and a scoreline of 4-0 or 5-0 will not be out of the question.

2) Everton v Sunderland
This one perhaps won’t quite be as one sided as many expect but we’d envisage goals all the same. Mainly in the Sunderland net. Lukaku will be transferred in by many ahead of this and maybe captained by a good few of those too.

3) Spurs v Villa
Who doesn’t love a Monday Night Football captain?! Off the back of a hat-trick Mr Kane will be on many a manager’s mind this week, especially considering he has a Monday night assignment and the opposition is managerless (as we speak) Aston Villa.

[divider_1px]
Fixture Fun
This week sees the return of the Capital One cup and no less than thirteen Premier League clubs featuring.

Tuesday sees Stoke, Chelsea, Leicester, Arsenal, Everton and Norwich all playing.

While on Wednesday Man City, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bournemouth and Man United all try to avoid any unnecessary injuries or suspensions.

Be aware that any sending off’s will incur a Premier League ban and indeed any yellow cards count towards the accumulation.

As ever be sure to check on your players health and availability once these games are over.

[divider_1px]

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 11 – Fantasy Premier League 2015-16. This article was written by Inittowinit and NIN

Follow @AdamalcockFF247