Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 2
Well that was good wasn’t it! Nailed on keepers getting sent off. Sunderland defenders collecting negative points like they were going out of fashion. Players starting out of the blue. Players not starting out of the blue. Arsenal midfielders going missing. Arsenal goalkeepers going missing. Champions faltering. Champion contenders collapsing. Mahrez. Albrighton. Hennessey. We could go on and on, but we will probably just depress you further, if that’s at all possible! The good news is that the majority of managers had a stinker so you won’t have to look far to find some solace. If you were one of the few that managed upwards of 40 odd points then well done! (That sentence probably sums up game-week 1 in a nutshell).
What we do have now, if nothing else, (certainly not very many points!) is at least one serious game-week’s worth of information to base some future decisions on. We know a little bit more about how teams may line-up, we know a little bit more about some players both old and new. We would advise against any knee-jerk reactions based solely on one game-week though. For example, Arsenal simply won’t be that poor again all season and Mahrez & Albrighton won’t necessarily be the top point scorers every week. That’s the theory anyway! What we do in the Fixtures article each week is give you a rough guide as to which teams we feel have a favorable run ahead of them and which teams may be best avoided for a bit. As ever it’s not set in stone and feel free to agree or disagree with our choices in the comments below.
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The Tracker…
As best as we can 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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And so onto the teams themselves for GW2 and beyond…
FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Leicester City – West Ham (a), Spurs (H), Bournemouth (a)
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[/three_fourth]We’ll be honest we were unsure of what exactly to expect from Leicester this season and this was based purely on the change of management but we can only assume that Ranieri simply walked in and said “Hi, whatever you were doing in those last 10 games, just do it again” and walked out. They certainly picked up where they left off by knocking a cool 4 past an admittedly poor Sunderland side. Whether that was more to do with Sunderland and less to do with Leicester only time will tell but the evidence from that game, on top of last seasons heroics, would suggest that they have goals in them regardless and as such we wouldn’t shy away from adding some combination of Vardy (1 goal, 1 assist), Mahrez (2 goals, 3 bonus points) or indeed even Albrighton (1 goal, 2 assists, 2 bonus points).
The fixtures themselves are probably ‘ok’ rather than ‘great’ but as we say the goals look like they are flowing easily enough again – they scored 22 in those last 10 games last season. Ironically, 5 of those came against their next two opponents and even more ironically one of those is the exact fixture which sparked the turnaround, even though it ended in defeat. A spirited 4-3 loss at Spurs was the catalyst for them to attack, attack, attack and they look like they haven’t stopped that yet. The last game of the three is away at newly promoted Bournemouth who may still be finding their feet so all in all it’s a pretty enticing run from an attacking perspective we feel. They also follow these games up with Aston Villa at home which again is hardly terrifying.
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MANCHESTER UNITED – Aston Villa (A), Newcastle (H), Swansea (A)
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[/three_fourth]A slender 1-0 victory over Spurs isn’t to be sniffed at but the jury is still out on Man United after an average display. Perhaps it’s understandable after quite a few personnel changes and we still have high hopes that they will click into gear sooner rather than later. A scruffy own goal gave Rooney an assist from a chance he would surely have buried had Kyle Walker not obliged first. Well ok, it trickled in but you know what we mean. We mention Wayne only because Sergio across the way there popped his head above the parapet on Monday night to signal his return. Had he scored we imagine the Rooney OUT / Aguero IN button would have been worn out by now. He didn’t and he has a toughie in Chelsea up next so perhaps that particular move may be delayed for a week at least as United have some fairly decent fixtures ahead.
First up is Villa away where they only drew 1-1 last season but United traditionally do very well there. That’s followed by another favourite of theirs which is Newcastle at home and they duly won that one 3-1 last season. Rooney in particular likes facing Newcastle and grabbed two in that game last season. The third game will be the trickiest you’d imagine as it’s away at Swansea. This is followed up by consecutive games against Liverpool and Southampton so perhaps either GW4 or 5 is the time to jump off the United train if you are looking for an opportunity to do so.
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SOUTHAMPTON – Everton (H), Watford (A), Norwich (H)
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[/three_fourth]A decent point away at Newcastle could, and probably should have easily been a great three points but for Mane squandering two guilt edged chances at the end. The fact that they notched two goals away from home, and looked so likely to score a third, would suggest that the Saints haven’t lost any of last seasons verve in attack. The fact that they conceded two may be a small worry. Having been one of last seasons tightest defences, that resolve was always going to come into question having lost Schneiderlin, Clyne and Alderweireld. As usual though they have bought well, and with new right-back Cedric Soares in particular, they have replaced Clyne with a similarly attack minded full back who grabbed an almost inevitable assist on his debut. We shall overlook the fact that he seemed intent on getting a red card in the first 20 minutes or so as pure over exuberance! Although we do feel a trend starting there already. The words ‘yellow’ and ‘magnet’ spring to mind.
Fixture wise they look fairly solid for a few weeks with Everton up next who they easily dispatched 3-0 at home last season. This one may be tighter but we would still expect goals. The next two are against newly promoted Watford and Norwich and as such look kind, on paper at least. It’s West Brom away after that which gives you a nice run of four fixtures in which they should fare well. Things turn a bit come GW6 with Man United and Swansea on the horizon but even so both of those are at home.
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SUNDERLAND – Norwich (H), Swansea (H), Aston Villa (A)
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[/three_fourth](!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Ok…. got that one out of the system. An abysmal display and a hammering by Leicester aside, Sunderland do still (in theory) have a decent run of games. They’ll have to improve by about 1000% on that opener though. The good news is that usually once a team gets done in that fashion they usually do respond and in Advocaat they have a canny operator so they are in good hands (in theory). It really wasn’t pretty but at least there were some positives and they managed a couple of goals in response. New boy Lens looks promising and grabbed an assist and old-new-ish boy Defoe got a goal. Dick was a bit confusing afterwards though, in regard to him, as he seemed to suggest that Defoe would not be able to spearhead a 4-3-3 any more. Quite where that leaves him we aren’t yet sure but managers can and do tend to make odd comments from time to time, especially after heavy defeats. Four goals conceded in that fashion though and we’d probably be focusing on the defensive make up a bit more than the forward line!
Norwich at home feels like a good one to bounce back into and this is followed by another home game but probably a tougher one in the shape of Swansea. It’s Villa away next and that ends the decent sequence and possibly also indicates a good time to sell as they then run into Spurs and Man United in two of the following three.
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West Ham – Leicester (H), Bournemouth (H), Liverpool (A)
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[/three_fourth]Arsenal often win the title in August. This season they out did themselves and actually won it in pre-season. West Ham in contrast actually got themselves relegated in pre-season. And so the result of the first game was preordained. Or so we thought. It wasn’t so much which Arsenal midfield ‘great’ to pick, rather how many ‘greats’. The ‘greats’ all cowered off with 2 points each come the big day, and the ‘already relegated’ bunch went home laughing. Such is football.
West Ham were already penciled into many a fantasy manager’s plans for GW’s 2 & 3 given the fixtures but with that result behind them they will surely now attract much more attention. Whilst two home games up next looks enticing the full picture is even better – they have four of the next six at home and those are against Leicester, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Norwich. The two away games that interrupt that lot are tough though with trips to Liverpool and Man City. If you can rotate between those you may be onto a winner.
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Man City – Chelsea (H), Everton (A), Watford (H)
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[/three_fourth]A late addition and we make no apologies for this one. We wanted to see how City fared in their first outing as the fixtures were on the ropes but the answer they provided at West Brom on Monday was emphatic enough – brilliantly. They looked like the City of a couple of seasons ago again – fluid and in total control. Exciting. Everything went through Silva and it was no surprise to see him pop up on both the score sheet (maybe by accident) and the assist chart. Yaya looked interested again and actually bothered to grab a goal and an assist, whilst Sterling just looked happy to be there and had plenty of time to count his money out wide with no-one bothering to pass to him. On the rare occasion they did, he messed it up. That swish with the right boot to finish ‘that’ chance was no doubt hampered by his wallet.
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BE WARY OF…
Crystal Palace – Arsenal (H), Aston Villa (H), Chelsea (A)
To punch down on a team that just won 1-3 away from home and is managed by The Pardew feels wrong but this is simply a ‘be wary of’ section so we shall continue regardless. Arsenal, Chelsea, City and Spurs in the next five are interspersed by the one favourable game which is Villa at home in GW3. We would urge caution on jumping on the likes of Cabaye and Souare who did so well last week, at least just yet.
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Everton – Southampton (A), Man City (H), Spurs (A)
We urged caution on Everton, with perhaps the exception of the opener, which was newly promoted Watford at home – surely a home victory. No such luck there as they barely scraped a point. The next three now look challenging to put it kindly. We would stay away from them until at least GW11 now in all honesty. Yes you heard that right – GW11! Their run includes Southampton, City, Spurs, Chelsea, Swansea & West Brom (both away), Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal. They finally land on Sunderalnd in November in GW11 by which point they’ll probably be bottom and with with a new manager. Welcome home, Mr Bilic.
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Newcastle – Swansea (A), Man United (A), Arsenal (H)
A decent enough start for McClaren with a point against Southampton but as we alluded to above it could so oh easily have been a defeat. He may be grateful for that point though come October as their run of games ahead until then is horrible! Swansea, Man Utd and Arsenal is followed by West Ham away and Chelsea with the only decent looking opportunity for points being Watford at home in-between that car wreck!
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Fixture Fun
The main thing you need to be aware of this week is that we have an unusual deadline. It’s Friday at 6.45pm GMT as the Aston Villa v Man United game kicks off GW2 at 7.45pm that night. This is because there is a march in Birmingham on Saturday and the police insisted on the game being moved. It could not be moved forward because Man United have a Champions League qualifier on the following Tuesday so it has been moved back to Friday. This is not to be confused with next seasons move to Friday night football but it at least gives us all a taster of things to come!
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 2 – Fantasy Premier League 2015-16. This article was written by Inittowinit
I’m sitting pretty with 50 points – wow, the air’s thin up here. But it’s going downhill from here, folks. My team only has players who weren’t in the Premiership last season. A good week, but it ain’t gonna last… What do you think of this for GW2?
Stekelenburg (Ruddy)
Cedric, Gomez, Darmian (Amavi, Cook)
Firmino, Depay, Wijnaldum, Payet (V), Lens
Okazaki, Deeney (C), (Wilson)
Got £11m ITB, so dosh not a problem. Think no need for any knee-jerk reflex. At some stage maybe get in A Ayew – but MF seems OK now. I think my forward line ain’t the strongest – but got few choices. Ideas, please?
Qw,
Does JRod count as “not being in the premiership last season” ?
Hey Machos. Thanks. Yep: J Rod has zero minutes 2014/2015 and he’s definitely in my Watchlist. Took me ages to compile that: lots of Watford Bournemouth and Norwich players, plus all the new overseas arrivals in the window.
Wonder if JRod’s a definite starter in the early weeks. One for later on, I guess.
Cheers – good suggestion
Hello Machos
Really pleased that you want to join this unusual mini-league that I’m setting up. It’s a minority interest, so I really don’t know what the take-up will be. I hope there are a few people who’ll find their way there. Look forward to playing against you!
“Got £11m ITB” is not a phrase often uttered! Classic
Brilliant score considering the philosophy!
Thanks for the encouragement, Init. Love your articles, BTW. I know in the end I’ll end up way down the league. Last year I competed only with players who’d had no Premiership experience at all, and ended up ranked 369,106 – just outside the top 10 per cent, which was sort of OK. Hope I can better that this year – modest ambition, but would be an achievement with this self-imposed restriction.
Thank you kindly, much appreciated. You and ATF (Anti Top Four) really should get in a league together!
Sorry I didn’t actually answer your question but I’d have to be given the options really as it’s quite a specific list you are working from there!
Hi Init. Can you let me know how to contact Anti-top four? I’ve set up a new classic mini-league today (called Of Limited Means) exactly for people who want to play differently. Only me in the league so far, but a friend of mine is compliing a team of England-qualified players only, and another is doing Spanish players only. Hoping that others with a sideways view of Fantasy Football will join. Here’s the code: 61582-633969.
Excellent idea,
Last season I went entirely with Latino players. I finished quite low but loved the experience of carefully weighing the more limited options.
Later today I’ll get myself a second team called “old men” and enter it in your league.
Qwkli is your league starting from GW2? May join in if that’s the case.
Tough to work on that! With that cash ITB I reckon you’re dying for more big transfers!
I don’t think a transfer is needed which will make getting new big names in later the window more viable.
Perhaps captain Payet?
Love the team!
Hi Rambo. You got it – a couple of tasty big-name strkers from overseas would be great. I’m going to stick this week and save my FT until after GW2 to make more informed decision. By then who knows what will have happened in the transfer market?
Payet captain is worth thinking about…
Cheers!
So are you keeping it to players who are new to the BPL or will you let players like Aguero and Hazard in?
Hey, Badger
Thanks for replying. I’m keeping it to players who had zero minutes in the Premiership last season (14/15). If a player played even one minute as a sub, then I can’t include him.
That’s wacky dude, Shaqiri may be one too look out for!
Shaqiri already on the radar, thanks Badger. Think he’s going to be a MF – I need reinforcements up front! Or will have to end up rotating strikers in the lower echelons of the Premiership. Still poss to do well with that: Vardy, Austin, Ings, Ulloa were more than OK if you got them at the right time last year…
I think if Shaqiri is a MF then he has really good potential because he plays really attacking and is always up the pitch, he can definitely play as a striker for Stoke!
Thanks again, Badger. That’s a great recommendation. Will watch the Stoke squad listing closely and make a move at some point.
Cheers!
No problem dude, but honestly I should be taking your recommendations 😛 50 points for this week is awesome!
Sorry, Badger – didn’t answer your last message. Retired to my bed! I know my results were flukey, so I’m not going to be surprised if I get bitten in a nasty place next GW… Still, enjoying the moment while I can!
Qwk
Great score. I’d watch Gestede for Villa this Friday if you get the chance. He looks a very capable striker to me. Very dangerous and a top headerer.
I’m having him on my watchlist.
You also could consider Mitrovic from Newcastle.
Hey, GP – thanks. Yes! Gestede is a real option. I had Mitrovic in an earlier draft, then dropped him, because of fixtures. Thought that both he and WIjnaldum would be overdoing the Newcastle thing just now.
+1 GP I reckon he’ll do very well and that’s Austin right there probably, At the same 6.0 mind you.
Hey, DMC – sorry I didn’t reply (bed!). You think Austin’s on his way to Newcastle?
Qwk I was hinting Gestede could be this year’s Austin
Hello DMC
Just got back from work hence silence earlier today. Agreed, Either Mitrovic or Gestede could be the new stars this season, which will be great for those who want to choose out-of-the-ordinary players in their starting line-ups. Will await developments!
Now that the Stoke transfer has been made official. Shaqiri could be a good buy, but again he will be a midfielder so not really helping you here, just a new name to monitor
Thanks, Gumby. That’s further confirmation that this guy’s a player I ought to get in. Let’s see when Hughes will put him in to his starting XI. Cheers.
I originally had a plan to make a team with no Chelsea or City coverage. Because their players are so expensive. Might still do it. Can’t be too late now to make it what with all the low scores last week haha
Thoughts on Payet in for Sterling?
Will be getting Sterling out to fund Kun in GW4 anyway and didn’t see anything from him on Monday to make me want him in my team.
Only one in my money league has him and can’t see many else getting him so could perhaps be a nice early differential…
Or am I jumping the gun after a dire game week?
West Ham got two fixtures coming up, and Payet was good, by all accounts. So why not? Difficult to say, though, as you haven’t said who else you’ve got in terms of MFs and forwards.
If that’s your only concern this week and he’s going anyway as you say then I really don’t see why not.
Watching the match Sterling really wasn’t that bad, he looked nervous and was unlucky not the score after he made a great run and a good first touch to give him the 1v1, I am in a similar position to you but I am going to hold onto Sterling and watch him against Chelsea, I feel it’s too early to get rid of him yet because he has super potential to score loads this year and once you get rid of him, getting him back in will be a pain!
I know that they’re playing Chelsea this weekend but it’s clear that you need to have Man City attacking coverage in your team, I’d take Yaya -Sterling – Silva over Payet.
Cheers lads, both outcomes lead to no doubling up on teams attackers. Not going to bite the bullet just yet will sit tight and see what the week has to offer.
A few clichéd idioms to consider for anyone in despair / about to hit the WC:
– It’s a marathon not a sprint: So you’ve started off your campaign with a below average score and are bottom of your mini-leagues. “How could this be after such meticulous planning?” you ask yourself. Well it’s ridiculously early days just now (especially considering how much other players using their chips will skew the stats), and over the course of a season the 20, 30, or 40 points you find yourself behind your main rival now is almost negligible. Dust yourself off and look to closing that gap by even just 1 or 2 points this coming GW.
– Every dog has its day: Not only have you had to bear the humiliation of being rock bottom after the first hurdle, your mini-league leader won’t stop rubbing your face in the fact that his cheap Villa defender outscored your expensive trio of Ivanovic, Koscielny and Cedric. “Maybe he’s got a point; why invest so heavily when I can get many more points for much less?” Well because you are choosing a team considering all of the factors ahead of a GW at that given time. Replay the same GW a few times and more often than not your guys will do the business over his; this time he happened to luck out while you drew a blank.
– Horses for courses: While considering your possible WC side, you may well be looking at the top point earners so far and seeing how to get as many of them in as possible. Be sure to take fixtures into account though; several City players are right up there but they host Chelsea next before travelling to Goodison Park, and while Palace players are also in the mix they play Arsenal, Chelsea and City in their next 4 matches. This is not to say that they won’t do well in these games, but you have to consider the overall likelihood of another big score in these games over the likes of other players in your team who had a low score for GW1 but have more favourable matches coming up.
– Here today gone tomorrow: One of the main reasons people have itchy trigger fingers hovering over the activate button is a number of no-shows in their team. Certain players were unexpectedly dropped, rested, or made late sub appearances, and thus many managers are eager to be shot of said players and often replace them with their on-field replacements. A word of caution though: 1 GW is no reasonable sample of time to say who the regulars will be. It can indeed give a very strong indication, and in many cases will in fact give us managers’ preferred templates for the season, but in other cases this will just not be true. People WCing and bringing in a different Sunderland defender, Bournemouth defender and Arsenal midfielder for example may well regret doing so if O’Shea, Mings and Walcott all start the next 3 GWs. There’s nothing wrong with an early WC in theory, especially when we now must use one up before the new year, but let things settle down at least a little before you jump in based on the events of 1 GW.
Excellent points there CC.
I hope they intervene on some of those thinking and panicking right now.
Patience and a clear head are vital to be successful in this game.
You’ve hit the nail on the head CC! 😉
Wise words CC, wise words indeed. Thoughts on Young -> Mahrez this week?
Yeah probably a good move. I’m not too eager to rush out and get him yet but I understand he had a strong finish to last season too so it’s probably not just a flash in the pan. Don’t rate Young at all and Mahrez is very likely to increase in price and also has nice fixtures so all things considered I’d say do it
Cheers mate. Might go for it tonight and get them price rises for good measure 😉
Hi NIN, i think its a good idea as i just did that transfer yesterday to avoid the price rise. Mahrez seems to be more of a goal threat both directly and also through assists more than Young, who i believe will be mainly assists. Furthermore Mahrez has been involved as a goal scorer more often than not in pre-season
Gunner, are you going to play Mahrez this week or was it for his upcoming games and price rise that swayed you?
Just curious as it is Mahrez or Sakho for me and I’m thinking of opting for the latter this GW.
That’s easy for you to say Calvin. You have a beastly score. :rant:
Yeah instead of using WC just take hits haha
CC, well point mate and thanks a lot! So has anyone actually WCed yet?
Lads help.
Considering following options keeping in mind United’s games against Villa away in GW2 and Newcastle at home in GW3:
1. Do nothing this GW, use 2 FT in week 3 to sell Rooney and Milner and get in Aguero and a 5mil mid.
2. Do nothing this GW, use 2 FT in week 3 to sell Rooney and Sterling and get in Aguero and a 7mil mid.
3. Replace Azpi or Cedric this week and get in Darmian. Not do anything in GW 3. Do either of 1 or 2 above in GW 4. This will get me Aguero in for Watford at home.
Thanks!
2 sounds good but i’d be losing Fabregas before Sterling, no doubt about that.
Not too sure about that. I guess we’ll find out in the next couple of weeks.
MayAr I’d personally do nothing this GW and look to do the Rooney to Aguero move for GW4 (depending on how Rooney plays), so sort of a combination of the options you gave.
Like I wasn’t confused already
What ever you do saving your FT is probably your best bet!
@AT,
i will be playing Mahrez this week as i dont have Sakho, if i had i will prefer Sakho over him as well. i will be playing a 5 man midfield, Hazard, Mane, walcott, depay and mahrez., with Aguero and wilson as strikers
Gunner, I would never usually drop a player who scored two the week before but considering one was a pen (and he is unlikely to get back to back ones) it may be worth risking Sakho, cheers.
Looks strong, did you opt for two cheap strikers?
Yes Wilson and Defoe
By the way, how do i link my team here.
GunnerLuf check the help tab for that. Very easy.