Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 2

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.

[divider_1px]

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

[divider_1px]

And so onto the teams themselves for GW2 and beyond…

FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Leicester City – West Ham (a), Spurs (H), Bournemouth (a)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/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.

[divider_1px]

MANCHESTER UNITED – Aston Villa (A), Newcastle (H), Swansea (A)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/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.

[divider_1px]

SOUTHAMPTON – Everton (H), Watford (A), Norwich (H)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/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.

[divider_1px]

SUNDERLAND – Norwich (H), Swansea (H), Aston Villa (A)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/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.

[divider_1px]

West Ham – Leicester (H), Bournemouth (H), Liverpool (A)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/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.

[divider_1px]

Man City – Chelsea (H), Everton (A), Watford (H)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/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.

[divider_1px]

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.

[divider_1px]

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.

[divider_1px]

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!

[divider_1px]

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

Follow @Inittowinit