Fantasy Football Fixtures Game-week 21
Welcome to 2016 and we hope it treats you a bit better in fantasy terms than the latter half of 2015 probably did! Wow, what a strange one that was and here’s hoping some normality returns soon but we wouldn’t hold your breath. Maybe with the likes of Aguero, Silva and Payet back and hopefully Sanchez returning sometime soon then it may do but that still won’t compensate for the likes of, well let’s say anybody, being able to beat anybody else on their day which has pretty much been the case so far. Apart from Aston Villa of course. They’re gone but the rest is open in terms of relegation places, European places and of course the title itself. Well, we all moaned when Ronaldo and Suarez were here for making fantasy football boring and predictable. Careful what you wish for sometimes, eh?!
Game-week 21 is slightly delayed as we have the FA Cup this weekend and it subsequently begins next Tuesday (the 12th) and is followed swiftly by game-week 22 on the Saturday but we will cover the times and dates in more detail below in ‘Fixture Fun’.
With the ‘VARDY OUT’ news causing such a stir it’s perhaps pertinent to go and take a look at which teams we feel have favourable runs ahead (and those that don’t) as you seek his replacement and perhaps which other players to consider in any makeweight deal!
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
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FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Chelsea – West Brom (H), Everton (H), Arsenal (A)
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[/three_fourth]We thought it might be a while longer before we would once again be able to include the Champions in this section and in all honesty two of those fixtures don’t look overwhelmingly great but at least one does and that’s a huge improvement! After that pitiful defeat at the beginning of December to Bournemouth at home then even West Brom at home would have looked a stretch but actually since that there have been signs of life with just one defeat in six and they are unbeaten in their last four in the league now having scored eight in the process, including three away at Palace this past weekend which is no mean feat in itself.
West Brom are no mugs but they are without a win in their last their last four away games and if the likes of Costa, Oscar and Fabregas have been revived by Gus and Willian can continue as he has all season then we can see them winning this one and if you have a Chelsea defender then play them in this one as the Baggies have only scored six away from home all season.
As we say the next two after that aren’t easy to call but then we just don’t know quite yet which Chelsea will be turning up for them but the signs are looking up for them. It’s Everton first who have been inconsistent at best all season and we could see this going either way with probably goals at both ends. Then a potential cracker of a derby at The Emirates but you have a couple of weeks before that to see if the new dawn is real or just a false awakening.
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Spurs – Leicester (H), Sunderland (H), Crystal Palace (A)
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[/three_fourth]Spurs are right up there in the mix in all respects. Talk of the title may be premature but the way this season has gone then who knows? More likely is that they will finish in the top four and be very satisfied with doing so too. Their stats are right up there also as they are ranked 2nd in the form table (last 6 games), 4th for goals scored, 1st for goals against and 1st for goal difference. Key to this is that Kane is firing again after having scored just once in the first 9 games, he’s now got 10 in 11 and could have had 100% but for the woodwork at Goodison. We like their fixtures too as they have four home games in the next five and all are decent!
They begin with Leicester who look like being without Vardy of course and time will tell how that will affect them as he’s crucial to their zippy counter attacking style. With him we’d have have fancied a high scoring affair, without him it may still be one but more so from Spurs! Sunderland are next and despite their mini resurgence you’d expect Spurs to do them. Palace away isn’t easy but Chelsea showed that it can be and in truth the Eagles have been dodgy at home all season are in fact ranked 14th on home points alone despite being 7th overall which says it all.
Beyond the above featured games Spurs then have another two home games which is worth pointing out as again they will see both as being winnable in the form of Norwich and Watford.
And oh yeah, don’t forget Bamidele Alli! He may be still just £5.4m or so but he’s a 4th choice mid now not a 5th so stop benching him and crying about it every Saturday night!
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Watford – Southampton (A), Swansea (H), Newcastle (H)
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[/three_fourth]Watford have scored 25 goals so far and we aren’t for a second suggesting this is a one man show but Ighalo has had a hand in 19 of those with 14 goals and 5 assists. It is of course a two man show – look at the top 5 forwards in FPL and you may be surprised to find that Watford actually has 2 of them! Troy Deeney has pitched in with a hand in 13 of those 25 goals also. So anyway what does this dynamic duo have ahead of them?
Three good games actually. Followed by two less so ones but we shall come onto that. They begin with a trip to faltering Southampton who have now lost 7 of their last 9 games in all competitions conceding 17 goals in the process. Happy days for goal happy strikers! Speaking of faltering we give you Swansea and the Hornets will be pleased to see them lingering in 19th in the form table based on home games with 9 conceded in the last 6 on their own ground. Happy days for goal happy strikers! Last but not least it’s Newcastle at home whose defence ranks 19th for away teams overall and have conceded 11 in their last 6 away. Yep you guessed it… Happy days for goal happy strikers!
Not convinced Ighalo is the way to go yet?!
Good, because this next bit may put you off! They then face those two more difficult games as it’s Chelsea followed by Spurs. The ever improving champions and the best defence in the league. The good news is that are a way off though and anything can happen in the meantime so if you need a mid-term solution then Watford may just fill the gap.
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West Ham – Bournemouth (A), Newcastle (A), Man City (H)
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[/three_fourth]On the face of it West Ham are still riding high, sitting pretty in 6th and just four points off the unthinkable and those hallowed Champions League places. The last two games have produced two wins and pushed them back up the table but in fact things could have been so much better had they not gone on a draw fest for the last two months of 2015 with 6 draws in 7 games. That little sequence began in the Everton game which was coincidentally or not the one in which Payet suffered his injury. If you track his absences and their results you will see that they only managed to score five goals over those games with three nil-nils and two one-alls in there. Now we aren’t saying he contributed massively to their sudden upturn but his presence alone may have inspired something and it has certainly piqued the interest of fantasy managers once more. So what lies ahead for the Hammers and Dimitri’s potential suitors?
Well it’s not too bad at all as they begin with away trips to Bournemouth and Newcastle and they’re not too shabby on the road being ranked both 6th overall for away teams and 6th for goals scored on the road. The third game is the tricky one as they host a Man City team who may be starting to go through the gears finally but again the Hammers have done ok at home with the 5th most goals scored and let’s not forget that they aren’t shy of taking a big scalp this season having already beaten Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and of course City themselves away at the Etihad.
After City it’s Aston Villa at home and in fact their favourable run then conceivably goes on all the way through to the end of February taking in the likes of Southampton, Norwich and Sunderland. So yes, assuming they have now come out of their well drawn shells again you can safely buy a Hammer and have a go at cracking the template team.
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BE WARY OF…
Aston Villa – Crystal Palace (H), Leicester (H), West Brom (A)
We don’t need to tell you how bad Villa are, we don’t really even need to put them in here or indeed look at who they are playing, it doesn’t matter.
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Everton – Man City (A), Chelsea (A), Swansea (H)
Everton continue to play delightful football and continue to not quite get the results to show for it. We highlight them here then as trips to Man City and Chelsea are not ideal on the face of it but then perhaps all is not lost as the Toffees are in fact still ranked 5th away from home for both goals scored and conceded. So basically you can stick with any Everton players you have just don’t go buying more! Sticking with them may be shrewd though as once they get through these more tricky games it’s then both Swansea and Newcastle at home.
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Liverpool – Arsenal (H), Man United (H), Norwich (A)
Fantasy managers can certainly empathise with Reds boss Klopp as neither quite knows what to make of Liverpool at the moment! The highs of thrashing Man City and Southampton and of course the famous draw with West Brom followed by the lows of defeats by Newcastle and Watford and of course the famous West Brom draw. Given the Jekyll and Hyde nature and that three of the next four are against Arsenal, Man United and Leicester we would give them a wide berth for now.
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Stoke City – Norwich (H), Arsenal (H), Leicester (A)
Stoke owners are on notice as you have one weeks reprieve! Norwich at home looks tasty enough this week but just be warned that the subsequent four games are against Arsenal, Leicester, Man United and Everton.
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Fixture Fun – Deadlines!
The all important deadlines are as follows and pay attention because there are no games this weekend but the next game-week begins on the Tuesday immediately following it, ends on the Wednesday and then we have a very quick turnaround before going again on the Saturday –
Game-week 21 DEADLINE is 12th Jan 6.45pm GMT
Game-week 22 DEADLINE is 16th Jan 11.45pm GMT
The Capital One Cup takes place this midweek with Stoke and Liverpool playing on Tuesday (5th Jan) and Everton and Man City playing on Wednesday (6th Jan).
The weekend itself is made up of the FA Cup games and all 20 Premier League teams will be in action. This doesn’t mean all your players will feature as there will be rest and rotation aplenty depending on the opposition but keep a close on it all anyway and be sure to check that your players come through unscathed and beware that any yellow or red cards in either this or the Capital One Cup do count towards the league games.
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Firmino cud have killed it there
He just can’t seem to get his finishing touch.
You need Bentekers for that. 😉
He needs to get better at that too!! 2 one on one chances in two weeks and he misses them both. One had no keeper!!!
Is Ageuro rising in price tonight and Is Vardy decreasing in price? ?
No to both. not tonight
Neither, if I am to believe fff and fplstats.
Okay good so I have another night to sleep on any decision’s!!
Out of interest, for people taking out Vardy who are you taking in for him? Think I will aim for Kun just getting the 6 million a bit of a task!
I don’t have Vardy, sold him weeks ago. Out of the template of Kane, Lukaku, Vardy and Ighalo. I have the first two and added Kun to them. Not sure that helps, but it would be to get Kun if I had him.
Just wondering would either of you two sell Arnautovic to Stanislas in order to raise the 2 Mil to get Vardy to Kun?? I’m just torn. If you would then my answer to your question is Kun. If not then my answer is Ighalo.
If you are happy with playing Alli consistently I would. He has been solid over the last several weeks. If you had a Wanyama or someone that never really does anything as your other cheap mid, I wouldn’t make that transfer.
Wanyama was the player I sold to bring in Alli. Haha. Right so you think it’s worth selling Arnie this Gw even though they are playing Norwich?
To get Kun, I think so. He plays at home versus one of the most give and take teams I have ever seen. Everton and City could be an epic up and down game if Martinez brings the same attitude to the Ethiad he has every game.
Hard to sell Arnie before Norwich though, but if it was the only possibility to make it work, I probably would. Just know I am always early on buying Kun, the man terrifies me. Which also means I suffer through some of his games before he starts scoring.
It’s such a tough decision but I trust you mate
and sure we’ll put it this way he can’t do any worse than Vardy haha
Trust me? I don’t even listen to any of the advice I give. 😉
Ye you seem very trusting!!
Guys I’m doing a name the next goal scorer comp on twitter right now. Winner gets an FF247 t-shirt. Same applies here if you want to post an answer?
Fck off!
I’ll take Shaq to go with my Joe Allen that I posted on twitter. 😉
I’ll go with Ibe mate.
Crouch !
Has he touched the ball yet?
No more goals.
Get lost you
Hey Init I’m still awaiting my T-shirt from Potty his he ok I have e-mailed him a couple of times with no answer.
Hey Silvers, he’s not having the best of times unfortunately mate. Could you e-mail your size and address to the site and I’ll add you to the next mail run please. Same goes for anyone else who has won a Potty comp and not received one yet.
contact@fantasyfootball247.co.uk
I think
init, you’ve got mail!
Got yours Silvers.
Yours not there DMC. Sent to site or mine? Have checked both.
init – just resent it; had a typo on the email address. Cheers.
Just replied! Your address and size would help
Hey Init did you get my-mail cheers mate
I sent you a dm on twitter originally mate, shall I email you too?
Hi Webstar, pretty sure yours went out yesterday but just to be sure then e-mail please and I’ll cross ref
Silvers, yes. As per the above post ‘Silvers got yours’ 😉
Evening all, here is the draw for the 1st round of the Regulars Cup. As previously stated the top 64 in the Classic League at the end of gameweek 19 were entered.
Beer & ( . )( . )’s v Tickle My Balls XI.
Just A Mata Of Time v Yobogoya FC.
Who Ayew v Calvin Clyne.
Djemba Mbemba Baba v Ohyesalis.
Shep XI v Stokies.
Labyrinth v How I Met Your Mata.
Crystal Meth Palace v Constanteam.
#9 v All Whites.
The Gallant Pioneers v Athletico Bosh.
Purple Bee v Cookies Monsters.
Misery Loves Kompany v De Never Yedin Story.
FF247 Community Team v Alsed FC.
FC Nin v -\_(“))_/-.
Hugsters v Buzzers.
FC Sanchez v Ludinator.
Hammers FC v Dynamo Fookdarest.
The Goonies v The Dreamers.
The Reds v Posh Cockney.
Elleffcee v Griffin United.
Watchful Defenders v Evas Giants.
3rd Times A Charm v No Way.
Ball Busters v #Prideofthemersey.
50 Shades Of Tekkers v Wymos Heroes.
Celtinha v Wafflez FC.
Red Snappers Gone v Foal FC.
The Greatest FC v Share The Wealth.
Tinkerman United v Bobs Firmimible XI.
Unbelievable Tekkers v Chicos Bail Bonds.
Bigpopz FC v Joses De Portugal FC.
Password Is Taco v Js9jj13.
Teknoviking v Kop Warriors.
Inittowinit v Owls Rule.
Ties to be played gameweek 21, which is the next gameweek.
Ties will be decided on points.
If a tie is drawn on points, the team which scores the most goals will go through to the next round.
If a tie is drawn on points and drawn on goals scored, it will be decided on fewest goals conceded.
If a tie is drawn on all the deciding factors a replay will take place the following gameweek available (allowing for fa cup weekends).
The draw was made by my 4 year old autistic son, so don’t complain about who plays who, it ain’t fixed. Apologies if some of the team names are not spelt correctly.
Go and enjoy the competition.
That first fixture looks like it will be R rated.
YES!
At least I qualified for this cup :big-lol:
Bet it was it close, elle??
Certainly was GP, your team is dropping like a stone.
I think you were about 50th actually.
There was only 66 teams and Cookie and Kop were in the league, so you were in no matter what. 😉
Im just happy I made the cut haha
PP, i think you were about 34th, in easy mate.
Ellleffcee,
Considering my season… that is amazing haha
That’s NZ blocked on twitter and IP address barred from the site until Tuesday night then :hippo:
Init, you and NZ were the last 2 out.
I can see that from the draw Sherlock
Init did you also know Beers and Tits and the Tickle my balls team were the first ones out?
You couldn’t make that one up. Sounds like a typical night round at Silvers 😉 #soi’veheard
Glad to have made the cut! Now to find out who Chicos Bails bonds is haha
Cheers Elle
Colrilles.
@Matt, the guy you been helping. :cry-lol:
check it out > https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/fantasy-football-fixtures-game-week-21/comment-page-2/#comment-299328
Ah right haha should have told him to buy Rooney instead 😛
Good spot Mito my learned friend.
He bookmarks every single comment, he used to do this on FFC. You’d say something in August and have it back in your face in April
#mito’sback
Init – he’s been screenshotting my tweets and then brings them back up!!!
Bad mito!!
@Mitro, don’t need to bookmark your tweets, they are in your history, besides I usually don’t have to go but a couple of tweets back to find something to make fun of.
Nice i qualified to
Only ten teams or so were left out, it would have been a bigger accomplishment to have tried and missed out. 😉
You were about 45th Wafflez. Like Mito says, it was probably harder to miss out.
well i was second to last in gw16 so im glad anyway 😛
@Wafflez, so you messed up and got in then. 😉
I’ve got dreamers!!! Sweet!!!
Can Labyrinth please stand up?
#Prideofthemersey who’s that? O.o
No idea Snook.
@Snookie, I wouldn’t worry much, he is an Everton fan, so you know he probably has a shabby defence.
Who are you cappoing bigpopz?
Cheers Elle.. Have some queries though..Whats the prize? How many eliminations per week(if any)?? Sorry if i missed out the information shared earlier.
And lastly..
Who’s Jason for Crystal Meth Palace??
He is the one who will knock you out.
Thanks B.. That was encouraging.. thats what i needed right now. Now get lost
Just Kidding..You may stay..
He’s had worse than that over the years! It’s his Kryptonite. It will only make him stronger 😉
Prize is a wheel trim.
32 ties so 32 out.
Jason is Nosaj on site.
Thanks Elle..Nosaj is first and next then.
I’m not sure who the buzzers are but i’m sure they won’t have much problem getting past me once i leave some of my best points on the bench again
Good to hear! Keep that up please 😉
We have a winner 😉
GL shadow, now i know who to look out for
Who’s my opponent there? It’e either a pair of coconuts on a swing or the weirdest tits ever seen
Morning all lot of people using WC I thk this is based on most of us are playing catch up any other reasons. .?
Their teams are ugly.
Silvers
If I go ahead with it it will be because:
1 I’m happy with my team on paper but I’m not getting the points others seems to be getting.
2 I’m lower down in the rankings than I can put up with.
3 There are players and teams either returning from injury or returning to form who I would like to take advantage of.
4 I believe there is no guarantee that using it pre/post a DGW will be as beneficial as we might pre-conceive.
5 Cookie told me to do it.
5 being the main reason GP!!
Yep.
He’s my blame guy.
Cheers GP I’m not ready to press the button yet but if things don’t start improving I will be following 😉
You know you want to
Cookie says so…let the oracle lead you 😉
Tough fixtures this week so teams will look worse than they are
Bingo
Catch-up / Squad structure / Differentials.
Those are the three reasons i activated my own wildcard. At GW 21 my team is right around 100 points behind my target rank for the season, which, to be fair, isn’t a massive gap or one that is impossible to claw back. However, it all depends on how squads are set up. For my own, i found that most of my squad were of very high ownership, making it tough to get ahead of the pack without taking a succession of -4’s to mix it up a bit., or, getting capo pick right every single week, which is just about impossible to achieve. So, rather than fart about in the 200-400k region for the next couple of months and hope that the chips work a treat and fire my team up the rankings, i’ve decided to activate the WC and get a handful of players who plenty of managers will struggle to get, and bin a heap of massively owned players who are getting a team with my rank nowhere. The idea is that once the DGW’s come around then i can use the chips as best i can and save rank or maybe fall a bit vs teams who have used, say, the BB perfectly. I’d rather drop a bit from 20k ish than hope to use the chips perfectly and squeeze into the top 100k, if lucky enough. Also, the differentials i had were utter garbage for the most part so were actually hindering things rather than helping. That’s my reasoning anyway, however logical or silly it may be
Perfectly summed up NIN. Couldn’t disagree with any of that even if I wanted to. The ‘bingo’ was because that line from EBC made me realise that his point was the only thing that was really making me even consider playing mine and summed up for me why I shouldn’t and won’t. So what’s yours looking like so far?
Evening init. Yep, it’s a fair point made by EBC and one that is probably nudging many to hit the button. This is what i’ve got so far and i’m really happy with it. Backup defence and GK could be better but they slot in well together in weeks where the first 11 might need a switch due to harsh fixtures.
Looks good that mate and yes well thought out subs too. Yaya could be a great differential now he seems to have woken up again. Does it home AND away. Yes I’m looking at you Mr Bruyne.
Cheers mate. I brought Yaya in a few weeks ago. Scored straight away, then i capo’d him and he blanked, then i benched him and he scored
Hilarious stuff. De Bruyne is the only player i have real worries over but i’ve decided to mix it up so feck it, and him 