Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 1
Welcome back to the first of our regular season-long articles. The aim of this one every week is to present to you the teams that we feel have both the best and worst run of fixtures ahead of them so that you can plan your team, squad and transfers accordingly. Before we continue it is worth noting that since the FPL was relaunched a few weeks back we have had all manor of articles, almost daily, addressing many key issues ahead of the season so it is worth checking back over them all, although we make no apologies if it is overwhelming as the amount of info, stats, charts and advice may be enough to make the average fantasy manager burst at the seams…
It seems like only yesterday that we bid you all farewell and a happy fantasy free summer back in GW38 but alas it is upon us already and this Saturday sees the start of the circus again. Truth is we haven’t stopped all summer as many of you will know having taken part in the World Cup shenanigans and we all had some great fun along the way, so a massive thanks to all those who participated in that. For those that didn’t and decided to take a break, then all the more respect to you for your willpower in doing so, but also welcome back regardless and it’s great to see so many familiar faces now coming out of the summer woodwork ahead of the serious stuff again.
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Before we embark on the Fixtures GW1 article it is worth pointing you in the direction of two relevant articles that we have featured already. Both were massive hits both on here and on twitter and go hand in hand in with this one –
Mito21 produced a seriously good article that talked us through, at great length, the best rotation pairs for the season ahead…
Rotation Analysis Home and Away and Favourable fixtures
Calvin Clyne provided us with an interactive fixture tracker of epic proportions that was a massive hit on both here and social media alike. Take the time to save your own copy and use it as you wish as we expect from the reaction it got he may be copyrighting it as we speak!
Fixture Tracker – Fantasy Premier League 2014-15
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And so onto the teams and fixture themselves. Let’s begin with a very straightforward fixture tracker…
We have colour coded the fixtures in a simple fashion to allow you to judge your transfer and team selection plans accordingly:
[highlight_green]Green[/highlight_green] – We deem these to be winnable fixtures for the given team and should, in theory at least (!), harvest good fantasy points for you in the opening games. Aim to have a good nucleus of these players in your initial squad.
[highlight_yellow]Yellow[/highlight_yellow] – These are the fixtures that could go either way and do not stand out as being either particularly good or poor. If you have a player from a team in this category then do not be afraid to play them but take a considered view that it may not be an explosive week for them.
[highlight_red]Red[/highlight_red]- These are the teams that we consider to have a difficult fixture and as such may be best avoided from a fantasy perspective. Aim to minimise any players that have a run of reds in the opening games.
It’s always difficult to predict who will start well and who won’t in a new season but based on what we know – last season’s performance, summer signings, pre-season form and expectations here is our take on who to possibly jump on and who to give a wide berth to for the opening fixtures…
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FAVOURABLE
Chelsea Burnley (a), Leicester (h), Everton (a), Swansea (h), Man City (a),Aston Villa (h)
Any serious title contender that starts the campaign against two newly promoted teams has to be deemed to have a good chance of getting off the mark well and given Chelsea’s pedigree, allied to some fantastic summer business with the purchase’s of Costa, Fabregras and Luis Filipe we feel that some Chelsea investment will be near vital given their opening fixtures. They face a couple of toughies in GW’s 3 and 5 with trips to Everton and City but the other four are definitely winnable as they face Burnley, Leicester, Swansea and Villa. We suggest you be wary of their defence but only in so much as there are five players vying for four positions and Jose has the luxury that at least three of those can play in different positions across the back. The odd injury or two to John Terry in the next few days, whilst unfortunate, wouldn’t go amiss. In more ways than one.
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Manchester United Swansea (h),Sunderland (a),Burnley (a), QPR (h), Leicester (a),West Ham (h)
Manchester United couldn’t really have asked for a kinder opening schedule to the season. They begin with Swansea at home and then travel to Sunderland and that’s about as tough as it gets in the first six as they then face all three newly promoted sides back to back and end the sequence with a home game against West Ham. If LVG had hand picked this start to the campaign he couldn’t have done it any better himself. Whether clean-sheets are part of the equation we will have to wait and see but certainly the likes of Mata and Rooney should flourish here and maybe Ashley Young at a mere £5.5m and his new wing-back role may combine to be the early steal you need.
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Southampton Liverpool (a), WBA (h), West Ham (a), Newcastle (h), Swansea (a), QPR (a)
LVG isn’t the only new Dutch manager to be welcomed to the Premier League this season as fellow countryman Ronald Koeman has taken the reigns at Saints. He’s had to rebuild the squad from the summer wreckage and he seems to be doing a very tidy job of it with the acquisition of the likes of Tadic and Pelle. His new team begin with a very apt trip to Anfield to face the Southampton class of 2013 who have all swapped life of the glorious South coast for a slum on the River Mersey. Don’t worry about them though, they’ll all survive on that extra £50k a week. Whilst that looks difficult on paper don’t forget that Liverpool’s laser like attack is built on a bed of quick sand so don’t be afraid to throw in any Saints attacking players you may have picked up. After that their schedule is actually one of the best around. In fact they don’t actually run into a top side and a game that isn’t winnable all the way through until GW13. At which point they get Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd in a row but hey let’s worry about that later.
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Stoke Aston Villa (h), Hull (a), Man City (a), Leicester (h), QPR (a), Newcastle (h)
We honestly never thought Stoke would feature in one of these but they are and for good reason. Not only have they had a decent pre-season they have managed to capture one of Barcelona’s, once upon a time, ‘bright young thing’s’ in Bojan. Let’s not forget that this is a player who ousted Thierry Henry in his prime from the line-up at one of the biggest clubs in the world at one point. He’s hit the ground running as well with three goals in pre-season and started tongues wagging with his price tag. He also rotates exceptionally well with Sigurdsson should you wish to give yourself an option of switching between 3-4-3 and 3-5-2. Bojan aside Stoke’s fixtures see them face Man City in GW3 which is actually their only encounter with a ‘Top 4’ side until GW13. If you can figure out which defenders are nailed on for them then you may have a nice cheap route into a traditionally miserly defence with great fixtures.
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UNFAVOURABLE
Aston Villa Stoke (a), Newcastle (h), Hull (h), Liverpool (a), Arsenal (h), Chelsea (a)
Villa have a new manager too in Roy Keane. Well ok, he’s not actually the manager yet, he’s ‘assisting’ the current manager Paul Lambert. Probably to the exit door. It all looks rosy now but trust us this is a story in the making and smacks of Roy Evans / Gerard Houllier all over. Fixtures wise, to be fair Villa’s first three games aren’t all that bad facing Stoke, Newcastle and Hull and it would be hard to pick a winner from all of those but it is GW’s 4 to 6 that worry us. Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea on the bounce points to zero points in that period and probably no clean sheets. Maybe grab a Villa defender for the first three if you must, but be prepared to transfer or bench them for that horrendous run ahead.
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Leicester Everton (h), Chelsea (a), Arsenal (h), Stoke (a), Man Utd (h), Crystal Palace (a)
New boys Leicester come up as the champions from the Championship and so whilst they certainly know how to win they may find the top division a completely different kettle of fish. Despite being champions they are in fact many bookies favourites to go straight back down and their opening schedule will do nothing to help them in that respect. Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd in the first six will probably see them languishing at the foot of the table come the end of August we feel. Tread with caution here.
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Everton Leicester (a), Arsenal (h), Chelsea (h), WBA (a), Crystal Palace (h),Liverpool (a)
This is a right mixed bag for the Toffees and may explain tentative investment in them thus far. They begin with a newly promoted side in Leicester which on paper should be their’s for the taking but it’s away and these new teams can put up a fight especially in their first PL game and at home to boot. They follow that with two real toughies with Arsenal at home then a trip to Chelsea. It eases for two in theory with West Brom away and Palace at home before they run into Liverpool away. They got battered in that one last season. We suggest if you fancy an Everton player then maybe be prepared to rotate them given the schedule.
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Here is my team, Still not sure on Rooney and Shaw, what are other peoples take on them?
Dudley,
Is this going to be a 4-4-2 most weeks?
If not, then you could maybe take one or both of your backup defenders down to 4.0m players and invest in upgrading isgrove or nugent.
no, only playing 442 this week due to fixtures. I usually play 352 having a very strong midfield, not too sure what to do this season.
Maybe change Fabregas to a city midfielder as you’ve already got costa? Had Mannone and Krul too originally, but worried about whether Mannone will start. Same goes for Shaw, I would wait and see… Nice to see youre not going down the Bojan route!
did a lot of research on Bojan and I don’t like what I have seen. I cannot see Man Utd paying so much for Shaw and not playing him and I feel Chelsea are going to do well the season. Thats the reason behind that. I see what you are saying though mate.
Just incase anyone is interested. Everton had a closed door friendly last night winning 4-1, Lukaku scored 2, so he could be fit for Saturday.
Nice info Ant!! Thanks.
Do you know if Mirallas was involved too?
Guessing not if Lukaku managed to score two! 😉
Yeah Mirralas also played.
Interesting. Cheers Ant.
He also scored, and so did Barkley.
Thoughts?
What do you think?
Looking good buddy, you still set on Dzeko over Jovetic, even after the cup game at the weekend? Jovetic was their only threat up top, forced two great saves from Szczesny, whilst Dzeko just roamed about!
Dzeko more nailed on with Negredo out
Can you link me to anywhere with information regarding this, or who you heard it from please? It’d mess my squad up if true.
Dzeko has had an awful pre-season, quite the opposite of Jovetic. Jovetic was starting a few games before he was injured last year, too.
Well if I’m correct Pellegrini likes to play one big striker (Dzeko or Negredo) and with Negredo out Dzeko should play. Also, Dzeko is a more proven goalscorer
While Negredo is out it will be Aguero and Dzeko.
Again you guys need to tell me where you’re getting this information as I for one, cannot see it!
Pellegrini won’t play Jovetic and Aguero together because there to similar, he likes playing a big man aswell. If you want to change it go ahead.
Djecko will play with KUN over Jovetic flingy.
Jovetic is too much like KUN
This could prove problematic, in fact, disaster.
flingy
Dzeko and Jovetic aren’t really in direct competition as they’re different kinds of players. Dzeko is very important as he is a target forward that can score on headers, and contributes both offensively and defensively on corners. Barring defenders, there’s no one in City’s expected first team that can do this (Yaya is the only other big guy among City’s mids/forwards, but he’s awful on headers).
Jovetic, on the other hand, is a poorer version of Aguero, Silva, and Nasri. He’s been important in pre-season, sure, but that’s mostly because none of these players have played that much, leaving the creative responsibility on him.
Dzeko, who’s main job is to lurk and score goals, have on the other hand suffered due to the lack of creativity around him. Dzeko should be nailed on, with Jovetic rotating more with the three aforementioned players.
Jovetic will probably play some in the first matches until Silva and Aguero becomes fully fit, but most likely you’ll have to get rid of him at some time.
Cheers guys, helped a lot.
Here’s my most recent attempt at a balanced squad. Please take in to account I’ll be playing 4-3-3, with Collins / Ward rotating on their home fixture. Davis and Ki strictly subs.
I love it for how different it is
All decent or strong players.
flingy, interesting, keep an eye on Sunderland and play their keeper over Krul if you can. Mugabe get Luis up to Cahill too as I feel he’s more nailed.
It’s all about the home fixture simmo lad!
Haha, it always helps, but this takes it to the extreme!
Tottenham’s formation in preseason would be putting me off Soldado to start with, Spurs have started all the friendly’s with only one striker up top and with them having Ade as well it could be a tough call as to who gets the starting role in GW 1, it’s a big call with 8m that I wouldn’t be prepared to make. (Ade started last time out against Schalke and I think Soldado has started two out of 5 with Kane getting the other 2.)
Thanks Andy – gives me a bit of tinkering to think about. Soldado to Remy (who I like a lot, even at QPR), means I can swap Jovetic for Dzeko, as others have pointed out the problem there.
I’d really wait for managers press conference’s on Friday then Flingy as I’m unsure on how Remy’s preseason has been, off the top of my head I don’t think he’s been involved much either, my way of thinking is that if there’s a slight risk that a player who’s valued at over 6.5 might not play then he doesn’t get into my squad at all as that’s too much ££’s wasted that could be used elsewhere.
I’m looking for a 4mil defender that will sit on the bench, but, if needs must, one that does play.
Moore, Duff
Thank you