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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What’s with all the love of greens! If they’re not green, they’re not green, suck it up peeps
By the way, RIP Robin Williams, proper legend, so sad
Spurs with QPR and West Brom at home, both yellow #HavinAGiraffe
And yeah shit me just saw that now
Well since it countdown to gameweek 1. I will do the honor to post my team, rip it apart, but leave my capo alone
Lightning Devils – interesting team. A lot of players in there who aren’t in most teams. I’m guessing you are a Man United fan as well, so that makes me wonder why you have Wilson in there? He’s not going to start or maybe even play. I would consider finding an extra 1m to upgrade him to either a Bojan or Fraizer Campbell. And has Brady been starting in preseason? Drop one of these 3 premium mids to a mid-priced mid (Eriksen, Lamela, Sigurdsson, Snodgrass) to get yourself a second playing keeper so you’re not stuck playing Newcastle defense every week, upgrade Wilson, and change Brady. And keep an eye on Bardsley because he should start at right back, but Cameron may get his share of games in that position as well.
If he get min. 45 min tomorrow he will play(atleast get substituted and he will score), Then Mata will have feeding time of his life.
Brady has start to get some gametime, he not fully fit yet after his injury. But after what I read from manager comment, he will play a big part in Hull offensive play. So I reckon from gw2 he will start.
I always pick the wrong goalies when I need to choose between 2, so I stick with Krul. Note: West Ham was the team with most goalie point last year with 172 points in total.
Regarding Wilson: I will take a 8 point hit when RvP are back in business.
You’re already planning on taking an 8 point hit?? That’s madness haha. How do you know you won’t have bigger problems by that time? And in regards to Brady, you can’t ignore GW 1. I wouldn’t want to play the “What if” game. I don’t see Wilson playing much at all. Rooney, RVP, Welbeck, and Hernandez (if he’s still here) are all ahead of him.
West Ham with the most goalie points? Not sure why that’s relevant since you have Newcastle’s keepers… haha. I wouldn’t want to bank on Newcastle defense every week. They’re just as likely to let in 5 goals as they are to keep a clean sheet.
Relevance to goalies is that there is not so many point in difference between goalies in top clubs vs mediocre clubs, then having an extra 2 mill for a midfielder/forward who can get you a lot more points.
RvP is not going to play on saturday, Pea is on his way out. So that leaves Wellbeck vs Wilson. We will see after the match tonight before I decide, also will have a look for a replacement of Brady.
Great article INNIT – now we are in the serious business, and what a great site this is, well done all you ‘gaffers’
LD, I would get Rooney in for Sturridge, especially for the early weeks, but do not know your cash position.
My plan is to change Sturridge for RvP when he are fit.
I agree with Josh, I think there are a few to many risks in their considering everyone starts off even.
Welbeck up front if you want cheap united coverage there, but you could always downgrade Studge to Rooney. Chuck lamela/eriksen in there for Fab or Ramsey, then upgrade Wilson.
It’s a brave man who goes without a Chelsea defender, I’ve got two of them myself and see them as (almost) guaranteed 6 points each for the first couple of gw’s.
I don’t know much about Brady and Vergini, but like Josh says, one 4.5 mil playing keeper is risky, so try and either get 2two4.5’s or one 5.5 and a 4.
I couldn’t choose which Chelsea defender to use. So I going to wait till after the internationals, before I make up my mind.
Thank you all for you comments. I apreciate it. I will take your advice in notice
Thoughts? I like having $1M or more in the bank
Cameron, Simpson and Mariapa a very very doubtful of playing
Cameron, Luis and Mariappa are all subject to doubt / rotation I’m afraid. But equally they could all play in which case you’d be laughing. Risky though.
I forgot to mention Simpson in that list: get Ferdinand instead.
JCBlassYo – your front 7 look great. However, it comes at the expense of the rest of your team. Your defense is full of question marks. I could say you have at least 1 confirmed starter in your defense and he’s on a promoted team (Moore). I would leave Filipe Luis though because he seems a gamble worth taking. Cameron, Mariappa, and Simpson are not nailed on, so I would look at replacing them. Van Aanholt or Coloccini would be decent. Or even Taylor from Swansea. Good choice in keepers although I hope you realize you have double Stoke and double QPR…
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for the article it made great reading!
Anyone RMT !
Jeet – team looks good for the most part! Mariappa is a doubt to start, even without his current injury. Simpson might not start either because QPR just signed Isla. Replace them 2 and try and get Davis or someone similar for Bentaleb.
Cheers mate I’ve see what I’ve can do !
Jeet, I make Simpson into Rio just to be on the safe side. Just in case Mariappa doesn’t start or Luis-Pieters get rotated.
Anyone RMT My New Team !
Damn! Yeah that works better.
Well that was fast! Haha that looks much better. Still don’t like Bentaleb though.
Who would you replace him with ? Got No Money in ITB – Boyd,Albrighton.ect
Hmm… I would have said Albrighton but he seems to be injured. Maybe switch Eriksen to Tadic and find someone in the more attractive 5m range?
Cheers Josh