Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 16
Well that was a strange one wasn’t it. With many of the main protagonists scoring very low (yes, we are looking at you Diego and Sergio) the scoring was somewhat dented but it was similarly low for the majority, so no worries there really. What is more of a worry is that many of the main protagonists also managed to get themselves either injured or suspended in the process! It could be ‘hit’ central this week as the likes of Fabregas, Aguero, Chambers and Austin are all out for this week at least and sadly in the case of Sergio, maybe much longer. Many managers will have more flags than the United Nations at the end of this week. We expect most of the week will be filled with fantasy managers deciding how best to handle the said crisis, if indeed you have been caught in the cross-fire, as many will have. There are of course six teams in European action this midweek and much will depend on the fallout from those too but in order to help you plan ahead we give you our weekly take on the fixtures and which teams we feel have the best and worst runs ahead of them to help you decide your transfers plans…
Deadline reminder
With the fixtures coming thick and fast and the busy Christmas period only a few weeks away we will be adding a reminder here each week as to when the transfer deadline is. This week is a bog standard Saturday start and so the deadline is Saturday 13th December at 11.30am UK time.
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Just before we examine the fixtures ahead, here is a reminder of a couple of essential Fantasy Football tools that you may wish to refer back to.
Mito produced some outstanding and detailed analysis on the best rotation pairs for the season which can be found here –
Rotation Analysis Home and Away and Favourable fixtures
Calvin Clyne devised an ingenious interactive fixture tracker which can be found here –
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 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 or may not 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.
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FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Chelsea – Hull (h), Stoke (a), West Ham (h)
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[/three_fourth]It’s grim up north’. That’s the saying anyway and it’s certainly proved true for Chelsea in the past week as two trips to the North-East have seen them drop two points at Sunderland and all three at Newcastle. The title race is over, hand them the trophy already. That’s what we were being told only a week or so ago. Those two hiccups have allowed City to capitalise with maximum points on their end and sees them pull to within three points of the already crowned ‘champions’. Jose has been warning us for weeks that his team wouldn’t be able to go unbeaten for the season. Well he was correct, which he will be quietly delighted about on some level but perhaps even he will be dismayed at the nature of it. He probably thought they may lose a close encounter along the way to a top team but he possubly didn’t expect to lose five points as he has this week to the North-Easts finest. He’s probably double checked that Middlesborough are still rooted in the Championship, just in case.
If ever there was a ‘bounce back’ fixture though it’s probably Hull at home. Chelsea are 7-0 at home, to borrow an NFL phrase, and have the most home goals in the league with 18, whereas Hull have won once on the road and conceded 11 in the process. Chelsea have conceded just the 3 goals at home as well so we would be surprised to see anything but a home victory and a good one to nil. With Fabregas there will be a choice to be made here as whether to bench him or indeed bring in Hazard in his place if your budget allows it. Hazard has started to ramp up his production after a relatively quiet start to the campaign and the fact that he is also on penalties may persuade a few to do the switch. Scores of 10, 2, 11, 3, 9, 2 highlight his inconsistency but also perhaps highlight his home form as all of those low ones were away from home and the 10, 11 and 9 were all at the Bridge. Home bird.
Stoke away next is a dodgy one for sure as Arsenal found to their cost this week but Chelsea aren’t the sort of side to be intimidated like the Gunners. It does smack of a ‘grim up north’ game though in all honesty and they will have to bring their aggressive nature (Matic) as well as their flair (Hazard) if they are to come away from Stoke with all three points.
West Ham at home is a local derby and as such that won’t be easy either but the theme running through all of this, regardless of opponents, is that this is Chelsea and despite the odd blip they do feel relentless. Relentless with quality. That’s a dangerous combo and perhaps one you need to be on.
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Man City – Leicester (a), Crystal Palace (h), West Brom (a)
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[/three_fourth]Oh Sergio! Just as he was approaching Suarez esque status the inevitable happened. Most serious fantasy managers will have a transfer history page for the last couple of seasons that is littered with ‘Aguero IN’, Aguero OUT’. This is always the danger with the highly strung (muscle wise) Argentinian. He’s fantasy gold, as he proved in GW14 but he’s fantasy flimsy as well, as proved in GW15. The poor lad lasted just 6 minutes against Everton. The only surprise was that it wasn’t the usually suspect hamstring but this time a knee issue that early reports suggest could be a serious one and keep him away from your ‘Transfers IN’ page for quite some time.
With Jovetic also currently struggling with a knock we would often just reach out for Edin Dzeko at this stage but on Saturday Pelligrini took the unusual step of sending on Jose Pozo. Such was the youngsters impact, or rather lack of, Pelligrini later took the even more unusual step of substituting the substitute. Dzeko was indeed his replacement and all those shenanigans point to Dzeko maybe not being fully fit just yet but also fit enough to play the last 30 minutes. Keep an eye on his minutes in midweek as he could be a great cheap alternative if he is indeed the man that will lead the line for City in Aguero’s absence.
All of the above served to overshadow the actual result itself which saw City labour somewhat to another victory but an important one at that. Next up City travel to bottom club Leicester and having scored 9 in their last three away games and boasting the best away goals record in the league we feel that Leicester should be easy fodder for them. The same rationale can be applied to the West Brom fixture, who, like Leicester have recorded just a solitary home victory this season so we doubt they will be troubling City in that one. Sandwiched in-between the two away games is a home fixture with an inconsistent Crystal Palace. City have lost just once at home while Palace have won just once away. City are 2nd, Palace are just a point above the relegation zone. We will let you do the math on that one.
Just a quick word on Yaya Toure. He’s clearly starting to rack up the points a bit more as of late. He has three goals and eight bonus points in his last four games with scores of 10, 10,2 and 10. To add to the allure he will now be on penalty duty with Sergio sidelined. At £10.7m he’s not cheap but he will clearly attract attention again now. Interestingly Yaya had 104 points in 13 games when Sergio didn’t play last season and just 137 in 23 games alongside him including six penalties in his absence. Clearly an uptake without his mate. Possibly more responsibility to drive forward too. A word of caution though, so to speak, the big Ivorian is just one yellow away from a ban so tread carefully. He’s also off the African Cup Of nations in January so it’ll be a short lived flirtation either way but you will be able to fix it with your January wildcard anyway.
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Spurs – Swansea (a), Burnley (h), Leicester (a)
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[/three_fourth]Spurs are clearly a team in transition. Quite what they are transitioning from and to is anybody’s guess but that’s what we are being led to believe so we will give them the benefit of the doubt on that one for now. To say they are inconsistent is an understatement at the moment. They’ve lost four games at home including defeats to the likes of Stoke and West Brom but have beaten both Southampton and Everton at the Lane. They’ve actually picked up more points away from home so far and two of the next three are away and the home game is Burnley which they should win regardless really.
With Nacer Chadli meandering his way back from a small lay off it is Christian Eriksen who has picked up in his absence with a couple of recent goals to take his tally to five for the season. With 71 points he’s joint 5th in the midfielder charts and with nine points more and at £2.7m less than the above mentioned Toure he could be a great option given Spurs relatively kind schedule. Harry Kane has caught the eye a bit with some good recent performances and a budget friendly price tag of £5.0m but despite a spurt of two goals in three games previously it’s now none in the last three. He is probably typical of Spurs as a whole. Good in patches but generally unreliable.
As kind as the next few fixtures look it would be remiss of us not to mention that beyond that Spurs have two tougher fixtures in the shape of Man Utd and Chelsea and whilst both are at home that’s where Spurs are labouring a touch as highlighted above.
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Everton – QPR (h), Southampton (a), Stoke (h)
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[/three_fourth]There are, and perhaps always have been, striking similarities between Spurs and Everton. Oft in the shadow of more illustrious and successful neighbours, both also have new manager’s at the helm whose philosophies are taking time to take effect and it is showing with the results as Everton like Spurs above are struggling to find any consistency. It wasn’t just Leighton Baines that got a bloody nose last week as the whole team managed to get themselves booed off against Hull which is quite some achievement. At 1-1 and the minutes ticking away at the death and still ‘tic-a-tacking’ it around at the back may go some way to explaining both the fans frustrations on the night and perhaps the fundamental problem overall. It’s nice to watch when things are going well but there has to be an edge too and that’s been lacking on the whole for the Toffees.
Much was made of both Spurs and Everton being in the Europa League and their ability to cope with the extra workload and both are in action this Thursday ahead of the weekends games. The irony is that whilst it may have had an impact on their Premier League form they have both done well in the Europa itself and so much so that they have both already qualified for the next stage and will have the luxury of being able to field wekened teams in it this week.
Everton have QPR up next at home who will be without their talisman Charlie Austin through suspension though that barely matters for QPR when they are on the road as regardless of him or not they have played seven away and lost the lot, scoring just two in the process. Guess who scored the two? Yep. Home win surely. The subsequent trip to Southampton will be much more difficult you would imagine but then it’s back to Goodison to welcome former player Mark Hughes’ Stoke. Stoke may have won away at City earlier in the season but they have lost four out of their last five away from the Brittania.
Most people will own one of Baines or Coleman already and so it goes without saying that you play them regardless as either is capable of attacking returns in any game and their clean sheet potential this week at least is certainly enhanced given QPR’s woeful record. Their midfield is a little too sporadic to really recommend any one player in particular. Kevin Mirallas is in fact the top points scorer in that department and despite a gooal and an assist since his return in GW12 he still only has 35 points in total which says it all. Ross Barkley is too in and out at £6.8m really as Martinez clearly rates the Ashley Young wannabee but also clearly intends to rest him every now and again without warning. Up top Lukaku has started to pitch in with the odd goal again but he just doesn’t look likely to ever explode.
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LESS FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Burnley – Southampton (h), Spurs (a), Liverpool (h)
Burnley looked like they had turned a corner for a moment there with two wins on the bounce but they have managed just two goals since in the last three games and having just lost at 10-man QPR you wouldn’t really fancy their chances with the fixtures ahead being Southampton, Spurs and Liverpool. With two of those at home you would possibly expect them to have half a chance but the truth is they have won just once at Turf Moor, only scoring six there and ten in total, sit second bottom and have the league’s third worst goals against record with 24 conceded.
Nobody stands out from Burnley, literally nobody. Boyd scored recently and many enjoyed the benfit but even then it was probably from the bench and it was only his second of the season. Ings looked like he was a mini bandwagon with three in two games but again that was actually 3/4 of his total for the season. They are bench fodder in case of emergency only really and even then don’t expect too much.
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Leicester – Man City (h), West Ham (a), Spurs (h)
Speaking of goals against and being near the bottom… Leicester are bottom and have the second worst record with 26 so the last thing they really need now is to be playing the teams sat 2nd and 4th in the league and 2nd and joint 3rd respectively in the most goals scored table. That’s exactly what they have as City visit the King Power this weekend and the Foxes go to Fortress Upton the week after. Spurs at home rounds it off which again isn’t great on paper.
We wouldn’t play your Leicester defenders in any of those really. We wouldn’t play your Leicester defenders ever if the truth be told but sometimes needs must! Ulloa now has nearly double the fantasy points of any team-mate so if if anybody is still on that little bandwagon from many a moon ago then perhaps he’s the one to stick your neck out on but even then we would probably suggest looking for suitable alternatives.
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Hull – Chelsea (a), Swansea (h), Sunderland (a)
We’ve been saying for weeks that Hull have been silently slipping toward the relegation zone and true to form, on the back of two anonymous draws, they’ve finally made it into the bottom three. They’re not getting hammered particularly, they’re just not doing anything much at all particularly. In fact there have been just ten goals both for and against Hull in their last seven fixtures. That includes them drawing a blank in five of those though and contributing just the two goals in the plus column themselves. As we say, pretty poor, pretty bland. They should by rights get hammered by Chelsea this week and possibly may break out from their lacklustre mould and do so but don’t be surprised if it’s a sedentary 2-0 loss. Likewise Swansea should have enough to see them off, just and Sunderland away has a boring 0-0 written all over it if ever a fixture did. Yawn.
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Newcastle – Arsenal (a), Sunderland (h), Man Utd (a)
Now then. Close to Hull in terms of geography they may be but in terms of drama, stories, excitement and general muppetry they are a million miles apart from their neighbours. There is rarely a quiet day in Newcastle and quiet they and Pardew certainly weren’t at the weekend as he typically waxed lyrical and at length on the back of a fantastic result against Chelsea. They had won six on the spin before a couple of disappointing results against West Ham and Burnley but that defeat of Chelsea makes it seven wins in nine which is brilliant by any teams standards.
All of the above points to them being in the ‘good’ section but the next three are tricky. Sure, Arsenal have just had an Annus Horribilis at Stoke but nevertheless you would have to expect a reaction of some sort. Next up is a typically unpredictable derby against bitter rivals Sunderland followed by an away trip to an improving Man Utd. Many will have a Janmaat or a Dummett or such like in their teams and will have to think long and hard whether to play them in the next few weeks as clean sheets will surely be scarce.
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FIXTURE FUN
Our six European representatives are back in action this week with Champions League and Europa fixtures starting tomorrow (Tuesday). The good news is that both Chelsea and Arsenal are already safely through so the prize assets such as Costa, Hazard and Sanchez should, in theory, be handed much needed rests. Liverpool and Man City on the other hand both have it all to play for so their main men will probably all have to play. Everton and Spurs feature on Thursday but both are also through so should field weakened teams.
Team Talk and PhysioRoom.com
Be sure to check out the availability of your fantasy players once this weeks European games are over and everybody has returned home, hopefully in full health. Don’t forget we do our best to never leave you to fend for yourselves in this regard and Team Talk on a Friday afternoon always details all of the news from the manager’s press conferences and if you ever need a quick update simply visit our live link to PhysioRoom.com which gives updates on the nature of any injury and their expected return date.
Another superb effort Init with plenty to ponder. I must say I’m looking forward to GW18