Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 2
Welcome to GW2 Fixtures. This is our guide to help you navigate the next few weeks with a view to analysing which teams have potentially the best run of games and which teams may have a tough ride ahead of them. Game-week 1 saw a few of the usual suspects such as Ramsey, Rooney and Sturridge all hit the target and we saw a few surprise contenders emerge in the shape of Berahino and Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson was perhaps less of a surprise but with his opening fixture being away at Old Trafford he did break a few fantasy manager’s hearts as many bought him with the schedule ahead in mind but benched him this week. If you had him and played him though, well done! Chelsea opened up with an old fantasy favourite in Cesc Fabregas rewarding his owners with a couple of assists and frustrating those who went for Hazard in equal measure. Diego Costa hit the ground running too. He got a yellow card for his troubles in doing that but he scored on his debut as well. That little combo right there may be one his owners will have to get used to. With game-week 1 offering up mixed returns then we shall take a look at how game-week 2 is shaping up and look ahead to which teams your fantasy focus should be on for the next few weeks.
Before we get to the nuts and bolts of the fixtures this week and beyond 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 great article that talked us through the best rotation pairs for the season ahead…
Rotation Analysis Home and Away and Favourable fixtures
Calvin Clyne has provided us with an interactive fixture tracker. Take the time to save your own copy and use it as you wish.
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.
With just one week of game’s under our belt we have a small window of information to go on but here are the teams we feel have good fixtures ahead and those that may find it tough…
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FAVOURABLE
Chelsea Leicester (h), Everton (a), Swansea (h), Man City (a), Aston Villa (h), Arsenal (h)
Chelsea got their season off to a flier as we expected they might with a convincing 1-3 win at Burnley on Monday night. Truth is that despite going a goal behind they had this one in the bag by half-time and eased off the pedal considerably with new boy Costa netting and Fabregas chipping in with two assists, one of which being from a corner, the other being an exquisite pass in a packed penalty box to set up Schurrle. It’s another newly promoted side up next as Leicester visit The Bridge. We expect Chelsea will win this one comfortably. They have a couple of potentially tricky away trips to contend with soon going to both Everton and Man City but it’s those next three home games that look so enticing from a fantasy perspective – Leicester, Swansea and Villa. That’s nine points right there. Or should be… To Fab or not to Fab? We probably would.
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Manchester United Sunderland (a), Burnley (a), QPR (h), Leicester (a),West Ham (h), Everton (h)
Hmmm, ok, so things didn’t quite go as planned last weekend for LVG and his new team but we were warned that this happens whenever he takes charge of a new team. His systems tend to take a while for the players to adapt to but when they do eventually then everything seems to turn rosy. We aren’t suggesting that will happen overnight but we are willing to stick with them for now and this is purely down to an attractive run of fixtures allied to them having one or two stars in the likes of Rooney and Mata who on their day should still be capable of beating the likes of Burnley, QPR and Leicester regardless of the rest of the team. Add in the prospect of RVP rejoining the group at some point during this period and we expect they’ll have enough to see them through this run nicely.
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Southampton WBA (h), West Ham (a), Newcastle (h), Swansea (a), QPR (a), Spurs (a)
Given the wholesale changes at Southampton and the fact that they had to go to Anfield on the opening day it’s maybe no surprise that they lost their opener but in truth they played well and ran Liverpool very close to taking a point away with them. Tadic looked classy and he will be one to keep an eye on. James Ward-Prowse was dangerous too and along with Steven Davis both look like they may offer some future value at £5.0m. The next five fixtures all look winnable if they continue to show what they did at Anfield and they will presumably improve and gel more as they all get to know each other better.
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UNFAVOURABLE
Aston Villa Newcastle (h), Hull (h), Liverpool (a), Arsenal (h), Chelsea (a), Man City (a)
Going to Stoke and coming away with a 0-1 victory is highly commendable and suggests that Lambert and Keane are heading in the right direction with their young team. Despite them being in this section the next two fixtures actually look fairly promising , hosting Newcastle and Hull. If you fancied a quick two week dip on a Villa player then now is the time to do it but come GW4 we would suggest getting rid as that run looks nightmarish – Liverpool (a), Arsenal (h), Chelsea (a), Man City (a). You wouldn’t wish that on your dearest rivals to be fair but that’s what they have and so just be aware that any Villa player in your squad will need to ride the bench or be replaced come GW4 we feel.
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Leicester Chelsea (a), Arsenal (h), Stoke (a), Man Utd (h), Crystal Palace (a), Hull (a)
New boys Leicester acquitted themselves well on their return to the top flight with a hard earned point against Everton at home. Whatever they learned from that game will have to be put into practice quite sharply over the next few weeks if they are going to add to that point as their run of fixtures isn’t great to say the least. Three of the next four are against Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd and whilst the other three look a tad easier being Stoke, Palace and Hull they are all away from home.
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Everton Arsenal (h), Chelsea (h), WBA (a), Crystal Palace (h),Liverpool (a), Man Utd (a)
The loss of Ross Barkley on the eve of the campaign was a bitter blow to The Toffes but despair not, it meant the emergence of the ‘Ginger Messi’ playing in the hole and Naismith duly delivered with a finish that the man himself would have been proud of. Well sort of. That point at Leicester will have been a huge disappointment to Roberto Martinez as they seemed to be set to hold on for all three and it’s fair to say they needed it as there’s no guarantees where the next one is coming from. Certainly the next two look tough against Arsenal and Chelsea. It eases slightly with a trip to WBA and a home game with Palace but then two local ‘derbies’ follow that against big guns Liverpool and Man Utd and both are away from home to boot.
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Fixture Fun
Just be aware that Arsenal play in a Champions League qualifier at Besiktas on Tuesday evening so check out any injury updates from that ahead of making any transfers this week.
pls i need an answer.
1) RAMSEY OR SILVA OR MATA. I AM NOT SOLD ON RAMSEY YET.he keeps raking those point but for the love of god, he is still a bloody cm and he doesn’t take set piece and he scores a lot of lucky goals but the problem is he keeps scoring them. i would like silva as i have no city coverage but i can’t ignore rambo. mata has good fixtures but every1 felt swansea was “good fixture”, yet he only touched the ball when he was on setpiece. i am really confused
2) DZEKO OR GIROUD . tbh i dont like either, but i am thinking of going for giroud bcos of less rotation risk but i cant ignore dzeko who had a beast end to last season
I’ll take Ramseys 15 lucky goals over Silvas 5 worldies!
+1
thank you
so should i go for ramsey dzeko or ramsey giroud
And on the other point, i think i’d go Dzeko for now. The general view on here that it’s Jovetic more at risk when Aguero gets back to fitness on account of them being more similar players than Dzeko and Aguero are.
And i’ve you’ve gone Ramsey on point 1, then it’ll pay to have some city coverage.
I agree with this. While Negredo is out I think the Dzeko-Aguero combo is preferred by Pellegrini.
thanks. i have gone for ramsey – dzeko
thanks for your help.
Made in Colchester FC,
Just my usual disclaimer… I only shared my opinion on the options you provided. If you post your team, people could help you with whether taking a hit from where you’re at now is worth it or not.
my team is
krul
kaboul terry debuchy
ramsey fabregas siggy sterling
dzeko costa(c) rooney
subs: murphy , hutton , wisdom, king
wildcard is on
naturally i hate to use it so early but i know myself. i can keep my hands off that transfer button and it would get harder to acquire the team i want when their price skyrocket
Made in Congleton fc, if i was you on a wc i’d re-think my keeper selections, only 1 playing stopper and its Krul, thats way to risky, not many cleanies from Newcastle i fear, you need a playing 2nd keeper to start with, then put 3 cheapos on the bench + whats left start building a decent outfield 10.
Hi guys! Got off to a decent first week with a 71 pt haul.
I am considering using this weeks FT to get Fabregas in for Hazard.
I am debating this with myself and I don’t really know if it’s worth it or not!
Pros: I can raise an extra 1M, which would allow me to upgrade Bojan/El Ahmadi next week. Also, I think Fabregas is likely to rise 0.3M during this week, whilst Hazard looks likely to drop 0.1m.
In the long run I personally think Hazard will score at least the same amount of fantasy points as Fabre, but seeing that it’s early in the season I’m considering wether its a good idea to get on the Fabre train as his price will skyrocket.
What do you guys think? Maybe there are other transfers I should prioritize..?
This has been thrashed out a fair bit today. I am in the pro Haz to Fab camp for the exact reasons you mentioned. Congrats on a nice score
Calvin, I just read your comments re this matter on page 4, and I completely agree with your reasoning.
I’ll be doing Haz to Fab if Ramsey/Debuchy don’t get injured in tonights game! Thanks mate
:thumbup:
Ritzy, go back to this afternoons chat, it was very constructive about Haz to Fab, pages 5 onwards i think.
Ah, thanks guys. I’ll go back and have a read then
Guys looking for some of your expert advise: Terry + Hutton or Pieters + Williams? Much appreciated….
Niall, probably Terry + Hutton for me.
Depends Niall, would both be playing? Would recommend Terry and Hutton if the former plays every game and the latter is a bench-warmer, but Pieters and Williams if both are to play the majority of matches for you.
Expert advice?
And you’re asking for that here?! 😉
Is this a question on who to play from your existing squad, who to transfer in for a hit, or are you on a wildcard?
Why the fascination with dropping mata to sterling?
Haven’t people seen liverpools upcoming fixtures compared to man utd’s?
Hammers, i think its just to get the tv up as Sterling is going up tonight and Mata is close to dropping in price, people panicing in my view, the same is happening at Chelski, people dropping Haz for Fab.
Well i hope Mata smashes in a brace at the weekend and Sterling draws a blank !! :p
Then everybody will be buying Mata back !!
Brooky, this has been going on all afternoon, check back, in principle a player has to rise twice to get 0.1mill added and then you only get it when you sell him, so if its for a season keeper you won’t get owt.
I know.I dont care about price rises etc.I was joking !! People knee jerking after one game when we’ve just spent the best part of a month fine tuning our teams makes me laugh !!
I think it’s ridiculous tbh.
I’m always one for getting a good tv as it benefits you later in the season, but were only 1 game in!
Hammers – some of this has nothing to do with tv.
So for me, it’s the ability or not to be able to buy someone. I
I thought the idea of the game was to get the most points.
Mata against sun & burley
Or
Sterling against city & spurs
Hmmmmmm not really a tough decision to work out who has the potential to score the most points over the next 2 weeks
My plan ( which I didn’t tell you
) is to buy Fab. I had him until last draft. It will be for Eriksen (likely). Just need to consider how I get that 1m. Sterling is a no for me yet. Anyway he is easily sorted just by selling a 9m if I need to.
Mata stays at least to gw3.
+1
Don’t you lot work
Nope.
You saying this isn’t hard work?
Great guys thanks for the responses. Both pairs will play…