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.
Thinking about taking out young for wp. If young Baird and al don’t play I might lose out on points. Opinions please?
Hacko,
I think i would deal with Baird first
Why Cookie? Baird is the 5th defender? I have the same problem but he’s my 5th defender, same with wacko. O’Shea will play, Cahil and Caulker. With Gibbs injured and other problems in Gunner defense I think Chambers has a good shot of starting again this weekend.
hi Hacko I thk Young will start again but you have a few to many doubts so WP is a good call he looked lively
Lets hope this will tighten MU @ back
Init thanks for another great article mate. Massive conundrum for me. Would it be wise to take a 4 pnt hit and get rid of Filipe Luis and Lamela for Clyne and Fabregas? Was difficult to gauge Spurs due to the red card and Lamela only played 60mins. Fab will be going up in price tonight so only chance to do it would be now
That sounds worthy of a hit to me.
James thanks mate. I watched Chelsea last night and after reading a couple of things here I have to agree that one of Hazard or Fabregas will probably be a must this season. Just annoyed cause I am already taking a hit and Spurs does have a decent fixture against QPR.
Hi Migs not sure that is a wise move I think Luis will start @ some point& Lamela looked ok Che have a couple of difficult fixtures coming up but here what your saying with prices going up tough call
Silver, its a tough call hey! Only Chelsea would spend so much on a defender and then bench him to begin with haha but I am sure he will get some playing time. Like I said above, after watching Chelsea I just have that feeling that one of Hazard or Fab will be needed this season.
I would do it Migs, everyone of those Chelsea defenders will be rested/rotates at some point – take out the worry and avoid the anger!
ok sorted thanks Gentlemen! Too much risk of rotation and Fabregas in that Chelsea midfield looks quality.
For some reason I don’t see Mourinho touching his central duo. Do you? Terry and Cahill should play all games when fit.
On that note, is it worth 6.5m???… >.<
I thk your right Migs could be worth the hit
Hi Migs,
Seems probable that Fab or Haz will be essential, maybe both! Just one thought – a lot of people seem excited about Clyne but maybe worth remembering that he has only scored in his 2nd goal at the start of three seasons of football. Will Soton keep a lot of CS?
Hi all, bit of a long post but stick with it…
I’ve just read an article about team value and would love to get your thoughts on it. The guy who wrote the article was strongly in favour of making 1-3 transfers per week until January to catch the guys who’s team value explodes (like SIggy and Fab will this week). His justification for all these hits is that from January he can field a team of virtually his choosing. He posted his results and he’s never finished lower than 64,000 using this strategy.
My question is, how important is it to get the value? For example, I have Hazard at the moment, if I was to swap him for Fabregas tonight I’d more than likely add 0.3 on to my team value by this weekend, probably more if Hazard’s price falls (as many people will be switching Hazard to Fabregas). Conversely of course, Hazard could have a stormer this week while Fabregas blanks. What’s more important, the extra 0.3-0.5 of team value, or the potential for a bigger points haul this weekend? (as I do feel over the season Hazard will score more than Fabregas, wouldn’t have bought him otherwise!)
Hi Golazo it is imp to add value but this could effect your standing in the league , remember of course each time you make money then sell again you only get half back of what you made it is risky. I still thk Haz will out score Fab over the season Be interesting to see what others thk
Thanks Silver, I sort of forgot to take the half price profits into account.. I guess in effect this actually only adds 0.2-0.3 to my team, as I don’t think I would ever want Fab over Hazard, especially if their prices were to equalise.
That is very interesting. I’ve made an extra team that I’ve got in a work league and I’m going to experiment with this theory, as this league doesn’t really matter to me.
Golazo that sounds like my line of thinking. 3 hits a week just to chase value is ridiculous though. If they are done with sound transfers in mind as well though then that’s perfectly acceptable. I am almost certain I will do the Haz to Fab move later today. I also expect Haz to outscore Fab this season, but we can always bring him back in later when he hits good form, hopefully by which time he will be cheaper and we will have made a profit on Fab.
Team value is very important, but it should be chased with restraint. If I was just after team value, I would also do Mata to Sterling today, but given both’s fixtures I think that would be stupid (thanks for this, I have now talked myself out of it). So sometimes you have to just be prepared to either take a loss in value or miss out on a price rise, as you can’t catch them all.
Thanks Calvin, another one who is debating the Hazard to Fabregas move! I’ve changed my mind 4-5 times already today alone, I think I’m going to leave it. Is your thinking about Hazard to Fabregas purely motivated by the price rises that will happen? Interested to get your thoughts over what you eventually decide to do.
It is, yes. I don’t like being manipulated by the market, but can’t complain too much either as it is that same market that will allow us to end up with a TV of about 5m more than most others.
As I said, I do still fancy Hazard in the long-run; he looked nifty last night and should also have had a penalty to put away, in which case we wouldn’t even e having this discussion. But I also have to concede that Fab was playing further forward than I imagined he would, and seemed to be on pretty much all set pieces too, so at the moment it seems like a sideways transfer as opposed to a downgrade if that makes sense? And a sideways transfer may sound like a wasted transfer, but if it gains you a profit (and also gives you 1m in the bank for future transfers) then it’s a shrewd move in my book. Provided you don’t have other more pressing transfers to attend to of course.
Hi Cal what is a TV (something you watch) & why 5m more than others ???
TV = team value. And last season come Christmas time I had a TV of around 110m (due to watch price rises and drops) while most others in my main mini-league were between 102-107. After that it was a case of gradually catching them up and pulling away from them by utilising that extra cash well.
I took a lot of hits last year to build team value, but also to maximise each weeks score.
Ended up around 1,400 Overall Rank, though was around 300 before I took my eye off the ball (work became a focus sadly!).
A hit is neither good nor bad inherently. It’s just a purchase decision. ROI my friends, ROI…
Thanks all yes I only ended up with approx 110m but still had 2.7m in bank and finished just outside top 6000 James 101 is that a pic from the Warriors
You’re doing a good job of convincing me to do it Cal! I already had Chester, Ramsey and Sig in my team so should add at least 0.5m to my TV this week anyway, and I have Chambers to sort out pretty urgently as 2 of my other defenders are 4.0s from Leicester and Burnley.
But the prospect of an extra 0.5 to my team value and 1m in the bank is hard to ignore. Going to mull it over this afternoon. Cheers mate.
Silverback. Nope. Just a random pic I’ve used for years mate.
Golazo – Points before £, for me. Taking a -4 or -8 every week until January is taking it too far. There’s plenty of managers who play conservatively for the whole season and get great results because their decisions are sound and in general, they know what they are doing. Come January WC time or our own WC’s they wont have as much money to play around with but it doesn’t really matter as they should be streets ahead of anyone taking -4 or -8 every week unless that manager has been seriously lucky. I much prefer making transfers based on form and point potential as that’s what matters, points.
NIN – I couldn’t agree more mate. If your team is doing well the £s will follow.
On the flip side Kop, if they don’t do well you will want to make a switch eventually, but will be priced out of the one you want at that point 😛
I agree with you two NIN and Kop with this. This was my initial thinking, but the author had got great results from bandwagoning every week. Also like your point NIN about points potential, spot those and you’ll benefit from a nice price and points rise, rather than just the price! As always though, the hardest thing to do is to find those gems hidden away.
Gee, poor Liverpool with such an awful fixture in GW 7! :big-lol:
Transfers on your mind yet?
Hi Raz
There are several transfers on my mind really, but think I’ll just do Chambers -> Clyne this week.
Aaarghhhhhhhh. Stop touching Clyne bitches. He shall not rise before Saturday. :finger: