Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 3

Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 3

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”.

A lovely sentiment, but Martin Luther King Jr. clearly hasn’t visited FF247 where we look at the FPL staircase six steps at a time. Welcome to the GW3 Fixtures article, in which we endeavour to segregate the teams that will be relishing a points feast over the next 6 games, from those that will be wanting to avoid their Twitter feed for a while.

If GW2 had one motto for FPL managers, it was ‘We told you so’. Delivering for the 2nd consecutive week, Ramsey and Costa scored, Sigurdsson assisted and Dier replicated his handsome CS/goal haul. 29 points in 2 games is mightily impressive, but for a defender? Come on now. Behave.

But it wasn’t all good news. Chester turned jester with an early red-card, scuppering the plans of his new admirers from GW1. Man United gave another unconvincing performance as they continued their reliance on local students from Stretford High School to populate their back three. Then there’s QPR and Harry’s personal crusade to prove Luis Van Gaal that 3-5-2 can still be criminally ineffective even if you invest heavily in central defenders.

Right. For those that don’t already have these bookmarked, printed and pinned above the fridge next to your dog-eared World Cup chart (you really should think about taking that down), and before we appraise the fixtures for GW3-GW8, have a gander at these essential Fantasy Football tools (no offense intended guys).

Mito produced some outstanding, detailed analysis on the best rotation pairs for the season.
Rotation Analysis Home and Away and Favourable fixtures

Calvin Clyne devised an ingenious interactive fixture tracker. Use it before he starts charging subscription fees.
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.

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FAVOURABLE
Newcastle  Crystal Palace (h), Southampton (a), Hull (h), Stoke (a), Swansea (a), Leicester (h)
In Saturday’s shut-out at Villa Park, Newcastle fulfilled the defensive promise that they showed in defeat against Man City in GW1. Gerard DePardew’s toon armée may not be everyone’s tasse de thé, but their defence offers more value than a tabloid’s £1 Eurostar trip to Paris. No more so than Fabricio Coloccini (4.5). As captain he’s a definite starter and his commitment to the cause always puts him in bonus point contention. New recruit Daryl Janmaat (5.0) will have piqued many managers’ interests with some promising forays into Villa’s defensive third. Dummett (4.0) and Williamson (4.5) are the other, though perhaps less fashionable, options.

At the other end, Cabella and Riviére have been somewhat underwhelming, but with an appealing run of games on the horizon, particularly at St. James’, there won’t be many better times to gamble on Gallic flair bringing a musketeer to the eyes of their opponents.

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Southampton West Ham (a), Newcastle (h), Swansea (a), QPR (h), Spurs (a), Sunderland (h)
Similarly to Newcastle, their St. Mary’s stalemate hints at a surprising solidity this season, but with new signings as yet failing to deliver up front. Most accept they were unlucky to take nothing from Anfield, but Koeman has voiced concerns at their ‘lack of quality’ against Albion. Ronnie said, “I was disappointed by the level we had today in an offensive way”. For clarity, that’s not ‘offensive’ as in the contents of a Malky Mackay email, but offensive as in attack. The well documented exodus that many argue has significantly weakened their team may, aside from the obvious fiscal benefits, have several silver linings. James Ward-Prowse has seemingly become an integral cog in Koeman’s side and his performances to date suggest he is thriving on the extra responsibility. Nathaniel Clyne, no longer having to tag-team his place in the team with the departed Chambers, seems to have the right-back position all to himself, and provides real width to their attacking armoury. If Tadic can turn his tireless work into providing Pelle, and now Long with more service, the Saints could well conspire to prove their cynics wrong.

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Manchester United Burnley (a), QPR (h), Leicester (a), West Ham (h), Everton (h), West Brom (a)
On the back of two tepid performances, it’s with great reluctance that LvG’s men are presented here. However, with some supreme Argentinian talent overworking Manchester’s international work permit department, they may just be able to capitalize on what is still a very kind run of fixtures. Pre-season fervour about their fantasy prospects has eroded substantially, and impressive wins against Roma, Real Madrid and Liverpool seem a long, long time ago.

Even expert pundits are struggling to ascertain how new imports Di Maria and Rojo will be implemented into Van Gaal’s wing back based system. It has been posited in some quarters that he’s using 3-5-2 to minimise the fallout of having such inexperienced defensive options at his disposal. The denouement may be that the system itself may change. Depending on work permits, there’s a chance Turf Moor could witness the debuts of both South Americans in a game that would have every Fantasy Football manager scouting intently. Throw in a returning RvP, a firing Rooney, and Mata who claimed 10 points at the Stadium of Light, and games against Burnley, QPR, Leicester, West Ham and West Brom are surely ones that LvG is targeting for maximum returns.

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UNFAVOURABLE

West Brom Swansea (a), Everton (h), Spurs (a), Burnley (h), Liverpool (a), Man Utd (h)
The good news for Baggies boss Alan Irvine is that Saido Berahino looks to be a bright light, and his team remain undefeated. The bad news is they must visit Spurs and Liverpool, welcoming Everton and Man Utd. Yeah, um.. good luck with that lot, Alan. Even next weekend’s trip to the Liberty Stadium could offer little solace, and Burnley’s visit may already be earmarked as a must-win game. From a fantasy perspective, full-back Andre Wisdom seems to offer a solid 4.0 bench option, though Chris Baird doesn’t seem to be high in Irvine’s thoughts, despite heavy pre-season involvement.

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Aston Villa Hull (h), Liverpool (a), Arsenal (h), Chelsea (a), Man City (h), Everton (a)
Kevin Costner’s “The Postman”, accounting, watching Aston Villa. Recent surveys have indicated that these are all credible cures for insomnia. Thankfully, with fans of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Everton to entertain, that could all change. Unfortunately, it’s more than likely that it will be those teams doing the entertaining. It’s only GW3, yet the visit of Hull surely takes on magnified significance. For any masochists out their wanting in on Villa’s defence, Hutton and Vlaar are the standout candidates. But with uncertainty still persisting about new owners taking the club off Randy Lerner, one can’t help but worry for Paul Lambert come the end of this frightening fixture onslaught.

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Arsenal Leicester (a), Man City (h), Aston Villa (a), Spurs (h), Chelsea (a), Hull (h)
It’s not often Arsenal find themselves at this end of the fixtures page, but it’s not often they have three of their biggest rivals to contend with in such a contracted period. One would assume (perhaps dangerously) that they can target three victories at the King Power Stadium, Villa Park, and at home to Hull, but coupled with demonstrating an uncharacteristic lack of authority at Goodison Park, more familiar frailties began to emerge. Wenger must address their lack of concentration at key moments, and somehow find a role that gets the best out of marquee signing Alexis Sanchez. Arsenal fans have lots to be optimistic about this season, but the Man City, Spurs and Chelsea duels will go a long way to showing everyone how serious their title credentials are. So in light of these stern tests, should people consider getting rid of Ramsay? Don’t even think about it. But the mercurial Welshman may well be enough coverage until after they visit Stamford Bridge.

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Fixture Fun
With a whole myriad of Capital One Cup and European fixtures to muddy the waters this week, it will be a wise FPL manager that holds onto their transfer until Friday’s press conferences and Cookie’s subsequent low-down in the FF247 TeamTalk article.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 3. This article was written by Bryan Munich

Follow @bry_cooper