Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 37

Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 37

Welcome to the silly season! What do we mean by that? Well, there’s a theory that at this time of the season you should switch your fantasy allegiances to those teams that have something to play for and ditch those that perhaps don’t, despite having invested in them all season. Well is there any evidence to suggest that this is a plausible strategy? We present three exhibits for the case of teams already being on holiday – Southampton, Tottenham and Everton. And teams for the opposite side of the argument – Sunderland, Leicester, Aston Villa and Burnley. Those in the ‘holiday’ camp managed 0 goals and 7 against this week. Those in the ‘sh*t, we may be relegated’ camp scored 6 and conceded none. Heck, even Newcastle manged to bother to score and get a draw this week and they really don’t seem to care either way despite being right in the mix. It’s an odd phenomenon but one that is playing out before our very eyes. The good news is that one of the above teams actually has a double this week – Sunderland. They aren’t alone in that respect as Arsenal do too and the good news there is that they also have something to play for as they could yet finish 2nd or indeed 4th which would be the difference between automatic Champions League qualification or having to begin the season early with qualifiers. The exception to the rule was of course QPR who had everything to play for. And got spanked 6-0! But that was only ever going to end one way. With all of that in mind we are going focus on those teams that still have something to play for and ignore those with their suitcases at the ready in the departure lounge …

Let’s begin with a very straightforward and short 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_blue]Blue[/highlight_blue] – These teams have either a double or a blank game-week to consider.

[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.

[divider_1px]

FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Arsenal – Man United (a) & Sunderland (h), West Brom (h)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]Arsenal will be the focus of most fantasy managers attentions this week and stocking up on 3 Gooners will be a priority for many if you haven’t done so already. Whether last nights disappointing home defeat to Swansea changed your mind is a different matter but the truth is that it was perhaps a blip on what has been a fantastic run for Wenger’s troops which has seen them win 12 of their last 14 matches in all competitions with a 0-0 draw to Chelsea being the only other blot on the landscape and let’s face it even that’s a good result in the scheme of things.

Our message here then is this – stay on message. Three Arsenal is probably still the way to go. Now whether that is 2 ‘attackers’ and a defender or all out 3 ‘attackers’ is up to you. We would go Sanchez, Giroud, Ramsey and Cazorla in that order of priority but that’s just us and you may rank them differently but either way two or three from those four for sure. Defensively they have been sound with only Chelsea and Southampton conceding less this season so we would have no issue with the 3rd being a defender especially with two of the three games being at home as they’ve conceded just 13 in 17 at the Emirates.

[divider_1px]

Sunderland – Leicester (h) & Arsenal (a), Chelsea (h)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]Quite how Sunderland came away from Goodison with all 3 points is anybody’s guess but they won’t care a jot at this stage. They had just 27% of the possession yet still managed to score twice and not concede despite being pegged back in their own half for much of the game. They probably won’t care either that both of their goals were via fluky deflections. Jermain Defoe knew slightly more about his than Danny Graham did but neither will be complaining.

They find themselves in the ‘favourable’ section through a combination of them having two games this week and the fact that they certainly have it all to play for as they are just two points ahead of the relegation zone albeit with a game in hand. The fact that the game in hand is at Arsenal may make the first game against Leicester even more significant. Judging by that peformance at Everton we wouldn’t expect them to go taking the game to either team but they will probably pack the defence again and look to snatch something on the break or from set-pieces.

Don’t be fooled by those goals from Graham and Defoe. As we say both knew little about them and in all honesty it was a surprise to see Defoe in the box as he, like fellow ‘striker’ Connor Wickham, spent the majority of the game playing as secondary full-backs. Take a punt on either for the double gameweek by all means as they are cheap at just £5.0m and £5.6m respectively but it’ll be a punt at best we feel. Danny Graham himself was the man left up top on his own but in all honesty they may as well have played a deck chair up there for all the good he did. That ‘goal’, which he celebrated as if he’d done a Van Basten volley, was his first of the season, but in fairness to him he’s barely played. Even so we’ve never seen someone so delighted that one went in off his arse when he wasn’t looking! At £4.7m he’s an even cheaper punt than the other two but feels like the ultimate punt really! For what it’s worth Advocaat did state that he’s been the best scorer in training lately but then Rodgers said that about Balotelli…

The clean sheet at the weekend proved to be a very welcome bonus for those that had PvA in their teams and an even more welcome one for those that had Davis of Southampton with Pantilimon coming in from the bench! If we had Sunderland defenders, or any Sunderland players for that matter, we would play them but we probably wouldn’t actively seek to buy any as a priority. That said if you need to free up funds for moves for the likes of Arsenal players then a -4 for any player with two games is essentially a -2 so they could be a measured purchase.

[divider_1px]

Leicester – Sunderland (a), QPR (h)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]Such has been the turnaround in Leicester’s form that few even batted an eyelid at them beating Southampton with ease at the weekend. If only they’d played with the same vigor all season they would be in the top half comfortably by now. One more win should see them safe depending on other results and it should be a humdinger at the weekend as they go toe to toe with relegation rivals Sunderland. Well we say toe to toe. And we say humdinger. They’ll attack and Sunderland won’t but you know what we mean.

If you don’t fancy using any Sunderland players as make weights then perhaps Leicester are your next best port of call. They’ve won 6 of their last 7 games, scoring 14 in the process and significantly they have kept 4 clean sheets in their last 5. They have a plethora of cheap and cheerful performers so take your pick from the likes of Schmeichel, Morgan, Mahrez, Cambiasso, Ulloa and Vardy as all are available for £5.0m or under.

The even better news is that they finish with the plummest of plum fixtures with QPR at home in GW38. Should they need the victory to survive then that’s exactly the fixture they would have hand picked and if QPR couldn’t be bothered trying when they actually had to win we dread to think what Leicester may do to them when they don’t!

[divider_1px]

Aston Villa – Southampton (a), Burnley (h)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]

[/three_fourth]On the basis that they have something to play for and both future opponents actually don’t then Villa make the list. King Tim has got them to the verge of safety and a win away at Southampton should be enough to see them through and the way both have been playing we wouldn’t be surprised to see them do it but we aren’t sure if we can quite stomach the sycophancy from Tim that will surely follow.

Benteke has been the fantasy darling of many lately but disappointed his suitors last time out with a blank against the Hammers whilst young Tom (c)leverly took his total to 3 goals in 3 games. He’s an enigma for sure and we doubt he will continue on this streak but if you need a make-weight who’s in form he’s certainly not the worst shout at just £5.2m.

Should they secure safety next week then the final game will be an odd one to call as it’s a favourable fixture but surely the Villa players will all have an eye on the FA Cup final and may be playing with slippers on just to avoid injury or suspension ahead of the biggest day of their lives for most of them.

[divider_1px]

Man City – Swansea (a), Southampton (h)
We’ve thrown Man city in here as they are still battling with Arsenal for second place and let’s face it they have a couple of fantasy gems in their ranks. Neither fixture will be easy but we wouldn’t bet against Silva and Aguero adding to last weekend fantastic fantasy performances before the season is finished. There was a feeling of freedom at the Etihad last time out and if they turn it on again they can destroy most teams in that mood although again we would temper it by stressing the obvious – it was QPR. At home.

If you have them then play them, obviously.

[divider_1px]

UNFAVOURABLE FIXTURES

The final two with something to play for are Hull and Newcastle but we really wouldn’t recommend wasting valuable transfers on either at this stage and here’s why –

Hull – Spurs (a), Man United (h)
Two tough fixtures on paper although the Spurs one may be do-able given their recent apathy. Even if it is it’ll be a close dogged affair so we can’t see any value in Hull players to recommend. If results conspire against them they could be goners by GW38 anyway so we would say it’s best to avoid them.

[divider_1px]

Newcastle – QPR (a), West Ham (h)
With 1 point in their last 9 games and with 5 goals scored and 19 conceded in that run it’s difficult to say anything other than avoid, avoid, avoid although they may actually have a chance of securing their Premier League status this weekend with a gift of a trip to Championship new boys QPR. Even so we wouldn’t bank on it! Just leave them to it, you have bigger things to worry about.

[divider_1px]

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 37 – Fantasy Premier League 2014-15. This article was written by inittowinit

Follow @Inittowinit

[divider_1px]

Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll

[polldaddy poll=8519171]