FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Man City – Norwich (a), Sunderland (h), Stoke (h), blank GW28
Monday night’s loss at home to Chelsea will have surprised many and maybe even cause some doubts amongst the City players themselves, especially as they had looked so indestructible of late. But they do have three kind-looking fixtures to get back on track, starting on Saturday as they travel to Norwich. This game stinks of goals – there has been 32 in their last five meetings, with City scoring 23 of those, so holders of Yaya Toure, David Silva, Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko will be hoping that this theme continues. They then welcome Sunderland and Stoke to the Etihad and we all know what they can do to teams there. It’s important to bear in mind that City have a blank GW28 due to their involvement in the Capital One Cup final, so you will need to plan that into your strategy for the next few weeks.
Chelsea – Newcastle (h), WBA (a), Everton (h), Fulham (a)
The Jose mind games are well underway. Despite becoming the first team to take points off City at the Etihad, the Special One maintains that his team are only third favourites to win the league. Well, the next few GW’s should give us a better idea and with the Blues defence in stubborn form, six clean sheets in eight games tells its own story and it appears almost a necessity that a Chelsea defender should be present in your side. Ever-present John Terry is both the highest scorer and the most expensive at 6.7mln, more affordable options are Gary Cahill (5.8mln), Branislav Ivanovic (6mln) and the cheapest of the lot Cesar Azpilicueta at 5.3mln. They welcome both Newcastle and Everton to Stamford Bridge in the coming weeks, both of which have seen a downturn in scoring of late, while away trips to West Brom and Fulham would also appear to offer little threat. With Fernando Torres still a week or two away from a return Samuel Eto’o seems nailed on up front, while the form of Eden Hazard seems to be just getting better and better. New signing, midfielder Nemanja Matic , priced in FPL terms at just 6mln, impressed at City and could offer a cheeky cheap punt in your midfield.
Tottenham – Everton (h), Newcastle (a), Norwich (a), Cardiff (h)
Having been taken apart at home by City in GW23, Spurs salvaged a draw at Hull last time out and will now look to push on in their attempt to grab a Champions League place. They now enter a run of four fixtures, all of which they will see as winnable, beginning with the visit of Everton to White Hart Lane this week. Despite Romelu Lukaku not scoring since GW19, he was been a valuable front man in terms of holding and distributing the ball and bringing others into play and its noticeable that the Blues have missed his presence and they are more reliant on set pieces and Steven Naismith! The Blues have only kept one clean sheet in their last ten, offering Spurs plenty of encouragement. Tim Sherwood then takes his team to a stuttering Newcastle and then onto struggling Norwich before welcoming Cardiff in a depleted GW28. It is this final fixture which will prove of most interest to fantasy managers as they look to plan forward for a GW28 without their Man City, Man Utd and Sunderland representatives.
In that regard, we would expect the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Christian Eriksen to be in particular focus, whilst at the back Michael Dawson, Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen will be popular additions, depending on your budget.
The Best of the Rest
Two other teams with decent looking fixtures include Southampton & Aston Villa. The Saints host Stoke this week, before taking trips to Hull and West Ham and then they host Liverpool in GW28. Plenty of opportunities for the likes of Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez to carry on their good form. Villa host West Ham this weekend and then travel to Cardiff and Newcastle – Paul Lambert’s men may be of interest to fantasy managers for GW28 in particular as they entertain Norwich. Could see a few one-week punts here – time for Christian Benteke to return to your team maybe, while the likes of Nathan Baker and Fabian Delph will continue to interest those bargain hunters.
LESS FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Fulham – Man Utd (a), Liverpool (h), WBA (a), Chelsea (h)
Two points clear at the bottom of the table, most if not all fixtures would appear to be difficult at the moment. But chuck into the mix fixtures against Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea in the next four GWs may see the Cottagers cast further adrift before long. The visit to United this weekend is traumatic enough, but could be even more painful as the Reds look to hit back with a vengeance following their drab defeat at Stoke. And if that wasn’t bad enough Messrs Suarez and Sturridge are the visitors three days later. A trip to West Brom in GW27 could be the only saving grace for Rene Meulensteen, though that’s hardly a gimme before the Special One brings his title chasing outfit the mile or so to Craven Cottage.
For the gamblers are amongst us, new signing Kostas Mitroglou may prove to be the buy of the season and score the goals that will keep Fulham in the Premier League. Haha who am I trying to kid! Clint Dempsey hasn’t done anything, Lewis Holtby at 6.2mln looks overpriced in a poor side. Oh well, there’s always Steve Sidwell – 82 fantasy points already this season including five goals.
Sunderland – Hull (h), Man City (a), Arsenal (a), blank GW28
Just as everyone who hasn’t got Vito Mannone, Phil Bardsley and Adam Johnson looks at the fixtures and sees Hull at home for the Black Cats, then the fantasy football devil works his nastiest magic and gives them trips to City and Arsenal followed by a blank game-week!! How’s your luck? That’s not to say that Gus Poyet’s men can’t get anything from these fixtures, after all they’ve already beaten City this season, but it may well be that your Sunderland boys may be best on your bench for three weeks or so. Hull at home should be straightforward enough though.
What you do with your Sunderland players is obviously up to you, but with a blank game-week on the horizon it may well be you’ll see some value lost if you choose to bench rather than sell them. But confidence in football is a great thing and you wouldn’t put it past Johnson to knock one in at the Etihad against his old club or indeed at the Emirates, while keeper Mannone should continue to pick up valuable save points.
Stoke – Southampton (a), Swansea (h), Man City (a), Arsenal (h)
A much needed win over Man Utd last game-week propelled Stoke back up to halfway, but they will need to build on that result if they are to stay there as the next few weeks produces some tough matches. First up is a trip to an improving Southampton side who are unbeaten in four and looked classy for long periods in dismissing Fulham. The Potters then host a struggling and newly managerless Swansea side and Mark Hughes will be desperate to win this one as they then face matches at Man City and then at home to Arsenal in GWs 27 & 28.
Charlie Adam continues to produce the goods for Stoke, while new signing, striker Peter Odemwingie, will be keen to cement his place in the team with a few goals. Captain Robert Huth should be back from injury soon and his price has dropped to 5.2mln, offering a small discount to partner Ryan Shawcross.
Be wary of…
It’s also worth mentioning Norwich face a few tough GWs with trips to West Ham and Aston Villa, while they also welcome Man City to Carrow Road. Despite outplaying Cardiff for long periods at the weekend, another defeat increases the pressure on Chris Hughton, who could well find his team back in the bottom three come the end of GW25. Scoreless in seven games, the Canaries will be desperate for striker Gary Hooper to get back on the goal trail sooner rather than later.
FIXTURE FUN
Please note that after this weekend we have another midweek game-week in GW26, with the deadline being 19.30 on Tuesday 11 February. This will give us all opportunities to see the team sheets revealed for the following matches: Cardiff vs Aston Villa, Hull vs Southampton, West Ham vs Norwich and WBA vs Chelsea. Following GW26, there is then a 10-day break from FPL due to the FA Cup Fifth round which will involve Sunderland, Southampton, Cardiff, Man City, Chelsea, Everton, Swansea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
**Buyer Beware!** GW28 and GW29
It is worth us pointing out at this stage that GW28 and also GW29 will need careful planning for. GW28 sees Man City, Man Utd, Sunderland and West Brom all without a fixture.
The sleeper on the horizon however is GW29 which clashes with the FA Cup Sixth Round. Depending on the outcome of the Fifth Round ties then this could potentially mean a blank game-week for the following teams as well as obviously their respective opponents for GW29 – Arsenal, Cardiff, Chelsea, Everton, Hull, Liverpool, Man City, Southampton, Sunderland and Swansea! It will of course not be all of these as some face each other but the worst case scenario given the draw is that six of them will progress and we are guaranteed at least four of them will at this point.
We will focus on the implications of this in much more detail in our next Fixtures Article once we know the outcome of these ties.
This article was written by Cookie.
Who do you think will score more PTS this week ..?
A – Silva
B – Oscar
C – Gerrard
____________________________________________________________________________________________
My Midfielders are Hazard,Mata,Lallana,(Gerrard),KI
Thinking of transferring out Gerrard this week got 1FT need to catch up in my mini leagues anyway don’t mind using my FT I’ve will make sure I’ve have 2FT going into GW 28 who would you go for Oscar or Silva thinking of going for Oscar might score big against Newcastle plus Chelsea have a GW where as City don’t
Oscar doesn’t start big matches such as the one against City and Arsenal. However, other games he is usually a starter. Fearing Mou will mess it up though. I like Silva. Have both actually. At the moment I would lean towards Silva just bacause I don’t trust Mou.
I would go Silva, he’s also in my future plans.
Whut? Marriage?
HAHA, who knows?
Brian and David. I think you can Marry in Scotland as of today?
I think we’ll just pop over too your neck of the woods. Anything goes right? 😛
Ummm. Say again? Dutchie here. I don’t speak alien. >.<
Not to be an ass mate. But really don’t get it. Haha.
Anyway, it’s been fun. Off for bed now. Already lost track of time. It’s LATE in the land of the Dutchies. Oyasumi Nasai.
LOL I meant anything goes in Holland? So we’ll just come to Holland and get married, maybe have a Bong and a Blintz or maybe a cigar and a waffle? LOL
Ok goodnight Raz you crazy Dutchie 😛
+1 on the bong idea,as for the rest of the shenanigans..i’ll leave you’s to it hahaha.
Might need a lot of them if I have to marry David Silva
I only wanted to sign him, but you know what it’s like in Holland 😛
Hahaha,many,many bongs would be needed!! David can pay..he’s not short of a few bob
HAHA it’s all gone mental on here tonight
Anyway I’m off, I need a break from the madness 
GL with it all NIN!
Hahaha,good luck Cloughie,i’m used to stuff like this,my mates are insane so Facebook statuses generally descend into farce very quickly and regularly hahaha,take care dude.
JEET – Silva but he’ll probably get injured again soon enough!!
Cheers guys for the advise !
Opinions please, who to bench this week, Sterling or Zaha?
Also captain choices –
Mata
Suarez
Sturridge
Cahill
Lisbonlions67 – Sterling for me,Swansea are all over the place so Zaha could well do the business. I too am struggling with captain pick,i certainly wouldn’t go with Cahill though.A Chelsea attacker would be a good pick but not a defender,from that list i’d say Suarez or Mata
Who is the most nailed Cardiff defender under £4.4m ?
I think Fabio will be a good shout for 4.1m only. Risky move but I think he’ll be their back for the remainder of the season.
Evening gents,anyone know whos more nailed at the mo between Azpil and Cahill?? Also shall I take a 4 pointer to bring in RVP for Jrod (v stoke this week and may well score,meaning RVP needs to score x2 to make transfer effective) or shall I bring in man city striker next week for their back to back home games,i have silva anyway!!!
Any ideas peoples????
Howdy peaky,i think those 2 are pretty nailed to be honest. van Persie is the way forward if United get their shit together regularly,whether they can or not remains to be seen. Another City player is needed i think,how about Kolarov or Zabaleta for Koscielny?
Hmm im not sure tbh,btw what transfers u done this week??
peaky – Mertesacker&Rodriguez >> Shaw&Benteke.
Nice differentials!! Ive been v boring ive gone Briggs out Cahill in,might get Dzeko in for Rodriguez,will see how I feel fri/sat 😉
barkley to wilshere? OR
noone to zaha?
other midfielders are mata, silva, hazard
with suarez, sturridge and rvp up front
MLS LEAGUE INFO.
If anyone is interested a lot of us played the MLS fantasy football game last season with a certain degree of success and really enjoyed it. We will be running an FF247 league in it this year to which you are all invited to join of course.
The site is http://www.fantasy.mlssoccer.com
The FF247 league code is 1442-257
One person who you will all be familiar with did particularly well last season, Bryan Munich finished about 50th overall in the world! So at least you all have someone to turn to for advice when you realise you have never heard of any of the players!
Let the research begin!!
I’m so excited!
Init, it was 39th. Those extra eleven places were the hardest to climb!
By the way, I’ve renewed the league many of us (when we were on the ‘other’ site) and changed the name. Please let me know if you’re planning to start a more official ‘FF247’ endorsed league, and I’ll change the name immediately. Or if you want to me to post the code here, I’ll also be happy to do that. Either way it’s absolutely no problem, guv! Sorry, erm, I mean dude. Must get into MLS mode again.
Expect my FPL ranking to plunge faster than Chico in a slight breeze.
No word of a lie, I just googled ‘Chico dive’ and found this. The bugger’s hoodwinking customers by making money out of self-parody!
http://www.chicos-diveshop.com/
Got to admire the guy’s business acumen!!!
Indeed, Cookie! He may be have ruined my carefully planned Andy Carroll differential strategy, and he may be a weak-limbed Swan ( 😉 ) -diving diva, but even Sam Allardyce would have to concede that his entrepreneurial instincts are inspirational.
Next thing you know, Kolo Toure will be starting some kind of a ‘Give Generously’ foundation.
Sorry Bryan I couldn’t find the official figure, 39th it was then!
The League and code above is the official FF247 one. We can join last seasons mini-league again though no problem.
I don’t what’s wrong with me recently. First I asked Milk & Busquets why his linked team differed so much from the one he posted, only to find that I’d been looking at the wrong gameweek.
Now, as plain as the nose on Phil Thompson’s face, you posted the official FF247 code and despite reading your whole comment I still asked you a dumb question. I should consider lying down for a bit.
Btw Init, apologies for flooding the forum (weak bladder). It was Gallow’s league that got the most of the gang reeled into MLS. Mine was made at the beginning, so only a few of us were in that. No problemo. I’ve joined up with your league!
18 players?? OOF! Have trouble now wasting money on 4 more!
Calvin, can you imagine the RMT’s? Every post will be like an excerpt from Gone With the Wind.
😛
Init/Bryan
I’m in it !
Looking forward to it again.
Picked my team last night. Tricky. Have had to take a punt on a couple due to the funds being spreed a little thin. Actually most of the Americans on official MLS site threads were complaining that it is difficult and the extra $20 doesn’t reflect both the extra players and is not realistic considering the value of the players.
Don’t listen to them Damn Yankees!! We come with the experience of fitting in Suarez, Roon and Kun into one team. We now how to find good scraps. Now, I am trying to take a hit with my newly minted team, why won’t it let me?! 😉
Mito
Yeah they do moan a bit that crowd. I like the new rules and format. New things should be embraced.
Are hits still just -2 in the yankee game??
GP I have never played MLS, in fact I don’t watch it, so I have no idea what is what. But I will do some very thorough investigating. Or just copy Bryan’s team. 😉
Mito…. I would hold back on that strategy for the moment. My first few iterations of assembling a squad has left me $22m over budget. I guess I shouldn’t moan. The prices were too imbalanced last season.
But BOY are they whipping us for it now.
Bryan, you have over a month to get it right! Get to work, I need a high ranking.
Cool! I’ve become a franchise. Eat your heart out, Beckham. 😉
Btw Mito. I’ve written a light-hearted piece on introducing the world of MLS to beginners. It’s 90% tongue in cheek, so I’m not sure it would be befitting of a reputable, analytically minded footy forum such as this, but it was fun writing it. I didn’t know what the correct avenue is, so I sent Init a DM on Twitter letting him know!
I found that to be a problem the whole season, Mito. It was so generous with free transfers, I actually could even deliberately take a hit.
TGP. They’ve really bumped up the price of the defenders this year haven’t they! Last year even the best ones were about 6.5m, and you could get a fantastic squad together from the get-go. I guess they learned from their pricing imbalances. Damn!!
Bryan,
The Benchmark for all things great (stateside) 😛
How are you pal?
Yeah the prices are scandalous. wasn’t it $10 for Collin? Dear dear . . .
I also noticed that Rodney Wallace is now listed as a midfielder and Magee as a striker. The cat is out the bag there on both counts!
Yeah, GP. Wallace and Magee have lost their appeal to me now. Wallace was never the most prolific goalscorer, but because of the occasional clean sheet/assist/goal combo’s his point scoring was often explosive. Perfect caperoo material.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m really struggling to get a squad I like for under 120m! I tried to pick the same team I used for most of last season. I got a call from my bank 4 minutes later.
Bryan
I logged back in this morning and did’t like the look of the team I felt was decent last night. Back to the drawing board.
Think generally all players are over priced. Even a few points of millions here and there would help.