Fixtures Analysis FPL Fantasy Premier League GW21

FAVOURABLE FIXTURES

ARSENAL – Aston Villa (A), Fulham (H), Southampton (A), Crystal Palace (H)

Arsenal go into the New Year top of the pile and while it is a slender lead the upcoming fixtures give them every opportunity to remain there for the foreseeable future. Villa should be eminently winnable for them despite it being on the road and their other trip sees them visit Southampton which may be harder but those are the games you really need to be winning if you are serious title contenders. The two home fixtures see them face a Fulham side fresh from a pasting at Hull so that should be easy enough and whilst Palace have picked up since Pulis arrived the Gunners should have enough to see them off also.

With the best defensive record in the league combined with the above fixtures it may be wise to have some Arsenal coverage in this department for the next few weeks at least. Wojciech Szczesny is top in the overall Goalkeepers points wise and while he is one of the more expensive keepers he is still a cheaper option than Per Mertesacker, although the big German obviously may return attacking points for you. Surprisingly though he has only notched twice this season and he feels like he should get more especially from corners. He may be about 1m more expensive than his defensive counterparts Bacary Sagna and Laurent Koscielny, who both look like they offer good value for money, but he has also racked up 27 more points than the pair of them.

Further up the pitch, Theo Walcott has returned with a bit of a bang and we suspect there may be very few Wildcard teams that will not incorporate him if people have not done so already. Just make sure you check on his injury status though as he was stretched off at The Emirates in the Spurs game although Wenger did say he wasn’t sure if it was anything to be concerned about. Mesut Ozil remains slightly more expensive than Theo but may actually emerge as a differential choice to him as their ownership’s continue to go in different directions. Olivier Giroud remains Arsenal’s top points scorer up front by a long distance but the return of Lukas Podolski may offer Arsene Wenger the opportunity to rest his big Frenchman should he wish to.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR – Crystal Palace (H), Swansea (A), Man City (H), Hull (A)

Since the departure of Luis Andre de Pina Cabreal e Villas-Boas (ok – AVB!), Spurs have won three from four in the league, scoring nine goals in the process including a very impressive and victorious trip to Old Trafford. With the exception of the obvious, being City, their upcoming fixtures look fairly good for them. Currently poised just outside of the Champions League places a good run for Spurs could see them make inroads into this which surely has to be their main target for the remainder of the season. Palace at home and Swansea away will be two that they will be hoping for maximum returns from. Then City visit, and that should be a cracker. Hull have been tight at home to say the least so that could be a tough one.

Probably the biggest talking point fantasy wise since AVB left is the reintroduction of Emmanuel Adebayor to the first team. Having managed only 45 minutes all season under his best mate(!) he has now started the last four, scoring three goals and getting two assists in the process. His price-tag is relatively kind as well and he has proved in the past to be a reliable source of points given the chance. His new strike partner Roberto Soldado has been patchy at best so far and has been a bit of a disappointment fantasy wise. He does like a penalty though!

Behind those two up top the Spurs midfield has not really produced a stand out performer so far. The fact that Paulinho is their highest point scorer probably says it all as we had him pegged as a holding midfielder initially. Christian Eriksen is undoubtedly an exciting prospect though and he, like Adebayor, seems to be a major beneficiary of the new regime having also started the last four notching two goals, an assist and six bonus points in the process.

LIVERPOOL – Stoke (A), Aston Villa (H), Everton (H), West Brom (A)

Having been top of the league briefly, Liverpool have been brought back down to earth somewhat by those two defeats to their close rivals City and Chelsea. They will be looking to regain some momentum in the next two then as they visit Stoke and then host Villa ahead of a mouth watering and potentially crucial Merseyside derby in GW23. They then ease out of that one with a trip to West Brom. Should Liverpool have real title aspirations then they need to be picking up something in the region of nine or ten points minimum from these next four fixtures we feel.

The imminent return of Steven Gerrard should help their cause. Despite blanking in the first five game-weeks, Gerrard then went on a bit of a mini revival prior to his untimely injury, racking up three goals, seven assists and ten bonus points in ten games. Should he return in similar fashion then he will be one to consider for the next four at least.

Despite riding high in the league and actually having a fairly decent defensive record overall, Liverpool do seem intent on trying to ruin our fantasy plans by conceding the odd goal even in comfortable victories, which is becoming a tad annoying for some managers! The fact that they seem to change the personnel at the back quite regularly due to injuries is probably not that helpful either. The one mainstay so far has been Simon Mignolet and so he may be your best route into their backline if you want a consistent starter but Martin Skrtel has been stoking interest as of late mainly due to his goal against Chelsea and he is perhaps another one, like Mertesacker, who should perhaps produce more threat in that respect.

Up front. Luis Suarez. Enough said.

The Best of the Rest

Having started off the season in fine form Southampton have been on a run of tough fixtures over the Christmas period but things do start to look a lot more rosy for them now. West Brom at home and trips to lowly Sunderland and Fulham should help them recover somewhat with only Arsenal at home in game-week 23 looking a bit more challenging. Expect Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez to continue their fine recent form.

Norwich find themselves only three points above the relegation zone and so they could do with putting a few wins together to ensure they do not get dragged into a scrap. Next up is Everton away which will be a tough one but after that they face a pair of home fixtures against Hull and Newcastle and then a trip to Cardiff so perhaps those last three will bring them some welcome relief. Gary Hooper has five goals in the last ten games and is plodding along quite nicely for a cheap striker option.

Sunderland are still rooted to the foot of the table and whilst we are not saying they will actually win any of these games their run is not too bad if anyone is brave enough to invest in them – Fulham and Newcastle away, along with Southampton and Stoke at home sandwiched in between these. Many are considering a budget defensive option from Sunderland and Vito Mannone and Phil Bardsley both look to offer a good degree of value for money in this respect.

LESS FAVOURABLE FIXTURES

ASTON VILLA – Arsenal (H), Liverpool (A), West Brom (H), Everton (A)

Manager Paul Lambert caused a bit of a stir this week by stating that he would rather pick up three PremierLeague points than progress in the FA Cup. Well, he certainly got the second part of his wish, with a bit of a disastrous home defeat to Sheffield United in the third round. The first part though he may have to wait a little while on if the upcoming fixtures are anything to go by! Fortunately for Villa fans, they do have a bit of a cushion at the moment sitting in eleventh spot in the league, six points above Palace in 18th. Arsenal are the visitors next followed by a trip to Liverpool. He won’t be getting his three points in either of those two then we imagine. A local derby follows that with the visit of West Brom and those can always go either way, but with a trip to Everton to follow then perhaps that derby game is their only chance out of the next four of those points he so desired.

Brad Guzan is actually Villa’s highest points scorer this season by a long way which probably tells its own tale. We really wouldn’t recommend any of the other Villa defenders at this point especially with the above run of fixtures. Gabriel Agbonlahor has notched twice in his last two which sounds good, but the reality is that those were only his 2nd and 3rd strikes of the whole season. As for Christian Benteke, we are lost for words as to what has happened to one of last season’s undoubted fantasy stars.

SWANSEA – Man United (A), Spurs (H), Fulham (H), West Ham (A)

Swansea really are struggling to match the heights of last season this time around. They currently sit 13th in the table, just four points above the relegation zone and the reality is that they have won only five games this season. We are not suggesting that they will get dragged into it just yet, but the next four fixtures will be telling for them. A trip to Old Trafford followed by a visit from Spurs are the worrying ones on paper but in reality the next two after those will be just as crucial, as they face two teams who are fighting for their lives (we know they don’t look like they are, but they should be!). Fulham visit The Liberty first followed by a trip to London for The Swans to face West Ham.

Last season you were getting spoilt for choice with Swansea fantasy options but this time it has been a little different. Jonjo Shelvey has emerged, somewhat surprisingly, as their top points scorer so far but at 5.4m he is up against a lot of other budget 5th midfielders vying for your attentions. Wilfried Bony looks to be back to full fitness and two goals against Man City is very promising for a player who was hotly tipped as a major prospect at the beginning of the season and they may need him to kick on from that and add a killer instinct for them, especially with Michu now facing yet another spell on the sidelines.

CARDIFF – West Ham (H), Man City (A), Man United (A), Norwich (H)

Last season saw a degree of controversy and condemnation for the Southampton board over their sacking of Nigel Adkins and this Cardiff situation does bear some comparison to that. At the time it seemed harsh on the manager and the owners were criticised, much in the same way that Vincent Tan has been at Cardiff, but we wonder whether the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer could just turn out similar to the one of Mauricio Pochettino at The Saints and be viewed as a master stroke in twelve months time. He certainly has the record and pedigree, albeit only in Norway so far, but he certainly got off on the right foot with that cup win at Newcastle.

Cardiff have a very tough looking double trip to Solsksjaer’s old home of Manchester coming up, to visit both City and United back to back, which is why they are considered to have less favourable fixtures this week, but the games either side of those should be more profitable for them in theory. West Ham and Norwich at home are the perfect opportunity to make up for the other potentially inevitable losses.

Despite sitting 17th in the table Cardiff have actually been a decent source of fantasy points so far with David Marshall, Steven Caulker and Pete Whittingham all scoring over seventy points so far and all three offer decent value for money.

Be wary of…

Whilst Crystal Palace have undoubtedly improved under Tony Pulis, trips in the next four to Spurs and Arsenal will test them to the full. Home games against Stoke and Hull though may be more fruitful for those holding some budget Palace defenders.

Fixture Fun…

After the Christmas festivities we are back to a normal game-week deadline this Saturday which is the 11th of January at 11.30am.

It is worth noting that it is the turn of the Capital One Cup semi-finals this mid-week with four Premiership teams featuring, so keep an eye out for any injury or suspension news as a result as the following four all feature – Man Utd, Man City, Sunderland and West Ham.

As ever good luck one and all for GW21.

This article was written by inittowinit