Fixtures Double Gameweek 31 and a glance ahead – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

Pop those champagne corks and put your party frocks on. It’s here at last, the one we have all been waiting for and planning our squads around for the last few weeks. Welcome, finally, Double GW31! We have a grand total of fifteen fixtures to muse over this week and no less than ten teams playing twice. We will take you on a bit of a mini tour of this weeks double fixtures but the fact of the matter is that by now you probably all know them inside out already. As such we will also take a look ahead to what the next three weeks have in store as there is also the small matter of another double gameweek on the horizon now in GW34 and we will give you the heads up as to who is involved in that one.

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With so much fixture news flying around we have attempted to simplify it all for you here… 

Taking the next four weeks as a whole the teams fall into the following categories based upon how many times they play in this period –

YELLOW – Teams play 4 times.

BLUE – Teams play 5 times.

PINK (or whatever it is) – Teams play 6 times.

The main points here then are – 

Everton, Man City and Sunderland have 6 games in the next 4 weeks. Load up on these at will.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Swansea and West Ham have a double this week but then revert to one fixture a week as normal.

Hull and Man United have a double this week but then MISS a game in GW34 (as highlighted in RED). Buy this week but do not overload due to this.

Double GW37 info – 

Whilst not on here yet it is worth noting the following –

Hull and Man Utd have been rescheduled for a double in GW37.

Aston Villa, Man City, Sunderland and West Brom all also have doubles in GW37. You will have 3 or 4 tranfers between GW34 and GW37 to plan for that one though but it is worth noting now just in case you are looking at taking any players out from these teams.

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The Double!

Here are this weeks fixtures then in all their glory…

So just to clarify those 10 teams that have a double this week are –

Arsenal
Everton
Hull
Liverpool
Man City
Man Utd
Newcastle
Sunderland
Swansea
West Ham

Some are better than others but let’s take a look at how we feel each team may fare this week.

Arsenal, Chelsea away, Swansea at home.

Arsenal swing from one end of spectrum to the next this week. Despite Chelsea going down at Villa they are usually formidable at home and this will be a tough test for the Gunners. They have shown signs of resilliance this season though, especially evident at Spurs the last time out when they didn’t play well but stuck it out for a narrow victory. After this they then have a very attractive home game against Swansea and it would be difficult to make a case for anything other than a comfortable home win in this one for Arsenal.

Everton, Swansea at home and Newcastle away.

Everton are strong at home and should see to Swansea easily enough as they did recently in the FA Cup. Newcastle are erratic at best and so we would expect Everton to put in a strong showing here also. Everton have been conceding, even against Cardiff, but Coleman and Baines have enough going forward to justify their selections. Lukaku is the obvious and maybe only attacking option as all the others are subject to rotation. He was unlucky last weekend not to walk away with the match ball but instead came away with just the 2 points to show from what was actually a very good display from him.

Hull, West Brom at home, West Ham away.

Hull possibly have one of the kindest of all the doubles on paper. West Brom finally managed a victory last week, but this was the exception rather than the rule and Hull have been solid at home apart from that Newcastle game. West Ham away will be trickier of course but this one will still be tight and we would not be surprised if it was indeed a stalemate. Not sure on Hull’s attack but certainly defensively there is potential in this double.

Liverpool, Cardiff away, Sunderland at home.

If Hull have one of the kinder doubles it’s fair to say there is little argument who has the best! If you haven’t got both Suarez and Sturridge then you really ought to consider it for this week. For most the only decision will be which to pick as captain. For once, Liverpool actually look a good bet defensively this week so if you have one then play them with confidence, finally. Gerrard or Sterling will be the other debate had here and it will probably just come down to a question of budget. If you can afford the luxury of nearly £10m on Gerrard then do it as Liverpool do possess some of the games finest divers in Suarez and Sturridge and Gerrard is on pens after all.

Man City, Fulham at home, Man Utd away

Certainly Fulham at home should be a banker here for City and in fact if it they can reproduce some of their early season form it could well be a romp! It’s still difficult seeing Man Utd away on a fixture list and automatically putting it into the ‘easy’ category but sadly for Utd fans, maybe that’s what it has now come to. Yes it’s a derby and yes Utd should still be up for it but we thought that last week against Liverpool and they got humiliated.

Man United, West Ham away, Man City at home

Hmmm… What to make of United then? We keep expecting a reaction to their latest setback but then that just seems to turn into the newest, latest setback! West Ham away will not be easy for them by any stretch of the imagination and then it just gets worse as City rock up to their nearest & dearest and will certainly be looking to inflict yet more anguish on the beleaguered Old Trafford faithful. Some managers will be holding a Utd defender such as Evra and that may just work out for the first game. Other than that we expect it will be mainly just Rooney and RvP that hold interest. Purely because of the individual qualities of the pair then we would not be surprised if they yielded returns over the piece. Some people have Juan Mata. Good luck.

Newcastle, Crystal Palace at home, Everton at home

Newcastle have long since been a mid-table team mired in inconsistency and they are certainly playing that tune again this season. They could come out and hammer Palace but just as easily go down with a whimper to a 0 -1 home scoreline. We just don’t know. Palace will come and keep it tight though as is their want and so that one probably won’t offer up too much. Everton will at least come and try to play and attack and so that one could be more open at both ends. Sissoko seems to be the flavour of the month here having scored twice a couple of weeks ago but that poor showing at Fulham last week just serves as a reminder as to why we usually stay away from Newcastle players.

Sunderland, Norwich away, Liverpool away

You have to feel that if Sunderland are going to make any impact on this double week that they must do so from that trip to Carrow Road as they probabaly won’t get a result at Anfield to be fair. That said Liverpool haven’t been the most solid at the back so there are still possibilities there for the likes of Adam Johnson to exploit. Sunderland have been solid at the back recently and this may pay dividends in the first game but they will have to be extra solid if they aren’t to get hammered in the second. Which they will, most teams do.

Swansea, Everton away, Arsenal away

Gulp! It’ll be a brave fantasy manager who picks up any Swansea players this week then. Swansea have an awful record at Goodison and actually against Everton in general. Of their last 18 encounters Everton have won 13, Swansea have won a big fat zero. Everton have scored 42 in these and Swansea just the 14. That’s that one sorted then. The Swans then take themselves off the Emirates where they actually have a slightly better record having won two of their last five but we expect Arsenal will prove to be too much this time out. Stay away is the message here.

West Ham, Man Utd at home, Hull at home

Two home games for West Ham also could offer up some defensive returns. It remains to be seen which United team turn up for this one. They have been getting results away from Old Trafford in something a bit more akin to the usual fashion as of late but West Ham will still fancy their chances in this one. Likewise Hull at home is difficult to call but over the piece Kevin Nolan will be a favoured option as an out of position midfielder who still knows where the goal is and Andy Carroll got himself back amongst the goals last week at Stoke.

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The next Double!

As we alluded to above, once this monster week is out of the way then there is another double looming in GW34 that you may be inclined to begin preparing for already. What transfers you make now will certainly still impact on how you shape up in the coming weeks so please cast an eye ahead as to who you think you will need going forward as well as how it looks this week. This is how the next double in GW34 looks…

The main points on this one are –

Its a double gameweek for the following –

Crystal Palace, Aston Villa at home, Everton away
Everton, Sunderland away, Crystal Palace at home
Man City, Liverpool away, Sunderland at home
Sunderland, Everton at home, Man City away

Do not be fooled by the date of the Arsenal v West Ham fixture. Yes it’s in midweek but this has simply been re-arranged. It is not a double week for either of these teams.

As we said earlier, Hull and Man United are absent from GW34.

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Fixture Fun

This week sees Chelsea, Man United and Spurs all in European action. If your plans include players from any of these teams it might be wise to hold fire on your transfers so as to assess any issues such as injuries that may arise as a result of these games.

We hope you all have fun with GW31 and as ever good luck to one and all.

Thanks for reading Fixtures Double Gameweek 31 and a glance ahead, this article was written by Inittowinit