Fixtures – The Panic Room Game-week’s 28 & 29 – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League
We really need to talk about game-week 29…… Well we need to talk about game-week 28 as well, but it is really 29 that is scrambling a few brains and causing night sweats for many a fantasy manger. Rest assured though, you are not alone. We usually ramble on about who has good fixtures and who hasn’t and the relevant players in this article but this week we will cut to the chase and keep it simple. You need to know which teams are actually playing for the next few weeks are which teams are not. Most fantasy managers will have 3 free transfers left ahead of GW29 unless you were prudent or lucky enough to save one up, in which case it’s 4 at a maximum. You may well need them all! Let’s get to it then….
This is how the land lies for the next three weeks.
The fixtures in RED are those that are not playing in that game-week.
All the GREEN ones are playing.
The YELLOW is basically the West Ham vs Hull game. If Hull win tonight then that one is off as well. We will update this article to show that as and when we know. Come on Brighton!!!
The teams on the left in RED have at least one missing fixture in either GW28 or 29.
So let’s try and make this as simple as possible –
GW27
Every team plays.
GW28
These teams do not play –
Man City
Man Utd
Sunderland
West Brom
GW29
These teams do not play –
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Everton
Liverpool
Man City
Newcastle
Sunderland
Swansea
Combined GW28 and 29 blanks –
Man City
Sunderland
So GW28 looks like this-
Everton vs West Ham
Fulham vs Chelsea
Hull vs Newcastle
Stoke vs Arsenal
Southampton vs Liverpool
Aston Villa vs Norwich
Swansea vs Crystal Palace
Tottenham vs Cardiff
And GW29 looks like this –
West Brom vs Man Utd
Norwich vs Stoke
Cardiff vs Fulham
Crystal Palace vs Southampton
Chelsea vs Tottenham
West Ham vs Hull **Subject to Hull losing in the FA Cup**
We hope that makes it as simple as possible for you. Basically our recommendations would be –
Transfer out any Man City or Sunderland players ahead of GW28 as they have two blank weeks. Probably prioritising Sunderland this week as they are away at Arsenal whereas City are at home to Stoke so keep those City players for GW27 if possible and plan to abandon ship next week.
Do not transfer in anyone who has a missing week coming up. Sounds obvious but the fact of the matter is that over 50,000 managers have transfered in Sturridge already this week and over 5,000 have transfered in both Adam Johnson and Yaya Toure and neither will be playing for two consequetive weeks after this one. Do not fall into this trap. Looking at how few games there are left in GW29 already, every spot on your squad will be valuable towards being able to field anything like a full team.
If you are lucky enough to still have your wildcard we would advise you think long and hard before using it here. The fact is that you would obviously be able to field X1 with no hits and it seems like the easy way around this problem. What we would say though is that because all of these games will have to be rearranged as well as the Everton and Man City ones from last week there will be a good number of bumper double game-weeks on the horizon. Now would you rather be able to field an extra player or two this week or potentially be able to effectively field 18, 19 or even 22 in an upcoming week…. Thought so!
GAME-WEEK 27
Let’s not forget though that there is actually a full fixture list this week! GW27 presents us with the following stand out favourable fixtures –
Liverpool vs Swansea – expect Suarez and Sturridge to be the big point scorers in this one given Liverpool’s rampant nature at Anfield recently. Stevie G is bang in form as well despite the recent premature news of his supposed decline due to his deeper role.
Man City vs Stoke – if we knew which combination of Dzeko / Jovetic / Negredo that Pellegrini would go with then we would recommend one of them. We don’t though which is the problem here. Perhaps just stick with the tried and trusted in Yaya and Silva if you have them. As stated above though do not transfer any of them in as they will then miss two weeks.
Norwich vs Spurs – Adebayor. That’s probably all you need to know for this one. The Ivorian has been on form and big time recently. Sherwood has rejuvinated him and he is looking deadly. Spurs have a clean bill of health fixture wise as well so buy, buy, buy!
IN SUMMARY
A quick straw poll around the FF247 offices suggests that the average team currently has between 5 – 7 players on their squad at the moment who would be playing in GW29. If we take the best case situation of 7 then, three free transfers and the odd hit should be sufficient to field a full X1, so maybe it is not quite the doomsday scenario after all. Use the above tools and information, plan your transfers wisely, make yourself a strong pot of tea and cross your fingers and toes on the injury and suspension front and you should just about be able to see yourself through to GW30 in one piece.
FIXTURE FUN
Well there’s plenty of that already isn’t there but just to add to the confusion the Champions League and Europa League have resumed this week meaning that Man City, Arsenal, Swansea and Tottenham all play games this midweek ahead of GW27. So keep an eye out on those for any injuries or possible rotation.
DOUBLE GAME-WEEKS, DATES FOR YOUR DIARY!
There are obviously a lot of games that now need to be rearranged. As we speak there is only one confirmed DGW which involves Man Utd and Man City and is in GW31. There is the faint possibility that some of the GW29 ones could be played in mid-week that week and so still come under the umbrella of GW29. It is however already a designated Champions League week and so the Premier League would have to go cap in hand to UEFA on that one. The likes of Man City and Arsenal will not be able to do this as they are actually playing in it though!
The fixtures that currently need to be rearranged are –
Everton vs Crystal Palace
Man City vs Sunderland
Sunderland vs WBA
Man City vs Aston Villa
Liverpool vs Sunderland
Newcastle vs Everton
Arsenal vs Swansea
So without boring you to tears and going over the infinite possibilities we have simply put together a list of the other competitions outside of the Premier League and how their key dates interact with our game-weeks. You may be able to take an educated guess based on this information as to when the rescheduled games are likely to take place. Should Man City progress in the CL though quite where their games will end up is anybody’s guess.
FA Cup
6th Round (Q/Final) â (GW29)
Semi Final â (GW34)
Final â 17th May
Capital One Cup Final â Man City vs Sunderland (GW28)
International Friendlies â 4/5 March 2014 (between GW28/29)
Champions League:
Man City vs Barcelona Tues 18th Feb (between GW26/27)
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich Wed 19th Feb (between GW26/27)
Olympiacos vs Man Utd Tues 25th Feb (between GW27/28)
Galatasaray vs Chelsea Wed 26th Feb (between GW27/28)
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich Tues 11th March (between GW29/30)
Barcelona vs Man City Wed 12th March (between GW29/30)
Chelsea vs Galatasaray Tues 18th March (between GW30/31)
Man Utd vs Olympiacos Wed 19th March (between GW30/31)
Quarter Finals
1st leg  Tues 1 Apr & Wed 2 Apr (between GW32/33)
2nd leg Tues 8 Apr & Wed 9 Apr (between GW33/34)
Semi Finals
1st leg Tues 22 Apr & Weds 23 Apr (between GW35/36)
2nd leg Tues 29 Apr & Weds 30 Apr (between GW36/37)
Final
Saturday 24th May
As ever, good luck to everyone for GW27. And oh yeah, don’t panic!
Thanks for reading Fixtures – The Panic Room Game-week’s 28 & 29Â , this article was written by Inittowinit
Excellent article as always,
Just after a bit of advice, subject to Brighton winning tonight I was thinking of adding a West Ham defender to my ranks this week and playing them instead of Shaw. Ive heard talk of Demel coming back. Anyone have an idea whos the most likely West Ham defenders to play?
As things stand now…none! đ
So when will the replay be?
Dunno but they should scrap them at this stage and just have extra time and penalties.Would make things so much easier for everyone !!
Totally! This complicates things even more as Hull and West Ham will remain a question for GW29 until the replay. Bastards!
From BBC live text:
The replay has already been set – that was quick. Brighton will travel to Hull this time next week, next Monday night. That’s the same time as Sheffield Wednesday face Charlton in the remaining fifth-round tie.
Midweek in like 9 days’ time, between Hull’s matches against Cardiff and Newcastle
No, next Monday – really? On 2 days’ rest from league games (both teams) on Saturday. That’s a bit crazy, if true.
Sorry everyone I think I cursed that one!
Bit of a long shot maybe go for a Cardiff defender? its a good differential and they have decent fixtures? my team is:
Szczesny
Kos, Ivanovic Shaw
Mata, lallana, Hazard, Nolan
Ade,Sturridge, Suarez
Subs Gab,Bennett, Dan Johnson
Not sure who you are wanting to transfer out but keep shaw and look at swapping Bennet out.Maybe a straight swap for Olsson ? Norwich have some decent home fixtures coming up and have a fixture in gw29.
Thanks Brookyboy, I was planning on swapping out Gabbidon as hes lost his place to Dann, keep Bennett as hes more likely to play got 3.7m to play with
âAgĂźero is not on the squad list,â said Pellegrini. âWeâll see if he can be fit for Saturday [against Stoke], but maybe itâs difficult.â
â[Fernandinho] has a chance, heâs in the squad list for Tuesday, weâll see tomorrow â he worked without any problem,â he added.
– Pellegrini
Nice article, but unless there are injuries I’m holding onto my Man City and Sunderland players. I can just field 11 in GW28, so after that they’ll be good for DGWs. GW29 will be dire, but none of the matches is especially tasty so I don’t expect to lose too much ground there.
Looking at the GW29 fixtures, who would you want to buy from those teams anyway?!
I already have many/most of the likely big-scorers: Hazard, Adebayor, Mata plus Ince, plus nobody else who’s playing unless Hull get knocked out in their cup replay. Between them those four might notch 25 points for me. (I’ll assume West Ham don’t play that GW, if they do it’s a nice bonus for me.) Beyond that, I’m not buying RVP or Rooney unless one of my forwards gets injured.
Does any other player who’s playing in GW29 have a decent chance of 5+ points that GW? A Cardiff midfielder maybe? – it’s really slim pickings!
gkw, excellent point you make. It really is not just a short list of teams but a short list of poor ones! Chelsea, Spurs and Utd aside. To the point where I am hoping that Huddlestone and Adrian make it into my team by default. Not really a massive wish list that is it đŽ
Evening Initt! Sorry I failed to reply on Saturday mate. 1Hobgoblin too many and fell asleep with ipad on lap!
Evening mate, there’s far too many jokes in that to do with hobgoblin’s and laps, I’ll just leave it!!! Can’t believe how gutted I was when Hull equalised, I thought I was sorted for 29! How many have you got at present?
Fair do’s….did leave myself open. Yes I was gutted when Hull equalised! I have 7 for gw29, but 1 is Gabbidon who seems to have lost his place. But dont get me onto that one, because how can an experienced premiership defender who has marshalled the Palace defence lose his place to someone from Championship?
How you lookin for 29? Appreciate you have a wc still
I think it’s about 7 if Brighton win but 5 if not đŽ I’ll not be using the WC regardless, 3 FT’s and a hit or 2 if I see any value in it. I think most of us will be donning the tin hats and just hoping for 29 to get out of the way as quickly as possible. The good thing is, as gkw says above, there really isn’t much value or potentially big scores left in the rest that week. The only big decision really will be whether to sacrifice one of SAS for a week for RvP or even Rooney perhaps. But even then Utd have been poor and WBA have looked OK at home against both Everton and Liverpool recently.
I agree not to use wc, because massive majority of fpl managers will be in same boat! Can’t panic and to be honest, due to FA cup fixtures being so influential on fpl fixtures, I’ve not really planned anything yet. Still got ft for this week. I’m off tomorrow, so its off to Costa in Northwich with ipad, pen and paper and I’ll try and come up with something! Treat you to Cappuccino if you’re about?!
I’m stuck in the office in the morning but I am off to Deeside late afternoon so if it’s mid afternoon then perfect, let me know your plans tomorrow.
Will do mate. In fairness, my plan was for mid afternoon anyway. I’ll be on in here in morning so sort then. As said, I’ll be going regardless to sort the mess of 29 out, plus all the double gw’s that will follow!
Hull boss Steve Bruce and Brighton counterpart Oscar Garcia have criticised rules that mean they must replay their fifth-round FA Cup tie two days after important league games.
The two teams will meet again on Monday 24 February after matches on Saturday.
Uefa rules prevent the game being staged alongside Champions League action on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hi guys! If anybody is online, please help with my transfers this week. The logical thing to do will be to sell a Man City player for a Chelsea player (Man city have no game in GW 28-9), but Man City have an easy game this weekend, and Chelsea have a relatively hard one. I was thinking I could do Kolarov>>Ivanovic next week, but I dont know what to do this week.
Szczesny Mannone
Coleman Kolarov Shaw Davies Gabbidon
Hazard Mata SIlva Sterling Mutch
Adebayor Suarez Giroud
2 FT and 3.0 in the bank (so if I don’t do a transfer this week it will be wasted)
Thanks
Veer why not just use one transfer this week and carry the other over.Maybe swap gabbidon to ivanovic this week as gabbidon doesnt appear to be starting anymore,then downgrade kolorov and swap silva out next week ?
+1. Don’t get blown off course by the blanks in GW29. Most players playing in GW29 would cost you 2 transfers – one to buy them and the other to replace them afterwards.
Hey Veer,
Not really the best person to give advice as I am in a pickle myself with my team and the upcoming fixture list! I personally would leave all city players in this week (unless they get injured tonight) and swap them out next week. As you have to do a transfer this week I would maybe look at bringing in a goalie cos a don’t think you will have one for GW29.