FPL Fixtures Gameweek 5
WTAF?!
You’ll have to excuse a few profanities in the intro here but I’m sure you’ve all uttered similar enough recently, and for similar reasons, so here we go:
Right then, what is it you actually want to know? You want to know who has good fixtures and who has bad ones, yeah? Well… how the f*ck am I supposed to know when Man Utd concede 6 at home, Liverpool get beaten 2-7 by Aston Villa, Leicester look like world beaters by sticking 5 past Man City and then back it up by getting stuffed 0-3 at home to f*cking West Ham. How on earth am I supposed to write a normal and sensible ‘fixtures guide’ on the back of all that?! :explode:
Good question….
That tweet from GNev2 probably summed it all up (although it needs context), but crack on we shall and I’ll try my best to make some sense of it all, but apologies in advance if it all goes t*ts up: it most likely will if ‘so far’ is anything to go by!
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Favourable Fixtures
Spurs vs West Ham (H), Burnley (a), Brighton (H)
Looking at Spurs’ results so far it really is ‘All or Nothing’. A drab opening day defeat to Everton at home had many wondering if the Jose curse / bubble was in full effect already. It usually takes three seasons for him to grab his massive pay off get sacked, perhaps he’d finally perfected the art of doing it in two? Then they seemed to come to life a bit with 10 goals in the next 4, including 5 in the league vs Southampton. Then it was back down to earth with a 1-1 at home to Newcastle. In their last two though they have scored 13! Yeah sure, one was against some hapless minnows but they also put 7 past Maccabi Haifa. (*waits for Man U fans to unpack that one…)
It does smack of some semblance of form though, and Kane and Son in particular seem like they’ve clicked like never before with the pair getting (at least) 7 goals and 3 assists in those last two games, and Son didn’t even play in one of them.
Fixture wise it looks pretty good, in theory (as most things are these days). The opener against West Ham may be the trickiest though as their London rivals do have a habit of turning it on against both Spurs and Chelsea. Funny that.
Burnley and Brighton both find themselves in the bottom 6, with 6 defeats out of 7 between them and 18 goals conceded. Spurs then go to West Brom who have shipped 13 alone. After that they play Man City and Chelsea back to back but you can worry about that then, the next 4 at least look likely to produce goals.
Everton vs Liverpool (H), Southampton (a), Newcastle (a)
Most teams who open up with a game against Liverpool and then follow it up with 2 potentially tricky away games probably wouldn’t normally get a look in here, but let me explain… It’s my club, I love them and we haven’t been anywhere near the top for about 20 years so shut up and let me enjoy it! they actually look pretty good, almost like the real deal. If it was Martinez or Koeman in charge you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a flash in the pan, soon to be distinguished. But with Carlo at the helm this does look more genuine. And the new signings have all bedded in superbly. And he’s even getting a tune out of some of the existing bunch of misfits, Siggy is one but we all know there’s a player there, however if you can make Iwobi replace Richarlison and have nobody notice then you’re almost approaching Paul Daniels status.
Back to the fixtures though, sure enough it’s Liverpool up first but would you bet against Everton scoring here, or indeed Carlo having the nouce to see what both Leeds and Villa did to them by simply having the audacity to attack (scoring 11 in the process)? Probably not.
As for those ‘tricky’ away games, if they hurdle Liverpool and make it 8 wins in 8 in all competitions (having scored 24 in 7 already) then I wouldn’t be particularly concerned about holding a few Toffees in those.
After that they have a home game vs Man Utd, which they often relish, followed by Fulham and Leeds.
Crystal Palace vs Brighton (H), Fulham (a), Wolves (a)
Yeah I know… I’m starting to think I’m losing my mind too but let’s see if I can make a valid argument for a team who have lost their last 2 and just got gubbed by Chelsea 4-0.
It’s tough! But there is hope: they started off on fire by beating Southampton and then destroying Man United, but then doesn’t everybody… What is more promising is their fixture schedule. Brighton and Fulham have shipped a combined total of 21 in 8 games, an average of 3 each per game. Wolves and Leeds will be tougher but neither are exactly looking watertight. After that it’s Burnley and Newcastle.
As a set of 6 fixtures that ain’t half bad, which is why Palace sneak in here. I think. But who knows.
West Brom vs Burnley (H), Brighton (a), Fulham (a)
:suicide: Alright, alright, I’m full on laughing myself now too! But again… hear me out! At least give me that before you order the medics / straight jacket.
Some combo of Burnley, Brighton and Fulham has featured above a fair bit, West Brom can shout BINGO in that respect. Sure enough they are still finding their Premier League feet but in all honesty I have seen enough from some of their more creative forward players to suggest that with a good run of games they may yet come good. And that they have.
Let’s hope they do though because beyond that it’s Spurs and Man United next.
Unfavourable Fixtures
Arsenal vs Man City (a), Leicester (H), Man United (a)
I’ll be honest I had Arsenal down for this section prior to ‘Gunnersaurus-Gate’ anyway. But I couldn’t give a fudge about those fixtures now, and I shall insist they remain in this section forever and a day until they reinstate the ‘big green guy’, as Mesut called him. I don’t care if they have Northampton, Rotherham and Oldham up next, any club which can do that to a bloke / mascot on the same day that they announce a £45m signing is dirt in my book. I thought West Ham were bad but this takes the (dinosaur shaped) biscuit. Must be something in the water in London.
They play Man City, Leicester and Man United next. And I hope they lose the lot. And every other game they ever play, ever.
West Ham vs Spurs (a), Man City (H), Liverpool (a)
Speaking of those despicable, fur wearing, sex toy waving neighbours… they’ve got it tough too. Good. (Although I wouldn’t mind waving my own ‘sex toy’ in the direction of our favourite MILF Karen Brady…).
But I hope they lose the lot. And every other game they ever play, ever.
Newcastle vs Man United (H), Wolves (a), Everton (H)
Anytime Mike Ashley comes bottom of a poll of 3 in anything then you know the other two must be misbehaving really badly! But for once in his life this isn’t a character assassination, it’s based soley upon the fixtures. And they aren’t great. Or are they? They might be. They shouldn’t be. But they might yet be.
But… we shall finish as we started by saying that we just don’t really know anymore!
Good luck?
Thanks for reading FPL Fixtures Gameweek 5. This article was written by Inittowinit.
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**NEW ARTICLE – FIXTURES GAMEWEEK 5**
We begin GW5 a little early because who wants to watch Luxembourg v Cyprus on a Saturday afternoon?
Inittowinit makes a brilliant attempt to make sense of at least some of the madcap start this season has provided.
Neville v Carragher, a redundant dinosaur and West Brom in the favourable section?
Did I say “make sense”?
Excellent work mate. :good:
Thanks GP, not sure it was brilliant but it was a fun write. Well, I had fun finding the pics anyway…
WC or not to WC this team?
You can use transfers to sort out Vinagre, Justin and Adams.
You can even play Davies or Mitchell over Vin, save the transfer and look again the following week with 2 FT :good2:
Good stuff, Init. Like you say, almost impossible to write a logical fixtures articles with the results at the moment, but some good picks there. We can’t really do anything but continue to apply fixtures and form to our decisions!
Waiting for an article in a few weeks’ time characterising Villa as one of the hardest games on paper
Thanks AT, yeah my first reaction when I saw it was my turn after what happened last week was simply:
Kane or Son who is must have amongst them??
I’m hoping Son
I got in Son, my no. 1 Spurs target. Might get in Kane before deadline because of the sweet fixtures.
I suppose u’ll get rid KDB or Bruno yea ??
Cracking stuff once again init :good:
I wonder if the crew at the FPL site ever bother to change the fixtures colours accordingly. All players who will face Aston Villa or WHU are indicated with green.
They ain’t that easy, at least so far.
That’s why “a sea of green” in the fixtures list always needs further checking.
That is so true GP. Everyone look at sea of green in the Spurs fixtures at the moment. From chartreuse green half of them could turn into phthalo green, even into brick red 😉
Thanks Ivan. We know from past experience that they are always slow to cotton on to such stuff but in all honesty you could be changing the lot every week at this rate.
Right on mate. Said it like it is. All those Fixture Planners are useless. Still, great write up…thanks.
Thanks Bees.