Here’s an early fantasy premier league fixtures article where we look at the best fixtures from GW1 over a number of gameweek periods. There’s also some player suggestions with their individual fixtures, their basics stats and their first 6 fixtures.
fantasy premier league fixtures – an early look at the best fixtures from GW1
Fixture ease schedule
Just to remind you if you don’t remember it from last season. The team ranked 1 has the best fixtures from an attacking view point over the next 3 weeks. There are then 2 extra columns for the first 6 weeks and then 10 weeks.
I’ve marked in green the teams that have the best fixtures over those 3 periods.
We’ve then highlighted those teams and given some player suggestions with some basic stats
If you’re thinking of constructing a team already for the site opening then this will help on some of your fixture based players. You may want to read our searching for Mr Consistency article and the “double double” club for some early premium player reviews
Attacking Player Suggestions
Firstly here’s some basic stats from 16/17 on some suggested attacking players. These are just a small subset of the stats on 150+ players in our ebook for FPL 17/18
Underneath the stats is a bit of commentary on the players and the teams and their fixtures. It’s worth noting that it’s very early in pre-season and player prospects can change with time and transfers.
The stats are for the 16/17 season and are fairly self explanatory. Mins per FPL point are how many minutes it took to earn an FPL point. Mins per goal or assist is how many minutes it took to get a goal or assist. Both of these, the lower the better. Consistency is the % of games that a goal or assist was obtained. Similarly for the 10+ FPL points %. The stats for the Newcastle playsers are for the Championship last season.
Southampton
Southampton have a great set of fixtures. Unfortunately the team are fraught with uncertainty. A new manager. Also players apart from Austin who last season flattered to deceive at best. Austin has to come back from a serious injury and win his place to lead the line with competition from Gabbiadini and Long. Whether he can do that in the context of the new managers desire to press remains to be seen as he’s not the most mobile striker. However Austin has proven he can put the ball in the back of the net in the premier league. Redmond and Tadic are 2 players who were among the most frustrating last season. Great underlying shooting stats but no conversion. They will be a gamble
First 6 fixtures:
Southampton v Swansea
Southampton v West Ham
Huddersfield v Southampton
Southampton v Watford
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Southampton v Man Utd
Man Utd
You’ll notice I haven’t put anyone from Man Utd in the schedule. I think Mourinho’s team selection from last season has been so changeable due to his desire to win the Europa League towards the end of the season that we will need pre-season to assess his potential lineup. Morata if he joins is the obvious target as he should lead the line given the fee that will be involved. However Mourinho’s slow introduction of Bundesliga star Mkhitaryan last season means there is no guarantee of anything
First 6 fixtures:
Man Utd v West Ham
Swansea v Man Utd
Man Utd v Leicester
Stoke v Man Utd
Man Utd v Everton
Southampton v Man Utd
Newcastle
I will be doing a feature on all the newly promoted teams for a more in depth analysis but so far the 2 key players appear to be forward Dwight Gayle and midfielder Matt Ritchie who appears to share the set pieces with Shelvey. Gayle has fantastic stats in the championship. His previous premier league stats are somewhat off that. His previous minutes per goal or assists in the premier league is 171 minutes which is roughly double his minutes in the Championship last season. It’s still better than the likes of Benteke, Barnes, Defoe and Gray last season who were all in the 180’s so all is not lost. The issue with Ritchie is that he came up to the premier league with Bournemouth with potential and disappointed with a goal or assist every 305 minutes. He would be a gamble. All this could change depending on what funds Benitez can prise from Mike Ashley.
First 6 fixtures:
Newcastle v Spurs
Huddersfield v Newcastle
Newcastle v West Ham
Swansea v Newcastle
Newcastle v Stoke
Brighton v Newcastle
WBA
Tony Pulis’s sides are known for their defence rather than their attack. Last season, apart from the relegated teams, they only scored more goals than Stoke and Burnley. Thats why attacking players at WBA represent something of a gamble. I’ve ignored the forward position at the moment. The signing of Jay Rodriguez has to put some doubt over who will play upfront so I’ve left that as one of the pre-season mystery’s to resolve.
Of the 2 midfielders on a minutes per goal or assist basis they actually match up pretty well in their price range. Especially Phillips. However both were very inconsistent although, again, not particularly out of step with the price range apart from maybe Stanislas who just outperformed everyone in the cheap midfielder stakes. However this is often where you end up with your 5th midfielder choice. Phillips does at least have some set piece involvement which is a bonus with WBA’s set piece scoring ability. Chadli is more of a goalscorer although struggled a bit for minutes towards the end of the season
First 6 fixtures:
West Brom v Bournemouth
Burnley v West Brom
West Brom v Stoke
Brighton v West Brom
West Brom v West Ham
Arsenal v West Brom
Our 57 page Ebook with loads of 16/17 stats preparing for FPL 17/18 is available for £3
Follow us on twitter and facebook for news and article updates
