As we wade through the gameweeks, it’s not been hard to pick up on one salient point this season – the fixture list has been pretty bonkers. The madness is showing little sign of abating any time soon.
So with that in mind, we thought we would give you a little update of everything we know as it stands. After this weekend’s FA Cup fixtures things will either become clearer or get just that little muddier, depending on how you look at it (don’t worry, we will update you after the weekend), but let’s go over what we know right now…
Gameweek 27…
This gameweek is fairly simple – all teams looks set to have one fixture, apart from Manchester United and West Ham as Gianfranco Zola’s side have a midweek away day to give both United and the Hammers a double fixture gameweek. Many will be loading up on United then, and anticipate price rises across their squad.
Gameweek 28…
This gameweek sees the Carling Cup causing havoc to the fantasy schedule for the last time. Aston Villa and Manchester United will be fighting it out at Wembley this weekend so they, as well as their respective opponents Hull & West Ham, will be partaking in a blank week in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game – time to utilise your benches here perhaps. All remaining teams have one fixture as normal.
Gameweek 29…
This week is still incredibly up in the air at the moment. The FA Cup this weekend could take a hatchet that Jack Torrance would be proud of to the fixture list we currently have. Any team that progresses through to the quarter finals will have to postpone their weekend fixture in this here gameweek.
There are 9 Premier League teams contesting FA Cup fixtures this weekend, and one of our posting community has provided a good round up of all potential ramifications.
Because this gameweek looks so…well…fraught – I’ll come back to you early next week with details of exactly what has happened and how it impacts on the gameweek.
Gameweek 30…
Aston Villa and Wigan will be duking it out in some late night, midweek, double gameweek action – every other team will have one fixture to take part in as it stands. Will this be enough to tempt this week’s investors in Wigan to hold onto N’Zogbia, Scharner et al?
Gameweek 31…
West Ham are due to host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the only scheduled addition of note in this gameweek, giving the Hammers another double. Every other team has one fixture this week to contend with – however the midweek that the two aforementioned teams play is currently entirely free from all other competitions, so we may end up seeing a few more pending fixtures slotted in here.
Pending…
There are a couple of fixtures still to be added to our fantasy calendars (Hull v Aston Villa & Manchester City v Everton). The final few gameweeks of the season will carry on much in the same vein, especially if gameweek 29 does get a beating.
The biggest nugget to be taken here is that (in the likely event they make it past Crystal Palace in the FA Cup this coming weekend) Aston Villa would have two bonus fixtures to re-arrange into their last few gameweeks – with a double also already mentioned in gameweek 30, investment after their week(s) off looks like it could be vital – provided Martin O’Neill’s curse in March doesn’t ring true again…
If you aren’t much a fan of words and need it put in front of you in black & white – then go one better and keep our colour co-ordinated Season Ticker in your bookmarks. When fixtures are removed, added or changed – this can be your visual delight when looking to get to grips with the schedule.
As for player recommendations. Don’t worry. We will be posting “Scouting The Doubles” articles for all teams treated to two fixtures in a given gameweek as we go.