Although those of us who owned Ben Foster and Artur Boruc last year might not agree, a good cheap home/away rotation in defence and midfield can earn Fantasy managers a useful haul of points.
Rotation Blocks Explained
This season’s fixtures appear to offer decent rotation potential. Unlike the German Bundesliga, for example, with its two distinct halves, the Premier League fixture compilers have stuck to their usual practice of splitting the calendar into a number of short rotational blocks.
During each block, the 20 clubs are split into two groups of ten teams – let’s call them Group A and Group B. For the duration of the fixture block, teams from Group A will always play against a team from Group B, but never against another team from Group A. When a new rotational block starts, the two groups are mixed up, so that each club gets the opportunity to play all 19 others home and away.
In 2014-15, there are 11 fixture blocks of varying length. They take place in gameweeks 1-2, 3-6, 7-8, 9-13, 14-21, 22-25, 26-27, 28-31, 32-33, 34-36, 37-38.
It is therefore the lengthiest two blocks in the first half of the season (GW 9-13 and particularly GW 14-21) that allow us to set up some potentially fruitful team rotations.
There is one unusual factor this season though. Due to the odd-numbered length of one rotation block (GW 9-13), some teams have a distinct imbalance in the number of home and away matches around October and November. In other words:
– Burnley and West Brom play 5 out of 7 matches at home between GW 8 & GW 14
– Hull and Aston Villa play 5 out of 7 matches away between GW 8 & GW 14
Given Aston Villa’s awful fixtures from GW 4-8, they would appear to be a no-go area in Fantasy terms until GW 15.
Club by Club Home and Away Patterns
Arsenal:
Perfect Rotation: Tottenham (38 games)
Good: West Ham (34 games), QPR (30), Aston Villa (28)
Poor: Crystal Palace (4 games), Chelsea (8), West Brom (10)
Aston Villa:
Perfect Rotation: West Brom (38 games)
Good: Man Utd (34 games), Burnley (30), Sunderland (30), Arsenal (28)
Poor: Man City (4 games), Hull (8), Newcastle (8), Spurs (10)
Burnley
Perfect Rotation: Hull City (38 games)
Good: Aston Villa (30 games), Stoke (30)
Poor: Swansea (8 games), West Brom (8)
Chelsea
Perfect Rotation: QPR (38 games)
Good: West Ham (34 games), Tottenham (30), Newcastle (28)
Poor: Crystal Palace (4 games), Arsenal (8), Sunderland (10)
Crystal Palace
Perfect Rotation: West Ham (38 games)
Good: Tottenham (34 games), QPR (34), Liverpool (30)
Poor: Arsenal (4 games), Chelsea (4), Everton (8)
Everton
Perfect Rotation: Liverpool (38 games)
Good: West Ham (30 games), Southampton (30)
Poor: Crystal Palace (8 games), Leicester (8)
Hull City
Perfect Rotation: Burnley (38 games)
Good: Swansea City (30 games), West Brom (30)
Poor: Stoke City (8 games), Aston Villa (8)
Leicester City
Perfect Rotation: Southampton (38 games)
Good: Liverpool (30 games)
Poor: Everton (8 games)
Liverpool
Perfect Rotation: Everton (38 games)
Good: Leicester City (30 games), Crystal Palace (30)
Poor: Southampton (8 games), West Ham (8)
Manchester City
Perfect Rotation: Manchester United (38 games)
Good: Sunderland (34 games), West Brom (34)
Poor: Aston Villa (4 games), Newcastle (4)
Manchester United
Perfect Rotation: Manchester City (38 games)
Good: Aston Villa (34 games), Newcastle (34)
Poor: Sunderland (4 games), West Brom (4)
Newcastle
Perfect Rotation: Sunderland (38 games)
Good: Manchester Utd (34 games), Swansea (30), West Brom (30), Chelsea (28)
Poor: Manchester City (4 games), Stoke (8), Aston Villa (8), QPR (10)
QPR
Perfect Rotation: Chelsea (38 games)
Good: Crystal Palace (34 games), Arsenal (30), Sunderland (28)
Poor: West Ham (4 games), Tottenham (8), Newcastle (10)
Southampton
Perfect Rotation: Leicester (38 games)
Good: Everton (30 games)
Poor: Liverpool (8 games)
Stoke City
Perfect Rotation: Swansea City (38 games)
Good: Burnley (30 games), Sunderland (30)
Poor: Hull City (8 games), Newcastle (8)
Sunderland
Perfect Rotation: Newcastle (38 games)
Good: Manchester City (34 games), Stoke (30), Aston Villa (30), QPR (28)
Poor: Manchester Utd (4 games), Swansea (8), West Brom (8), Chelsea (10)
Swansea City
Perfect Rotation: Stoke City (38 games)
Good: Hull City (30 games), Newcastle (30)
Poor: Burnley (8 games), Sunderland (8)
Tottenham
Perfect Rotation: Arsenal (38 games)
Good: Crystal Palace (34 games), Chelsea (30), West Brom (28)
Poor: West Ham (4 games), QPR (8), Aston Villa (10)
West Brom
Perfect Rotation: Aston Villa (38 games)
Good: Man City (34 games), Hull (30), Newcastle (30), Spurs (28)
Poor: Man Utd (4 games), Burnley (8), Sunderland (8), Arsenal (10)
West Ham
Perfect Rotation: Crystal Palace (38 games)
Good: Arsenal (34 games), Chelsea (34), Everton (30)
Poor: Tottenham (4 games), QPR (4), Liverpool (8)
9 years, 9 months ago
Hull-Burnley and Palace-West Ham look good for defender rotations.
Any other obvious ones I'm missing?