The difficulty of a player’s fixtures is crucial for Fantasy managers when it comes to picking one for your squad over a given number of Gameweeks. While an attacking player could still generate some good returns over more difficult fixtures, it is often preferred to bench a defensive player for a difficult-looking Gameweek. A fixture’s difficulty is often dependent on which team the player plays in, the opposition, and whether or not the match is played on home turf. Rotating players is often key to successfuly navigating the fixture list and I have now launched an app to help Fantasy managers search for the best combinations.
THE THEORY OF PLAYER ROTATION
What a lot of Fantasy managers look for when picking their initial defensive line-up for the season are defenders with good rotation options. This means that when there is a Gameweek in which a defender faces a difficult fixture, there is another defender in the squad that has an easier fixture for that specific Gameweek. Ideally, the defender with the easiest fixture should be on the pitch for that Gameweek, placing the defender with the hardest fixture on the bench. Such a pair of defenders is called a two-way rotation strategy. Since a defender from a top side is likely to have easier fixtures than a defender from a bottom side, it is common to have a two-way rotation strategy that consists of a defender from a good side and a defender from a weaker side. This should have the impact that the defender from the weaker team is often placed on the bench, but when the defender from the top side faces tough Gameweeks, the other defender should chip in. Of course, another common strategy is to apply this strategy with two medium priced defenders playing in average teams. This could mean that the pair rotate almost every gameweek, especially if the pair has a perfect home/away rotation between them.
Other common rotation strategies include three-way rotations. Here, a manager could look to find three budget defenders for a squad, but with the intention to play only one of them per week. Alternatively, a variation of the strategy could be to play two defenders and rest one.
THE APPLICATION
It is quite cumbersome to manually search for rotation pairs and combinations over a given number of gameweeks. However, some managers have put together spreadsheets that could be used to find the golden pairs and trios.
Instead of using rotation spreadsheets, I have developed an application that helps you find the two-way and three-way rotation pairs. The application lets you choose one of three strategies along with span of gameweeks. Also, you are prompted to enter one of the teams that you wish to find a rotation partner(s) for. The application then searches through each team in the league, looks at their fixtures and how well they rotate with the team that you have selected. An ordered list is presented with teams that rotate well with your team given the parameters you entered. For the selected teams from the list, a suggested fixture schedule is presented. The schedule shows you which team(s) you should go with for every gameweek in the span.
Other features of the application is the ability to set your budget for the teams you which to search, the ability to include teams’ form in the calculations (available after five gameweeks), a favorite feature which let’s you save different rotation pairs that you searched. Also, there is a custom strategy which lets you see how well your entire defensive line rotates over the course of the season (or a given number of gameweeks).
HOW TO GET IT
The application is completely free and there is no ads. The application is available without any economical gain from my side whatsoever. To download the application to your Android device, go to Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linus.fplw&hl=en. If your not owning an Android device you could still use the application on your PC. To do so, download an emulator like Bluestacks and download the application from the emulator.
