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Best Rotation Pairings

Working off the Members area Season Ticker I’ve looked at the fixtures for the coming season and found some good pairings of teams where mid to low priced players can rotate.

The obvious application of such pairings is to give you keepers that you can pick before the season starts and know that, barring injury, you won’t need to make any transfers in that position for some time. Likewise these could be part of your defensive unit – either two such pairings alongside a big hitter to give you three definite starters with good prospects at the back every week, or maybe two big hitters, a mid price pairing and a benchwarmer. If you’re feeling more adventurous you might use these to pair two cheap midfielders, a fifth midfielder and a third striker or even two strikers.

There is no hard and fast formula to Fantasy Football success. Having a fixed strategy can be one of the biggest mistakes. But using the information available gives you an advantage. By having players with complimentary fixtures you can avoid having to field players in tough games or having to make transfers to avoid horror match-ups, and instead focus on the form or fitness of the players you want to drop or bring in. It can also give you an edge in giving you players that are off other managers’ radars but might be able to fill a hole in your squad and with an easy fixture come into form at just the right time. I don’t use these religiously, but they provide an easy shorthand to building a well-rounded squad at the start or finding an appropriate transfer target when your initial plans fall apart or the injuries hit.

I’ve primarily looked at the cheaper options, although the same strategy could easily apply to players from more expensive and successful teams, especially if there are some anomalies once the price list is released. I’m not particularly looking at home fixtures, but rather the opposition. Once you aim to avoid all Man City, Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal fixtures, and Liverpool and Tottenham away, the options are fairly limited. Which of these are best will depend on prices and subsequently defensive resilience, but I like to plan ahead so I have the potential pairings to hand when I’m weighing up options.

For many of these I have presented each pairs’ best fixtures for all 38 Gameweeks, while for those that offer better rotation posibilities during the first half of the season  I have just presented their initial string of good fixtures. As usual home fixtures are capped up while lower case is for away.

Bournemouth/Norwich:

AVL sun STO LEI BOU SUN whm WAT new WBA sot NEW swa EVE wat EVE wba CPL AVL lei WHM NOR sun cpl avl WHM wat SOT new SWA wba NEW avl SUN WAT eve WBA eve

Villa/Southampton:

bou EVE wat NOR wba WBA SWA STO LEI SWA BOU sun STO WAT AVL cpl new WHM nor nor WAT LEI wba whm NOR swa sto bou SUN TOT swa lei BOU eve avl wat NEW CPL

Villa/West Ham:

bou LEI BOU SUN NEW WBA NOR sun cpl SWA wat EVE eve WAT sot STO new WHM nor sun bou LEI wba AVL NOR nor SUN

Everton/Sunderland:

WAT NOR SWA avl TOT bou wba WHM wba NEW SUN SOT AVL bou CPL WAT LEI

Everton/Spurs:

WAT STO lei EVE sun CPL wba swa LIV bou AVL whm AVL bou wba NEW LEI NOR wat

Leicester/Stoke:

SUN whm nor bou AVL LEI BOU nor swa WAT wba WAT new sun swa whm CPL MUN eve BOU NOR avl

Leicester/West Ham:

SUN LEI BOU bou AVL sto NOR nor cpl CPL wat WAT new WBA swa STO swa avl SOT BOU bou avl STO AVL

Norwich/Stoke:

CPL sun nor WBA BOU LEI BOU LEI new WAT new SWA sot sun wat whm CPL tot AVL wba NOR bou lei TOT avl bou AVL NEW swa SOT wat NEW cpl SUN WAT SUN cpl WHM

Southampton/WBA:

new wat wat NOR wba avl EVE cpl LEI nor BOU sun STO whm AVL cpl BOU swa NEW nor WAT WBA AVL

Sunderland/WBA:

lei NOR SWA avl SOT bou EVE WHM SUN nor LEI SOT cpl STO TOT WAT BOU swa NEW AVL swa

Stoke/Swansea:

LIV NEW nor WBA wat LEI BOU avl STO WAT new nor BOU sun LEI whm WHM WBA cpl wba WAT lei wba CPL bou AVL NEW NOR bou wat

Sunderland/Swansea:

lei NOR sun avl wat bou sot WHM wba NEW eve nor BOU STO LEI WAT WHM WBA cpl AVL SUN WAT BOU wba CPL SOT whm CPL NOR bou AVL WBA LEI nor lei sto whm wat

Swansea/Watford:

eve NEW sun MUN SWA new CPL bou STO avl WHM nor BOU avl NOR sun WHM WBA cpl

Thanks to –  Jaffalicious who posted a few himself that I have included and Lionel’s Messy Boxers who pointed out Sunderland/WBA as a good rotation pairing. 

teddy. http://www.therealmsofpossibility.com Follow them on Twitter

18 Comments Post a Comment
  1. J0E
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Great research. Particularly keen on some of those.

  2. roscola
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 12 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Great stuff. Some of them I'd expect to be too expensive to rotate. But there are some good uns in there.

  3. Cthulhu @ Left Back
    • 9 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Bournemouth/Norwich I like in particular - v useful info

    1. Pasqualinho
      • 14 Years
      8 years, 9 months ago

      17 away games puts me off a bit.

  4. FPL Blow-In
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Thank you was hoping to see this post soon great work.
    Quite a few interesting options.
    Southampton/WBA. Saints and Pulis. I suppose the pairing I choose will rely more so on the formation I decide to play and wether I will go uber cheap or not.

  5. The Hindu Monkey
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    This is solid. Thanks. The top bounemouth/norwich gives us a genuine chance of an 8.5/9m rotating pair that looks to good to ignore.

    I also love the look of those early run of homers for villa/west ham. Probably well worth a 10m investment for that. I could easily be tempted to do

    Terry or Ivan/Villa/West Ham/Bournemouth/Norwich which would give a lot of cash to spend up the pitch

  6. Rupert The Horse
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    So you did it. Nice one.

  7. teddy.
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Been doing some more tinkering! Here's a few more:

    Bournemouth/WBA:

    AVL wat whm LEI nor SUN EVE WAT SUN nor LEI NEW swa EVE TOT MUN BOU CPL NEW STO WHM NOR AVL cpl new STO wat lei new SWA NOR sun avl WAT tot WHM WBA LIV

    Everton/Swansea

    WAT NEW sun tot wat EVE wba TOT STO avl SUN nor BOU bou LEI nor LEI WBA STO TOT SUN WAT SWA NEW CPL WBA tot avl NOR bou AVL sto wat new cpl BOU lei NOR

    Newcastle/Stoke

    LIV swa nor WBA whm WAT BOU avl NOR WAT STO bou LEI sun LIV whm AVL EVE wba wba NOR WHM wat eve WBA bou AVL NEW BOU lei SUN nor liv SWA liv SUN avl

    Bournemouth/Newcastle

    AVL swa whm LEI nor WAT sto WAT NOR sun STO NEW LEI cpl LIV MUN AVL CPL wba lei WHM NOR wat cpl WBA STO wat sto BOU SWA SUN nor avl SWA liv CPL WBA TOT

    Stoke/Watford

    LIV WBA nor WBA SWA LEI BOU bou swa WAT WHM lei MUN avl NOR sun CPL MUN TOT wba NOR swa NEW

    Palace/Leicester

    SUN whm AVL bou AVL sto wat WBA WHM CPL wba WAT SUN NEW swa SOT eve bou SWA BOU avl avl STO BOU swa WAT NOR WBA wat NEW LEI whm NOR WHM SWA new STO sot

    Villa/Norwich

    bou STO SUN BOU WBA whm LEI new WBA tot SWA eve WAT wat EVE new WHM AVL sun CPL LEI wba whm NOR WHM lei EVE swa TOT wba NEW cpl SUN WAT wat NEW eve

  8. teddy.
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    I'm not sure how useful these are but it's almost like a brainteaser for me. Here are a couple of five-way "uber" defensive rotations. Each row is the playable fixtures they give you in each successive gameweek.

    Swansea/Stoke/Watford/Everton/Sunderland:
    LIV eve WAT lei
    NEW WBA NOR
    sun nor SWA
    MUN WBA avl
    wat SWA TOT
    EVE LEI new swa bou
    BOU CPL wba
    avl bou WHM
    STO swa MUN wba
    avl WAT NEW
    new WHM SUN eve
    nor lei whm SOT
    BOU AVL cpl
    sun avl bou STO
    LEI NOR CPL
    whm sun nor WAT
    WHM CPL LIV LEI
    WBA MUN new
    cpl eve STO
    wba TOT AVL
    SUN NOR swa
    WAT swa tot
    eve lei NEW SWA BOU

    Southampton/WBA/Bournemouth/Norwich/Villa:

    new bou AVL CPL
    EVE wat MUN liv sun
    wat cpl whm STO
    NOR sto SUN LEI
    wba SOT lei nor BOU
    MUN avl WBA SUN
    SWA EVE sto whm
    cpl STO WAT LEI
    LEI SUN new
    nor SWA TOT WBA
    BOU LEI tot
    sun NEW SWA
    STO eve swa
    whm WAT EVE
    AVL TOT wat
    cpl MUN EVE
    TOT BOU new wba
    swa WHM CPL
    whm NEW nor AVL
    nor STO sun lei
    WAT CPL WHM
    WBA LEI NOR bou
    AVL wba sun LIV
    SWA whm cpl TOT
    WHM new NOR avl
    swa eve LIV STO WHM
    CPL sto wat lei
    bou lei EVE SOT
    SUN MUN new swa
    sto TOT SWA
    LIV NOR swa wba
    lei sun NEW
    NEW BOU avl cpl
    eve WAT LIV SUN
    avl tot WAT
    WHM wat eve
    bou NEW WBA MUN
    CPL LIV eve

    1. dribbler
      • 14 Years
      8 years, 8 months ago

      "I'm not sure how useful these are"...very thanks

      1. teddy.
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        8 years, 8 months ago

        Southampton / WBA / Norwich / Bournemouth / Villa has the potential to be a cheap but very profitable combo.

  9. JAC THE CAT
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    Palace / Leicester looks good

  10. Mathematically Safe
    • 8 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    Sorry, a little late to this post, but I've done some work tonight on these rotations, which is a great idea and valuable information, and come up with a quantified value for each pairing.

    What I have done is assigned a score of 1-5 based on the perceived difficulty of the opposition, for example playing Chelsea or Arsenal away is a 5, whereas playing Bournemouth or Norwich at home is a 1. Obviously it's a subjective ranking, so you'll have to trust me.

    I have then done is looked at each combination in turn, picking the lowest score for each pair for each of the 38 game weeks. For example, on the first weekend Watford have a 3 (away to Everton) but West Brom have a 4 (home to Man C); in this case, I take the 3 for Watford, and then add this to the lowest score for each of the remaining 37 gameweeks. I have then excluded the combinations to feature bigger (read, expensive) teams and been left with 66 combinations of pairs.

    The lowest (best) scores for the season are as follows:
    85: Sunderland / Swansea
    86: Crystal Palace / Stoke
    86: Stoke / West Brom
    86: Aston Villa / West Ham
    87: Crystal Palace / Leicester
    87: Bournemouth / Stoke
    87.5: Newcastle / Norwich

    For the record, the worst combination is Aston Villa / Bournemouth at 101.

    If we reduce the number of games to just the first half of the season (19 gameweeks), the best combinations are:
    41: Bournemouth / Stoke
    41.5: Newcastle / Norwich
    42: Bournemouth / West Brom
    42.5: Aston Villa / Stoke
    43: Aston Villa / West Ham
    43.5: Crystal Palace / Stoke
    43.5: Newcastle / Stoke
    43.5: Stoke / Swansea
    43.5: Newcastle / West Ham

    Aston Villa / Bournemouth is again the combination to avoid (51.5). Sunderland / Swansea, the best combination for the whole season, scores a decent 44 in the first half of the season.

    It is a subjective judgement on how to use this information, but Crystal Palace / Stoke, Aston Villa / West Ham, Bournemouth / Stoke, and Newcastle / Norwich appear to offer good prospects in the first half whilst maintaining a favorable rotation throughout the season.

    1. FPL P0ker PlAyer
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 8 months ago

      This is an awesome post! Certainly, it's an approach in keeping with my thinking for the season ahead. It'd be intersting to know what subjective values you have attributed to teams in order to better decide how much faith to place in your respective outcomes. Indeed, it'll save me the job of compiling them for myself if my subjective valuations accord with yours! 😉

    2. kushty
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 7 months ago

      Thanks.

  11. Girls like Cars and Man&eac…
    • 8 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    Best possible 3 way 3 x 4.5 defender rotational option ?

  12. Peggi
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 7 months ago

    is Boruc 1st choice for bournemouth?

  13. Goonther
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    8 years, 7 months ago

    A) Sterling + Baker

    or

    B) Mane + Cedric

    HELP!