Premier League Fixtures
Community Shield Dugout Discussion
Dust off your chat hats folks, the dugout discussion is open once more for Fantasy Football Scout’s very own pre-season warm-up – the Community Shield kicks off this afternoon and we’re here to welcome the chatroom back from it’s summer siesta.
Manchester United and Chelsea will both be walking out onto the new Wembley turf in the last big pre-season fixture of the summer, there’s even a shiny plate shaped trophy at stake. However, Birmingham City did win a trophy for beating the might of Beijing Guoan just a few weeks ago themselves….
Read more...Premier League Fixtures Up – Look Sharp
It may only be June 17th, we may be slap bang in the middle of the greatest tournament in the world – that’s the World Cup to you and me – but the Premier League have today got the first ball rolling for the 2010/2011 season.
The fixture list has been announced this morning and the boys at Premier League towers have gone and thrown up some hum-dingers for us right from the word go; the opening weekend of the season is littered with heavy-hitting contests and some interesting ties for the promoted sides…
Read more...Congratulations to Blackpool
…And then there were twenty. Blackpool’s dramatic Wembley win over Cardiff this afternoon now finalises the line up for next season’s Premier League, as they join Newcastle and West Brom in gaining promotion from the Championship.
Without doubt, it’s the proverbial “fairytale” ending to the season for a team many had marked down as relegation candidates at the start of the 2009-10 campaign.
Read more...Scouting the Doubles – Fulham
Next up in our double gameweek write-ups is Fulham, who have two very tasty looking home fixtures against West Ham and Stoke. On paper Fulham look like the pick of the doubles, but unfortunately these things are never that straightforward.
Last night’s incredible victory over Hamburg was the first of five games they have to play in the space of just 13 days, including the all-important Europa League final scheduled for May 12th. Roy Hodgson made it perfectly clear where Fulham’s priorities lie when he made nine changes at Everton, so with the league now reduced to a mere sideshow, can we look past Hodgson’s Roy’tation antics and pick out any Fulham players worthy of investment?
Read more...Fulham And Stoke Double Gameweek Postponed
Fulham have gone and pulled a fast one on all of us eager Fantasy Managers today. They have announced that their fixture hosting Stoke (due to take place next Wednesday) has now been postponed and will take place on either May 5th or 6th.
What this means is that the double fixtures we were expecting for this coming gameweek are dead in the water. So those managers who had been adding Stoke and Fulham players to their armoury – myself included – will probably be slightly peeved. I’m sure David Gold has something to say about this too…
Stoke now face a solitary away fixture at Wolves this weekend while Fulham will be heading to Anfield to face off against Liverpool – not quite as appealing all of a sudden. The two clubs will now join Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in some double action in gameweek 37. As well as facing off against each other, Fulham will host West Ham that week while Stoke will be hosting Everton.
Our Season Ticker has already been updated for your viewing pleasure/annoyance so you can see it in red, white and blue.
Read more...Sunday’s Dugout Discussion
There are three games served up today in the Premier League. Later, Blackburn host Chelsea, with most fantasy managers hoping for a strong return after stocking up on Chelsea (and Blackburn?) players with a double gameweek. Manchester City travel to Craven Cottage for their first of two fixtures this gameweek. Before all that though is the showdown between Manchester United and Liverpool.
United start with Rooney as the lone forward, with support from Nani and Valencia either side. Rafa Benitez’s men stick with the two holding midfielders in Lucas and Mascherano, with Gerrard playing behind Torres.
The Dugout Discussion chat room is open for business and will remain so throughout the day.
Read more...More Fixture Tweaks – Look Sharp
In case you haven’t been paying attention to Greek Fan’s impeccably updated twitter feed (Why not?), a few little fixture nuggets have traveled down the wires in the last day or so.
Perhaps most interesting is that one of the remaining few pending games being rescheduled into gameweek 34, giving us more double gameweek food for thought. The fixture to be played on Wednesday 14th April will be Fulham FC vs Stoke City.
Stoke will have two away days against Fulham and Wolves on the cards, while Fulham add the fixture in perhaps their most unappealing gameweek possible; their other match being against Liverpool at Anfield. That game on the Mersey could be postponed however if Fulham manage to snatch and grab a victory at Spurs in their FA Cup replay….
Read more...FA Cup Locks In Two Doubles, Adds More Trepidation
As reported last week, there was potential for the double gameweeks ahead to be disrupted if there were some untimely draws in the FA Cup fixtures last weekend. Fortunately for us the only draw in the quarter-finals came at Craven Cottage where Fulham and Spurs played out a stalemate. In the two games we needed a definitive result in (Reading v Aston Villa and Chelsea v Stoke) we got just that.
This means is that in just over a weeks time, Chelsea lock down their double in gameweek 31 with trips to Blackburn and Portsmouth. In the even more immediate future Aston Villa can now make the midweek trip to the DW stadium to give both themselves and Wigan a double fixture this coming gameweek. Villa then roll around again joining a slew of teams in gameweek 31 with two fixtures. O’Neill’s side take on Wolves and Sunderland in two tempting looking fixtures at Villa Park. Planning for that is well underway and we will bring you more insightful “Scouting the Doubles” reports as the week progress to give you the lowdown on form and player targets…
Read more...Villa Double In Danger, While Another Is Added
The Premier League fixture schedule has seen yet more new situations and scenarios arise today.
Aston Villa have announced that if they emerge from the Madejski Stadium with only a draw in the FA Cup this weekend then their fixture with Wigan in gameweek 30 will have to be postponed to make way for the replay.
The possible draw would mean that both Aston Villa and Wigan would no longer have a double fixture in gameweek 30 as currently expected. We would then have to wait for the match to be scheduled further down the fantasy calendar once more.
That’s not all. Sunderland have confirmed that their trip to Aston Villa, postponed due to the original FA Cup fixture, has been rescheduled into gameweek 31. That puts the pair amongst the already sizeable group of teams partaking in a double spell of fixtures in that gamewweek. It means that if Villa can avoid a draw with Reading this weekend, they will have a very tasty four games in two gameweeks…
Read more...City And Everton Add To Gameweek 31 Doubles
Manchester City and Everton have been added to the forthcoming double gameweek menu with their Premier League fixture at Eastlands now rescheduled for Wednesday March 24.
This drops the fixture nicely into gameweek 31, a week that already gives us Blackburn, Birmingham, Chelsea and Portsmouth with double fixtures, provided FA Cup results go our way.
The arrival of this additional fixture is likely to see increased interest in Everton’s squad as they embark on a decent set of six fixtures in five gameweeks. Tevez owners meanwhile will also be weighing up the possibility of holding to the Argentine, despite the attraction of options elsewhere and his missing fixture in the current gameweek.
We will of course bring you all the analysis and player considerations going into gameweek 31 with our “Scouting the Doubles” articles.
Read more...The Romance Of The Cup Lost On The Fixture List
The weekend’s FA Cup fixtures have been and gone and as promised we are here to give you another update on how this affects the upcoming FPL fantasy calendar. Unfortunately, while we do have a few details for you – thanks to a few untimely draws we’ve also got another wait on our hands too.
As predicted, the hatchet has indeed been out, and some teams schedules have been torn asunder (with the potential of more to come). Blackburn, Chelsea and Fulham will now no longer have a fixture in gameweek 29 while they – or in the case of Blackburn, their opponents Birmingham – have an FA Cup quarter-final to contest. Much for the same reasons, having previously had double gameweeks scheduled, Portsmouth, Stoke and Birmingham will also have their calendar cut down to just one fixture for week 29 as well…
Read more...The Fixture List Unplugged
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…
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