Frisking the Fixtures

Who has the best and worst upcoming FPL fixtures?

Our regular frisk of the fixtures sees us assess the Premier League clubs and players with – in theory – the strongest and weakest runs of league matches over the coming weeks of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

The primary focus in this article will be on the next six Gameweeks but we will scrutinise the longer-term prospects where appropriate.

Our colour-coded Season Ticker is the primary source for this piece; using this tool as a Premium Member, you can sort by difficulty, rank by attacking and defensive potential or find budget rotation pairings. You can also set your own difficulty ratings, should you disagree with our own.

BEST FIXTURES

CHELSEA

Saturday’s comprehensive 7-0 win over Norwich City brought a hat-trick from Mason Mount (£7.5m), who had lost 390,000 owners since his previous start in Gameweek 5, rather than the much-bought Kai Havertz (£8.1m). The German was the only Chelsea starter to blank – a beautiful summarisation of what FPL is all about. However, those new owners could still benefit from Romelu Lukaku‘s (£11.5m) injury if Havertz delivers the goods against Newcastle United – a side yet to keep a clean sheet.

The Blues then face Burnley at home, completing the sequence of facing relegation zone sides. After that are two games that seem difficult at first but, looking deeper, still present strong attacking fixtures. Leicester City haven’t kept a clean sheet since Gameweek 1 and conceded twice in each of the four games preceding Sunday’s 2-1 win at Brentford, whilst Manchester United have let in 11 goals from their last three matches in all competitions.

Six clean sheets have been kept from nine attempts. Although their three goals conceded is the league’s lowest, Chelsea are bettered by several sides in terms of shots conceded, shots conceded in penalty area and expected goals conceded (xGC). The other defensive issue is guessing who will play for Thomas Tuchel. Only Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) and Trevoh Chalobah (£4.9m) have started the last two league matches, with Marcos Alonso (£5.8m) and Andreas Christensen (£5.1m) waiting to step in.

BRENTFORD

Another side facing the bottom three in succession is Brentford. The newly-promoted side have impressed many over early matches, despite the last four fixtures being against teams from last season’s top six. Before that, the Bees won two and drew two of the first five and many FPL managers will be hoping that Ivan Toney (£6.5m) is joined by Bryan Mbeumo (£5.6m) in attack, should the Frenchman recover from the hamstring issue that forced his half-time withdrawal at the weekend.

Mbeumo is a cheap midfielder, playing as a striker. his expected goals (xG) tally of 3.47 is the best of all sub-£7.5m players and only beaten by six of any price. Only two goals have been scored, although an incredible six shots have hit the woodwork. Toney only has an assist from the past four gameweeks but is on penalty duty.

Burnley (a), Norwich (H) and Newcastle (a) present three of the four worst xGC numbers, conceding a total of 434 shots so far – an average of 16-per-match. Norwich have only scored twice, with them and Burnley having the lowest team xG numbers of 7.29 and 8.78, boding well for Ethan Pinnock (£4.7m) and Pontus Jansson (£4.7m). Beyond that, Everton have just conceded five times at home to Watford, Tottenham have let in 13 from their last six and Leeds United’s defence is the only one competing with the bottom three for worst back line.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Kane and Wilson enter FPL differential conversation ahead of Gameweek 9 5

Between defensive woes, two successive defeats and the drop in form of Harry Kane (£12.1m), Tottenham’s imminent clash with Man United will be an interesting battle to see which club is most in crisis right now. For owners of Kane and Son Heung-min (£10.2m) – who is still managing to have a good season – the fixture defies its red colouring on the ticker. Then it’s a trip to Goodison Park and a stretch of fixtures that exceeds the four shown in blue above. Between Gameweek 12 and Gameweek 22, Spurs only face one of last season’s top four.

This gives an opportunity to those with plenty of money in the bank from selling Lukaku or Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m), as the temptation to get either Son or Kane strengthens. Defensively, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men started the season with three clean sheets but have none since, yet the cheap prices of Eric Dier (£4.5m) and Sergio Reguilon (£5.1m) could persuade FPL managers to grab one for these opponents.

NORWICH CITY

Top of the fixture ticker are Norwich, although with an asterisk that they’re bottom of the league, winless and with only two goals so far – it would an incredibly maverick move to go for forward Teemu Pukki (£5.8m). A decent £4.5m bench option could be Mathias Normann who, since his Gameweek 5 debut, comes top for goal attempts (11) at his price point. Their defence did keep consecutive clean sheets against Burnley and Brighton, before returning to normality with the 7-0 crushing at Chelsea.

Whilst one perspective is that Leeds (H), Brentford (a), Southampton (H), Wolves (H) and Newcastle (a) are good fixtures for Norwich, the other is that managers should target assets from these five teams because they are about to have a very promising opponent.

WORST FIXTURES

WATFORD

Is now the time to sell Everton's value-for-money FPL midfielders? 1

Just when it seemed that Watford’s early mid-table position was about to collapse, new manager Claudio Ranieri watched his side overturn a 2-1 deficit at Everton into a remarkable 5-2 win inside the last 15 minutes. The Hornets are now in 14th place and will be thankful for a six-point gap over the relegation zone, knowing that the home match against Southampton is followed by Arsenal (a), Man United (H), Leicester (a), Chelsea (H) and Manchester City (H).

Some of these sides’ weaknesses were mentioned above but, make no mistake, they will still be tough challenges for Watford. Emmanual Dennis (£5.2m) delivered 12 points in his 26-minute cameo but is suspended for Gameweek 10, whilst Joshua King (£5.5m) added a hat-trick to his brilliant record versus Everton to bag his first goals of the season. Star man Ismaila Sarr (£6.2m) wasn’t involved in any of the five at Goodison Park and his price drops are expected to continue when FPL managers see these fixtures. At the back, Watford join Newcastle in still not having collected any clean sheets.

WEST HAM UNITED

Vestergaard injury latest as Antonio and Benrahma haul again 2

The time might have felt right to ditch Michail Antonio (£8.1m), having blanked in consecutive matches and with Liverpool (H), Man City (a) and Chelsea (H) on the horizon. Then the striker netted the winner against Tottenham to join Jamie Vardy on 57 points as the joint-second highest FPL scorer behind Mohamed Salah (£12.9m). Many managers have other fires to put out right now, with Mbeumo, Jamie Vardy (£10.8m) and Raphinha (£6.7m) potentially injured and Ronaldo losing form, meaning Antonio’s goal should see him survive a cull.

However, team mate Said Benrahma (£6.5m) may be one of those fires. After delivering a goal, an assist and 12 points from the first pair of matches, he he since been involved in one goal from seven. It isn’t for a lack of trying – his four games since scoring in Gameweek 5 have amassed 16 shots, a number only topped by Salah throughout the league.

Again, the Mbeumo and Raphinha situations could spare him an abandonment, but patience must surely be thining amongst his 33.7% ownership. Defensively, the Hammers have followed a leaky start by keeping two successive clean sheets. Aaron Cresswell (£5.5m) added an assist on Sunday. However, it’s ill-advised to purchase one with these upcoming fixtures.

FPLMarc Newcastle fan that spends far too much time thinking about FPL.

1,574 Comments Post a Comment
  1. DBW - Slug's Mortgage …
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Great news about Raphinha likely to be fit for Norwich.

    Looking forward to that 2 pointer

    1. AC/DC AFC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Yep!

      The coach also confirmed Raphinha should be available at Carrow Road on Sunday, despite his absence at the Emirates.

      Posed with the question of Shackleton and Raphinha's availability this weekend, and whether they had picked up any issues, Bielsa replied: "We think not," before concluding the press conference.

      Leeds visit Norwich City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon knowing that anything less than three points will be a disappointment.

    2. FantasyClub
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Lmao I have the same feeling

  2. AC/DC AFC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Guys,

    Given the choice would you rather have a combo of:

    1. Son and Toney/Hwang
    Or
    2. Mount and Jesus for the next few?

    Can easily pivot if Son looks hot again with 2 transfers.

    1. GreennRed
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      1

  3. drughi
    • 15 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Any rumours/news on vardy ? Likely to be fit for arsenal ?

    1. sovietrockettes
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Am also keen to know this….eying up a juicy Korean -4 for Hwang and Son if he’s out

      1. drughi
        • 15 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        looking at vardy and sarr > toney and son -8 if vardy is out

        1. sovietrockettes
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 5 days ago

          I think Burnley might suffocate Brentford tbh, not getting Toney until next week. Also, this is a good fixture for Sarr……if I had him I would start him

          1. drughi
            • 15 Years
            3 years, 5 days ago

            yeah have livramento and townsend who can fill in for vardy I guess

        2. FantasyClub
          • 3 Years
          3 years, 5 days ago

          I wouldn’t do those this week, I think Toney will be affected without Mbeumo and Son might blank again after Man Utd were humiliated, Man Utd might really put their bodies on the line next game to make up

  4. TheBiffas
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Can do Vardy + Raphinha -> Hwang and Mane / KDB (-4)?

    1. FantasyClub
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      If you’re gonna go KDB or Mané I’d definitely choose Mané

  5. FantasyClub
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Isn’t anyone put off the Toney transfer if Mbeumo is ruled out? Don’t you think Toneys output will be affected?

    1. sovietrockettes
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Yes, I am!

  6. Zenith UK
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Transfer time... (2.0 ITB w/ 1FT)

    Sanchez
    Cancelo, Rudiger, Livramento
    Salah (c), Benrahma, Traore*, Gray
    Ronaldo*, Vardy, Antonio

    Steele, Duffy, Marcal*, Gilmour*

    A) Ronaldo & Gilmour > Toney & Son (-4)
    B) Ronaldo, Marcal > Toney & TAA (-4)
    C) Ronaldo, Gilmour & Traore > Toney, Son & Foden (-8)
    D) Ronaldo, Gilmour & Marcal > Toney, Foden & TAA (-8)
    E) Ronaldo, Gilmour, Traore, Marcal > Jimenez, Mbeumo, Foden & TAA (-12)
    F) Your alternative recommendations

    1. TheBiffas
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      A

    2. FantasyClub
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      I’m a bit putt off the Toney transfer if Mbeumo is out…id like to see Toneys stats with and without Mbeumo

      1. Zenith UK
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        Hwang is an alternative but feels sideways if I take Traore out only to bring him in (sideways for a -4)

    3. The FPL Units
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Traore to Mount

      1. Zenith UK
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        Just that transfer?

  7. trinzoo
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Zaha > Mount for free?

    1. FantasyClub
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      If you don’t have anything else to take care of I think I’d do that

  8. jack88
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Whom to bench?
    Vardy
    Sarr
    Christensen
    Raphinha

    1. The FPL Units
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Christ

    2. TheBiffas
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Christensen

  9. TheBiffas
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Ramsdale

    TAA - Cancelo - Rudiger - Liv

    Salah - Raphinha* - Son

    Vardy* - Antonio - Watkins

    Foster - Christensen* - 4.5 - 4.5

    1ft, 0.6 itb

    a) Vardy + Raph > Hwang + Mané
    b) Vardy > Auba
    c) Raph > ESR

    1. The FPL Units
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      I'd wait for pressers as Vardy and Raph could be good for this weekend.

      1. TheBiffas
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        Will Do. Cheers

    2. AC/DC AFC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      B

  10. jack88
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    The only good thing about the Havertz blank last week is that no one will buy him now and so if he does go crazy it’s a nice differential. Obviously he probably won’t.

  11. Babit1967
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Think I’m going to do

    Tierney to Chilwell
    Lukaku to Kane for a -4

    Too much injury concerns and might struggle to get 11 out, Chilwell looks like a keeper based on his ppg and Tierney is always injured.

    Kane has great fixtures and has Man Utd

    Good moves ?

    1. The FPL Units
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Yep

  12. Botman and Robben
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    1FT, 2.1ITB.

    If Vardy fit...
    A. Greenwood to Foden
    B. Roll FT

    Sanchez
    TAA Livramento Rudiger
    Salah Jota Greenwood Sarr
    Jimenez Antonio Vardy*

    Steele White* Brownhill Amartey

    1. The FPL Units
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      A

  13. Totalfootball
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Sanchez, guaita Or Ramsdale as Raya replacement?

    1. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Guaita

    2. Botman and Robben
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Sanchez

    3. Camzy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Ramsdale.

    4. Haa-lala-land
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      McCarthy

  14. DBW - Slug's Mortgage …
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Tierney > James FT??

    Or save Tierney for nice home fixtures??

    1. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Save Tierney for the wars to come.

  15. Boom XhakaLacaSaka
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Can i make it to GW12 for a wildcard? 2.4 itb 1 ft

    Foster
    Rudiger Cancelo Azpi
    Saka Salah (c) Raph Sarr
    Antonio CR7 Toney

    Sanchez White Brownhill Williams

    A) Roll
    B) CR7 > Kane
    C) Azpi > Trent

    1. Botman and Robben
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      C

    2. Camzy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Do C.

      You can always wait on WC. Don't find excuses not to use it.

      1. trinzoo
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        You guys think Azpi won't play or that TAA is must have? Have Azpi and 1FT and not sure what to do.

    3. Mambino
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      C

    4. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      C

  16. Atimis
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    About these Raya replacements - thoughts?

    1) Brentford backup keeper - recon we will see him tonight, their fixtures still look great so may be a nice pick anyway?
    2) McCarthy - also nice fixtures but not sure about potential double up with Livra and ain't he a rotation risk?
    3) Ramsdale/Sanchez/Guaita - all with similar fixtures, so who would have most saves?

    1. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Mendy

  17. boc610
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    so ben White just had a bug?? hmmm...in my best Columbo voice "just one more thing Mr Arteta...."

    1. DBW - Slug's Mortgage …
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Bro you must be over 40 with a comment like that 🙂

      Most on here think Colombo found America

      1. The Knights Template
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        Over 50 at least.

      2. boc610
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        I reckon most on here think Columbo is a trap

    2. Skonto Rigga
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      One of those bugs that comes on just after you've been tackled

      1. internal error
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 5 days ago

        usually when tackled by ANTonio

  18. The Knights Template
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    If Christensen comes to mine dungeon I can fix his dental problems. Would be mine pleasure!

  19. Camzy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    How's this for a WC?

    Ramsdale Foster
    TAA Chilwell Rudiger Laporte Henry
    Salah Mane Son Foden ESR
    Antonio Toney Gelhardt

    It's for FanTeam. If I wanted to upgrade Laporte > Cancelo where do I lower?

    Mane > Rashford
    Mane > Havertz
    Mane > Jota
    ESR > Kovacic

    Still think Mane is worth. He's 10.4m in the game.

    1. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 5 days ago

      Gelhardt of Riviera in the frontline handy.

  20. Dev9
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Any suggestion on what to do for my team:
    Sanchez (Foster)
    Digne Alonso TAA (Amarty Manquilo)
    Salah(C) Benrahma Kovacic Raph (Saka)
    Antonio Vardy Toney

    1 FT and 2.8 itb

  21. Tomcon6
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 5 days ago

    Whays the story on Raphina and White please