The updated Season Ticker tape is now up and running and available here. As requested by one or two regular visitors, I’ve produced a season long ticker, along with a more digestible ten game chart, to accompany the usual five game table you can find in your right-hand menu.

So, with these explosions of colour now exposed to the world, it’s a fitting time to give this season’s fixture list the once over and consider the implications for our fantasy lineups…

We don’t have to wait long to navigate our first fixture minefield, with gameweek 2 of the fantasy season torn asunder by European fixtures. Right now, six teams will be missing from the gameweek fixture list. Everton, Aston Villa, Arsenal are all active in Europe, leaving Bolton, West Ham and City players in front of their telly’s begrudgingly cheering them on.

Things are likely to get worse. As highlighted by our resident Twitter Daddy – Greek Fan, yesterday’s Europa League draw handed Fulham a hugely charitable third round qualifying tie. If they progress as expected, then their gameweek 2 fixture with Blackburn will also be chopped. More selection woes.

The bad news then – we’re all going to be struggling to put out eleven players in this gameweek. The good news – there will be many fantasy managers, in many workplaces throughout the land, blissfully unaware of this gaping black hole of points just a week in. If you can prepare your lineup, there’s a massive differential to be gained and an annoying smug face to be pulled, so so early in the season. Lovely.

Beyond the gameweek 2 horror show, it’s worth considering the ten game ticker first. Without over analysing things, I can safely state that the following few points are worthy of a thoughtful beard stroke or two:

1) Forget sentimentality and the lovely passing football. We need to avoid Burnley at all costs. As Premier League virgins, they would have wanted to be eased in gently, with generous amounts of foreplay at the hands of Wigan, Portsmouth and Hull. Sadly they’ve been lined up for a rough roasting at the hands of Liverpool, Chelsea and United. By all means take a look again from gameweek 8 if they show signs of recovery.

2) Another obvious one – get on United early. They have the best opening fixtures of all the top four sides, facing two promoted teams and Wigan. As a slight caveat, United then hit a potential dry spell in weeks 4-7, with sticky fixtures that look likely to deny them clean sheets.

3) Get past gameweek 2 and Everton are worth a very close inspection. Moyes’ men get it very very kind once the opening day trip to the Emirates is a distant memory, with Fulham away their toughest proposition in the next 8 games. Get at least one of their back four and put Cahill, Fellaini, Pienaar and Jo on your watchlist. Maybe even Yakubu if he’s on the pitch by then.

4) Arsenal need to be considered after gameweek 5. For the next five they face three plumb home games with Wigan, Blackburn and Birmingham. Wenger’s men have stumbled when up against such home bankers before. Even so, the likes of Arshavin, Van Persie and Fabregas look mighty tempting in this spell.

5) Wolves look your best source of budget attacking players from the promoted teams. They have a strong string of fixtures between gameweeks 4-8 which could see you laughing all the way to the Ebanks-Blake.

6) Similarly, when it comes to budget defenders, Birmingham have the early season luxury of home games with Portsmouth, Stoke, Bolton and Sunderland in the first ten gameweeks. All four of those sides struggled for goals away from home last term – big clean sheet opportunities for McLeish’s side then. Roger Johnson, come on down.

7) If Hull City show signs of starting the season well (a mighty big if), then the bandwagons could start rolling, with fixtures that hand them a decent five game stretch between gameweeks 2-6, plus home comforts with Wigan and Portsmouth to follow. Another potential bargain bin to plunder. The trouble here is that, dipping my hand in the current squad, all I can presently pull out is the towering Michael Turner. Bobby Z surely isn’t the answer? There are signings required before we can really consider Brown’s men, despite the fixtures.

Okay, that’s my two-penneth for now. I’m sure there’s plenty more you can draw from the fixture list and the ticker which is ripe for discussion, so I’ll leave the rest to you for now.