Our attentions turn to the Ultimate Fantasy Premier League (UFPL) game this afternoon, as the days tick down to the closure of the first transfer window. We take a look at the Matchday allocations from now until Gameweek 19 – the last round of fixtures before the second transfer window opens and allows us to restructure our squads.

UFPL Gameweek 4-19 schedule

As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, assembling our squads in accordance to the days of the week each team plays is a vital part of the planning. Ensuring you have sufficient coverage over each day of a Gameweek, allowing the option to stick or twist with our benches, is a fundamental factor of the UPFL game.

It’s worth noting that all league matches from Gameweek 4-14 have been allocated official kick-off times, with TV scheduling, etcetera already factored in. Somewhat frustratingly, the final five rounds of fixtures have yet to be updated – aside from Everton’s home clash with QPR in Gameweek 16 – meaning we won’t have the definitive schedule until after the deadline has passed.

Nonetheless, we can immediately see the knock-on effect of Europa League matches. With Everton and Tottenham playing their group matches on a Thursday, the duo lead the way as Matchday 2 options with seven and eight matches respectively – in terms of squad selection, then, grabbing some of their main men looks a valid tactic, allowing us the chance to sub them in if our Saturday performers fail to bring in the points.

Matchday 2-3 Strength of Schedule

When assessing and/or selecting teams according to their Matchday 2-3 potential, clearly it’s worth looking at their schedules. As the table above shows, Chelsea, for example, play four times on Matchday 2-3, meaning the likes of Diego Costa will be on our benches waiting to be subbed in.

One look at the Blues’ Matchday 2-3 fixtures below shows that Jose Mourinho’s side face trips to City and United and play host to Arsenal and Spurs on those occasions. Say, for example, your Matchday 1 captain failed – you’d know that Costa can be subbed in the next day but would you want to hand him the armband given his opposition? Some Fantasy managers will have no qualms over captaining the Spain international regardless of fixture but, as mentioned, it’s wiser to give yourself as many options as possible.

On the other side of the coin, the above table shows QPR have five fixtures outside of Matchday 1 – more than any other budget team. Again, though, it’s key to look at the schedule on those occasions – Harry Redknapp’s side travel to United, West Ham and Everton in addition to entertaining Liverpool and Villa. Aside from the home clash with Villa, would you really want to play your QPR assets in any of those fixtures?

Given that we are only allowed seven players on our bench in any given Matchday, it’s crucial not to get carried away with how many times each team plays in Matchday 2-3 – you have to delve deeper into the schedule to ascertain whether they’d really be strong “stick or twist” options.

Matchday 2-3 Opponents
ARS– che, swa, SOU
AVL – qpr, TOT, SOU
BUR – wba, EVE
CHE – mci, ARS, mun, TOT
CPL – eve, SUN, LIV
EVE – CPL, mun, bur, sun, tot, HUL, QPR
HUL – WHM, TOT, eve
LEI – MUN
LIV – qpr, cpl
MCY – CHE, MUN, sou, sun
MUN – QPR, lei, EVE, wba, CHE, mci
NEW – sto, tot, wba
QPR – mun, whm, LIV, AVL, eve
SOU – tot, avl, MCI, ars
STO – NEW, SWA, tot
SUN – cpl, EVE, MCI
SWA – sto, ARS
TOT – WBA, SOU, NEW, avl, STO, hul, EVE, che
WBA – tot, BUR, MUN, NEW
WHM – hul, QPR

Analysing the Europa League Candidates
Let’s take this point further by assessing Spurs and Everton’s fixtures beyond Matchday 1. As shown above, Mauricio Pochettino’s troops have eight showdowns in Matchday 2 – crucially, they offer us five home fixtures (WBA, SOU, NEW,STO,EVE) as well as trips to Villa, Hull and Chelsea. Arguably, then, you’d be confident of returns in seven of those matches, making them excellent bench candidates.

Everton, on the other hand, have three home encounters (CPL, HUL, QPR) allied with four road trips (mun, bur, sun, tot). Predicting future returns is subjective to an extent but it’s arguable that only four of those occasions look profitable for attacking returns at least, with United, Sunderland and Spurs all capable of repelling the Toffees in front of their own fans.

With that in mind, it’s perhaps a little unwise to opt for front men from both Europa League sides. For a point of illustration, let’s look at the situation in Gameweek 5, Matchday 2 – the first of six occasions where Spurs and Everton play on the same day in Matchday 2 or 3.

On Sunday September 21, United travel to Leicester and City go head-to-head with Chelsea at the Etihad. If you had a forward from two of those sides, for example, you’d have to bear that in mind when eyeing up Spurs v West Brom and Everton v Palace on the same day. Acquiring both Emmanuel Adebayor and Romelu Lukaku for your frontline would give you a real headache, with at one of your forwards unable to feature in your three-man frontline.

Indeed, there are five similar Matchday 2 scenarios currently scheduled where a number of last year’s top eight take to the pitch on the same day.

Gameweek 7 – United v Everton, Spurs v Southampton. Also Playing: Chelsea, Arsenal

Gameweek 9 – Burnley v Everton, Spurs v Newcastle. Also Playing: United, Chelsea

Gameweek 11 – Spurs v Stoke, Sunderland v Everton. Also Playing: Arsenal

Gameweek 13 – Spurs v Everton. Also Playing: Southampton, City

Gameweek 14 – Chelsea v Spurs, Everton v Hull, Also Playing: Arsenal, Southampton, City

As Gameweek 7 shows, if you had Lukaku, Adebayor, Diego Costa and Danny Welbeck, for example, all four would take to the field in Matchday 2 – immediately meaning at least one can’t play. Furthermore, if your starting striker does the business on the Saturday, you may only be looking to bring in two of those options 24 hours later – again, this scenario restricts the ability to utilise the strength of your squad.

Essentially, this lends weight to the idea that in order to plan our squads for the forthcoming window, our selected strikers have a major influence in how we shape the rest of our squads. If you feel Tottenham’s fixtures strengthen Adebayor’s prospects, it may well be that you then opt for Kevin Mirallas as the best route into the Toffees’ options in the final third. Alternatively, if you feel Steven Naismith is too good to ignore, selecting Christian Eriksen, Eric Lamela or Nacer Chadli lessens the chances of having to omit a pricey option either out of your 18-man squad altogether or, more frustratingly, leaving them on the bench, unable to be subbed on.

Although the UFPL game is just in its infancy, it’s becoming clear that striking a balance is key here and navigating the Matchdays, as well as the strength of schedule, is fundamental to success.