Our regular frisk of the fixtures sees us assess the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) clubs and players with – in theory – the strongest run of league matches.
We typically take a routine look at the next six matches in this article but in light of the recent Double Gameweek announcements, plus a couple of Blank Gameweeks to negotiate, we’ve tweaked the format slightly.
This should hopefully help you plan ahead whatever your chip strategy.
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 even set your own difficulty ratings, should you disagree with our own.
MOST FIXTURES BETWEEN GAMEWEEKS 27-30
- Aston Villa, Leeds, Newcastle, Wolves (5)
- Arsenal, Brentford, Brighton, Burnley, Everton, Leicester, Southampton, Spurs, Watford (4)
- Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Norwich, West Ham (3)
- Chelsea (2)
For Gameweek 30, we’ve only included teams whose league matches definitely won’t be affected by the clash with the FA Cup quarter-finals (there are six: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brentford, Leeds, Leicester and Wolves). This could change, however, depending on the results of the FA Cup fifth round on March 1-3.
There have been suggestions that Chelsea v Arsenal may slot into Gameweek 28, too, but there has been nothing confirmed from the Premier League on this so far.
MOST FIXTURES REMAINING IN TOTAL (GAMEWEEK 27 ONWARDS)
- Burnley, Everton, Leicester City (15)
- Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur (14)
- Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Leeds United, Norwich City, Southampton, Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers (13)
- Brentford, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, West Ham United (12)
This takes into account every match remaining in the fixture schedule, discounting the four still-to-be-played Gameweek 26 games.
MOST OUTSTANDING FIXTURES STILL YET TO BE SCHEDULED
- Leicester (3)
- Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Everton (2)
- Aston Villa, Norwich, Spurs (1)
- Brighton, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Leeds, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle, Southampton, Watford, West Ham, Wolves (0)
There are seven fixtures that have already been postponed this season that haven’t been rescheduled yet. The teams affected are listed above and the fixtures themselves are below:
- Aston Villa v Burnley
- Everton v Leicester City
- Burnley v Everton
- Leicester City v Norwich
- Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal
- Chelsea v Arsenal
- Chelsea v Leicester City
Most of these matches will now almost certainly fall into the schedule after Gameweek 30, although as mentioned earlier, Chelsea v Arsenal could be accommodated into Gameweek 28.
If Leicester continue to progress in the UEFA Europa Conference League, the earliest they can have a ‘double’ is Gameweek 33.
If the FA Cup fifth-round results fall the right/wrong way and only three Gameweek 30 matches go ahead, the number of outstanding fixtures for Gameweek 31 onwards would be as follows:
- Burnley, Chelsea, Everton, Leicester (3)
- Arsenal, Norwich, Spurs (2)
- Aston Villa, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle, Southampton, Watford, West Ham (1)
- Brentford, Leeds, Wolves (0)
FIXTURE FOCUS: BLANK/DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 27-30 IN DETAIL
TEAMS WITH A DOUBLE GAMEWEEK IN 28/29 and a GUARANTEED GAMEWEEK 30 FIXTURE
There are four clubs within this category, although it’s worth reiterating that Arsenal do have an upcoming Blank Gameweek 27 to slightly complicate matters.
Any FPL managers dead-ending their team towards Gameweek 30, and perhaps Wildcarding sometime after the March international break, will be looking to these four teams as astute medium-term transfers.
The good news is that the fixtures themselves are fairly decent, as the large patches of blue above indicate.
TEAMS WITH NO DOUBLE GAMEWEEK IN 28/29 AND A GUARANTEED GAMEWEEK 30 FIXTURE
The two other sides whose fixtures in Gameweek 30 aren’t affected by the FA Cup are Leicester City and Brentford.
The Foxes, with their three as-yet-unannounced Double Gameweeks, ought to be in the minds of FPL managers who Wildcard in Gameweek 28 and aren’t playing their Free Hit in Gameweek 30, although it’s very much fixtures and not form that Brendan Rodgers’ troops have on their side.
TEAMS WITH A DOUBLE GAMEWEEK IN 27/28/29 WHOSE GAMEWEEK 30 FIXTURES COULD BE POSTPONED
There are eight teams who enjoy at least one ‘double’ over the next three Gameweeks but who could still very much blank in Gameweek 30.
Odds-wise, Southampton and Burnley are the likeliest teams who could avoid that fate – if the Saints are eliminated in the FA Cup fifth round by West Ham, their clash with the Clarets in Gameweek 30 will go ahead.
You can read more on the various FA Cup permutations here.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s outfit have both form and fixtures on their side: if their meeting with Burnley proceeds, they’ll be facing five teams below them in the table over the next four Gameweeks.
Newcastle United are the only club who have two doubles in Gameweeks 28 and 29. The in-form Magpies will have five meetings in four Gameweeks against clubs currently ninth or below if Crystal Palace are defeated by Stoke City in the FA Cup fifth round.
Liverpool, of course, blank in Gameweek 27.
TEAMS WITHOUT A DOUBLE GAMEWEEK IN 28/29 WHOSE GAMEWEEK 30 FIXTURES COULD BE POSTPONED
Six teams are not only (currently) without a Double Gameweek before the March international break but also may be without a league fixture in Gameweek 30. Four of them are Champions League-chasing outfits.
Manchester City would have to lose to Peterborough in round five of the FA Cup for their clash with Brighton and Hove Albion to go ahead, while Chelsea not only have to be defeated by Luton Town, they also have to rely on Norwich City beating Liverpool in the last-16 of the cup for their Gameweek 30 clash with the Canaries to proceed. The Blues also blank in Gameweek 27.
LONGER-TERM OUTLOOK: GAMEWEEK 31-38
The above image of the Season Ticker from Gameweek 31-38 sorts teams by ease of fixture difficulty but doesn’t include any outstanding matches.
So players from Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur in particular look even better long-term investments given that they all have extra fixtures to slot into the schedule on top of the above. The hope from an FPL perspective is that they’ll all be in the hunt for some form of European qualification come the back-end of the campaign, to keep their players’ minds off the beach and their managers’ thoughts away from other priorities like the cups.
Everton sit rooted to the bottom of our Season Ticker but they themselves also have two more fixtures that need to be accommodated between Gameweeks 31-38, and likely their Gameweek 30 clash with Watford on top of that as they face non-league Boreham Wood in the FA Cup next.
