Hey guys! I posted this last night in the Dead Zone, I thought I'd re-post in case you missed it, and for the fact it took me 5/6 hours to write, and I wrote it all on my phone! My hands were dead after!

January Wildcard Preparations:

There's a lot of people playing their wildcards now, over the international break, and people toying with transfer ideas with all this spare time. Personally I'm looking at transferring in some players for the long term, between now and when the January wildcard can be played, not just for a couple of good fixtures. The January wildcard can't be played until Gameweek 20 starts.

There are 13 fixtures between now and the earliest opportunity we can play our January wildcard. So I thought I'd analyse these fixtures to see which teams have the most promising selection of matches. I've also analysed which teams have and haven't been performing well at home and/or away.

Analysing the Fixtures -

Firstly I began by seeing which of the 20 Premier League teams play the teams who finished in the top seven last season the most, the least and whether they're home or away. The teams who finished in the top seven last season are; Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool.

The Favourable Fixtures - Top 7:
Aston Villa and Chelsea both play last years top seven the least, 3 matches each. Aston Villa play all three of these at home, which will without a doubt give them an advantage. Chelsea play two of these three games at home.

Other teams which don't play that many of these matches are; Crystal Palace, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United, Norwich, Sunderland, Swansea and West Brom. These 8 teams play 4 of those matches. Manchester City, Manchester United and Sunderland are the most notable teams as they play three of these matches at home.

The Unfavourable Fixtures - Top 7:
Southampton have the best defensive record in the Premier League so far this season, keeping 5 clean sheets and only conceding 2 goals. But can Southampton keep up this run as they play the teams who finished in the top seven last season the most, 7 games, and they play most of these matches away, three at home and four away. The next team who doesn't have quite so favourable fixtures is Hull. They have 6 of these fixtures and play 4 of these away. And finally Liverpool. They currently have the joint most points in the league with Arsenal, but will their form turn the other way? They have the worst set of these fixtures, playing last years top seven 5 times and all of these matches are away.

Consecutive Fixtures - Top 7:
I noticed that there's a lot of consecutive matches which are being played against last years top seven. Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Norwich and West Brom have no consecutive matches. Here are the rest consecutive fixtures listed by Gameweeks;

Arsenal: 10-11 and 15-16-17
Aston Villa: 8-9
Cardiff: 12-13
Everton: 14-15
Fulham: 10-11 and 16-17
Hull: 8-9 and 13-14
Liverpool: 18-19
Manchester United: 13-14
Newcastle: 10-11
Southampton: 12-13 and 19-20
Stoke: 19-20
Sunderland: 14-15
Swansea: 17-18
Tottenham: 12-13
West Ham: 17-18

Next up I checked out which teams play 'the promoted three' the most, the least and whether they're home or away. 'The promoted three' are; Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Hull.

The Favourable Fixtures - The Promoted 3:
Arsenal play these three teams the most, playing 2 at home and 2 away. Next up is Liverpool, Norwich and West Brom, who all play these three twice at home and once away.

The Unfavourable Fixtures - The Promoted 3:
This part of the analysis may not be deemed 'unfavourable' but I thought I'd carry on with the style of this post. Cardiff, Hull, Manchester City, Newcastle, Tottenham and West Brom only play one of these three teams once.

Consecutive Fixtures - The Promoted 3:
As you could guess there wasn't many consecutive matches that consisted of 'the promoted three.' No team plays these three consecutively apart from Arsenal, Gameweek 13-14, and West Brom, Gameweek 16-17, who strangely both play Cardiff away and then Hull at home.

Home & Away -

We all love it when our football club plays at home, as it gives them an edge. These ten teams all have the edge on the other ten, as they all play one more home game; Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Manchester United, Newcastle, Stoke, Swansea and West Ham.

Home Advantage - Scoring Goals:
Manchester City lead the pack after scoring 13 goals at the Etihad Stadium. Chelsea are up next finding the net 6 times followed by Arsenal, Liverpool and Southampton who have all scored 5 goals at home.

Home Advantage - Conceding Goals:
Chelsea and Southampton have concede the least at their own Stadiums, after only letting in 1 goal. Surprisingly Hull have also only conceded just 1 goal, and I'm sure if they continue this then a lot of fantasy managers will be placing a Hull City defender in their fantasy line ups when they have a comfortable home fixture. Next up is Liverpool, Manchester City, Everton, Manchester United and Stoke, who have all conceded 2 goals.

Home Disadvantage - Scoring Goals:
Stoke are at the bottom of the pack after only finding the next twice at home. Other teams struggling to find the net at home, after scoring 3 goals are; Hull, Manchester United, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

Home Disadvantage - Conceding Goals:
Sunderland have brought the most disappointment to their fans after conceding 9 goals at home, followed closely by Swansea who have let in 8 goals. Also Fulham and Norwich haven't had much home luck either after conceding 6 goals.

Away Days, Happy Days - Scoring Goals:
Arsenal are on form away from home after finding the net 9 times. Manchester United are on 7 away goals followed by Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle who are all on 6.

Away Days, Happy Days - Conceding Goals:
Yet again Southampton have conceded just 1 goal, this time away from home, and so have Tottenham and West Ham. West Brom have the second best defensive record away from home, only conceding twice.

Away Day Blues - Scoring Goals:
Fulham and Norwich are failing to find the net away from home, only scoring 1 goal. Southampton, Tottenham, Stoke, Crystal Palace and Sunderland have scored 2 goals away.

Away Day Blues - Conceding Goals:
Newcastle and Crystal Palace have the worst defensive record away, after conceding 9 goals. Everton, Manchester United and Sunderland have let in 7 goals away.

A Few Notable Things -
- Sunderland are yet to pick up three points.
- Swansea haven't yet won at the Liberty Stadium.
- Manchester City and Crystal Palace both haven't won away.
- Chelsea and Manchester City have won all of their home games.
- Chelsea, Southampton, Manchester City, Everton and Hull are all un beaten at home.
- Arsenal, Liverpool and West Brom are all unbeaten away.
- Most matches have been won by a one goal margin, 32.
- Arsenal and Liverpool are on good form as they have both won the most matches, 5.
- Crystal Palace and Sunderland have failed to keep any clean sheets in the Premier League this season.
- Arsenal are the only team who has managed to score in every Premier League match.
- West Ham, Stoke and Crystal Palace have all failed to score in the most games, 4.

Just throwing it in there before someone says it...
We all know form can beat fixtures, but how many can it beat? And I know not always does playing at home mean you have the advantage (Arsenal 1-3 Aston Villa, Manchester United 1-2 West Brom.)

I hope some of you can take something away from this post, as it has taken me a long time to put it all together!

Is Rosenior or Faye likely to drop out once Chester returns?