When the fixtures were released last Friday morning it brought the curtain down on a Fantasy Manager’s short summer vacation. As the first shoots of the new season come peeping through, we now can begin to analyse matters, starting with the fixture list. Even at this early stage we can assess which teams match up well and identify the favourable and potentially daunting runs of opponents through the thirty-eight gameweek season.
While time is in our favour, there’s plenty of work to be done here. You could roll up the sleeves and start scanning the fixture list for yourself or, alternatively, sign up for the 2011/12 Membership, then sit back and read on as we give it a good rinsing.
In this three-part pre-season guide for Members, we put Pure Olivia’s feature-rich “Season Ticker” tool through its paces and venture into the nooks and crannies of the Premier League listings to help prepare your season before the player lists even arrive.
In this first part, we explore the concept of team fixture pairings, examine how they can be applied to both defensive and attacking areas of your squad and throw in some likely targets that offer potential winning combinations.

