With the new Premier League season just around the corner, Fantasy Premier League managers will now be thinking of building their initial Fantasy Squad. The roster of players to choose from is huge, but with the 100 million budget, you will need to make your choices carefully. Amongst the roster, there are some individuals that have proved their capabilities in the previous seasons with stellar performances. Here in the FPL Gameweek 8-12 Fixture Watch we analyze and look at the fixtures of the EPL sides of the next 5 game weeks and decide which clubs to heavily invest in and the clubs to completely avoid.
Here we will be going through who has got the best and worst fixtures in the upcoming game weeks, looking at their fixture difficulty ratings (FDR) while providing some tips on the players to put in and avoid from your squads
Fixture Difficulty Table (Gameweek 8-12)
Crystal Palace
The best fixture difficulty for the next 5 weeks is actually Crystal Palace. After losing the last watch to Wolves away, Crystal Palace now entertains Leeds at home who are coming from their own home defeat against Leicester. Their next fixtures include Burnley away, Newcastle at home, West Brom away while ending the game week 12 with a tricky encounter against Tottenham at home. Note while they do have the easiest difficulty rating, it is worth mentioning that their form in the past 5 fixtures has been far from the best, they have actually struggled and have won only one game against Fulham. A 1-2 loss to Everton was followed by a heavy 4-0 defeat from Chelsea, followed by a 1-1 draw with Brighton.
Although Crystal Palace has not been in the best of form, one player that has been is Wilfried Zaha. Zaha currently sits 4th among top-scoring FPL Midfielders behind Heung-Min Son, Salah, and Grealish. Zaha is on a total of 49 points with 5 goals and one assist to his name this season. So Wilfried Zaha and especially his price tag at 7.4 can be a bit of a bargain with some of the fixtures coming up and therefore he might be the man to come into your squad.
Everton
After their loss to Newcastle away, Everton has Man United at home, Fulham away, Leeds at home, Burnley away followed by a home encounter against Chelsea. Although they started the season strong, they have recently suffered a string of defeats against Southampton and Newcastle. They also have some suspensions coming up in the next two games specifically Lucas Digne (Suspended until 7th November) and Richarlison (Suspended until 21st November) who are important to their side. They also have James Rodriguez as a doubt for the next game after he missed the last encounter against Newcastle.
In spite of all this, a player whom you should be looking at for having in your team is the undeniable Dominic Calvert-Lewin who definitely will be the source of their goals coming up. Calvert-Lewin has scored in all of his side’s fixtures other than against Southampton and can certainly be termed as Fixture Proof at this point in time. The Toffees face a Manchester United side next who will be coming up from their poor display at home against Arsenal.
Aston Villa
Following their 3-4 home loss against Southampton which was a goal-fest, Aston Villa faces a tricky test away at Arsenal, Brighton at home, West Ham away, Newcastle at home, and round things up facing Wolves away. Aston Villa has been in great form in the last few weeks, despite their defeats to Leeds and Southampton, they will surely look to bounce back.
The player to be looking at for Aston Villa has to be Jack Grealish, he has got a total of 54 points with two double-digit hauls this season. He has already scored 4 goals and assisted another 4 this season. He is placed third among top-scoring FPL midfielders below only Son and Salah. With a price tag of 7.4 million, which could be definitely going up in the next couple of weeks given his form, if he is not in your team by now well what are you waiting for?
Chelsea
After beating Burnley away 3-0, Chelsea now face Sheffield at home, Newcastle away followed by tricky encounters with Spurs and Leeds at home, and finally a trip to Everton. It’s a fair run of fixtures if you are looking at some of their players. In their last 5 games, Chelsea has only won two while drawing the other three. they do boast a lot of players including new incoming transfers. Now can be a good time to get a look at them with them starting to come on the scoreboards.
One of the players you might be looking to get in is Timo Werner. He hasn’t had the best of starts in English Football with three goals and two assists, but with his price dropping from 9.5 to 9.3, this will probably be the best time to get him in, also with the fixtures coming up, he will be looking to grab some goals. Another one you would be looking at is Hakim Ziyech, who is coming off after both scoring and assisting against Burnley. He earned his first Chelsea start against Burnley and showed from midfield he can get a lot of points. The last player to look at is Edouard Mendy their new goalkeeper, he has played three games with earning clean sheets in all three. His price tag of 5.1 million will surely be on the rise with his performances underneath the sticks. And especially with his match against Sheffield, who is struggling to score, Chelsea is looking to brag another clean sheet.
Note: Mendy didn’t have to make a single save in the last two games as Chelsea didn’t concede a single shot which means 0 save points and no bonus points which go hand in hand with saves made. Remember the golden rule of FPL, don’t waste your free transfer on a goalkeeper unless it is necessary. The goalkeepers almost all score similar kinds of points across an entire season ad there are usually more points to be gained by making the transfer on an outfield player.
Wolves
After their victory against Palace, Wolves fixtures do not look appealing at all. The best of Wolves fixtures are now over and the next few are a little bit tricky, to say the least. They have got Leicester, Southampton, then back 2 back away ties with Arsenal and Liverpool, following that home games with Burnley, Chelsea, and Spurs. So this is quite a long run of difficult games as well, with a lot of big names in the fixtures. This might lead to you the decision of getting some of the Wolves players.
Daniel Podence (5.5 million) and Raul Jimenez (8.5 million) are still popular picks among FPL attackers for the managers. Although Podence allows a cheaper budget option into the Wolves forward line, you may still consider holding on to him, but one player you should consider moving out is Roman Saiss. Roman Saiss is eventually going to be an omission from this Wolves team with Kilman‘s form and a true left-back in position to play. Wolves look a lot better with a proper left-back which means Saiss and Kilman will have to battle it out sharing the left center back position. You simply can’t be spending 5.3 million on a defender who isn’t even guaranteed a place in the starting lineup, especially the fixture run of doom, he has ahead of him.
Tottenham
Ending our FPL Gameweek 8-12 Fixture Watch is Tottenham. After their meeting with West Brom away this week, Tottenham goes on a massive fixture swing as they come from the international break. While everybody will captain either Son or Kane against West Brom, after that match. it just gets way too tough for them. Spurs face City, Chelsea, and Arsenal all in a row followed by Crystal Palace and Liverpool away. So basically from game week 9 to game week 16, no one is going to captain Spurs players. This is where advanced planning becomes so important. Looking ahead is always vital for a Fantasy manager but it is difficult when those plans involve getting rid of in-form premium assets.
Even in Gameweek 12 when they face Crystal Palace away, Liverpool faces Fulham away, which brings the opportunity to captain either Salah or Mane. So this suddenly makes Spurs players dispensable. They are playing well, they have form but will they stick when fixtures get tricky? Fixtures play a vital part always for fantasy teams. No-one can question the form Kane and Son‘s duo have been in form, with 142 FPL points between them so far this season. But that has coincided with a relatively easy fixture run, and as shown above it’s about to get a bit more difficult. Alternatively, it might be the time to consider Man City Attackers with Jesus and De Bruyne coming back.
Note: You can consider keeping your Spurs players but do think well that their attacking outputs might not be the same as it has been and Manchester City on the other hand has an easier run of fixtures.
Which players among these are you thinking of featuring in your Starting lineup for the FPL 2020-21 season? Did you find our FPL Gameweek 8-12 Fixture Watch article useful? Let us know in the comments section below!
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