Half the season gone, and 5 monthly prizes are left for the taking. Next up is a Sony Playstation 4. Now, I don’t know about you folks, but I have to go to my brother-in-law’s place anytime I want to have a FIFA kickabout on his PS4 (although my kid ends up playing Minecraft). Thus, owning one would be lovely. Winning it would bring about a beautiful day indeed!
Period 6 contains all fixtures from 12 January to 5 February 2016. Based on these dates, for the Premier League there’s four weeks, Serie A has four weeks, La Liga has three weeks and Bundesliga has two weeks. Here’s the top 3 Premier League teams with the best fixtures during this period.
1. Watford – Southampton (a), Swansea (a), Newcastle (h), Chelsea (h)
Arguably they face the best fixtures as all the teams they face are in the bottom four. Chelsea will be a bit tricky given that the Blues have definitely been playing much better since Mourinho left, but with Watford don’t appear to be daunted by stronger opposition at all. Ighalo (5.5m) is of course the popular pick and you could keep him throughout the schedule at that price, but Deeney (8.2m) could be a nice differential given he also takes penalties, but he’s priced so much higher.
Flores’ well-drilled side is also more than capable of keeping clean sheets, especially against poorer opposition. Gomes (3.2m) is quality at a nice price, while Nyom (3.1) would be the most likely of the defensive line to contribute attacking points other than a clean sheet, and he’s the cheapest too!
2. West Ham - Bournemouth (a), Newcastle (a), Manchester City (h), Aston Villa (h)
The return of Payet (9m) could not come at a better time as West Ham face 3 poor bottom half sides as well as Manchester City, whom they handily face at home. West Ham have also done well recently, stabilising their defence, conceding only twice in six matches.
Aside from Payet (9m), Andy Carroll (9.3m) appears to have cemented his spot for now, and also faces another old team (Newcastle) in the sequence. Antonio (8.2m) is also viable as a cheaper alternative, except that he always seems to run out of steam early into the second half. Valencia (9.1m) listed as a midfielder but he’s too inconsistent for me and at his price I might as well go Payet.
At the back, there are options as well should you feel the need to reinvigorate your backline. Kouyate (4.4m) and Cresswell (4.7m) are both strong options at affordable prices. If you have keeper schedule conflicts, then Adrian (4.7m) is the way to go.
3. 3. Swansea – Sunderland (h), Watford (h), Everton (a), West Brom (a)
Similar to West Ham, they face three bottom half teams and one top half team (Watford), whom they luckily face at home.
Unfortunately, the similarities end there. They have yet to find their early season attacking verve, making most of the prospects questionable. Ayew (9.0m) will probably be your best bet (unfortunately listed as a striker), or Sigurdsson (10m) if you think he will rediscover his form from last year.
Aside from last week’s match against the Red Devils, they were able to muster three clean sheets in a row, so their defenders could be considered. Fabianski (5.3m) not a bad idea, Williams (5.1) for the goal-scoring threat, or Federico Fernandez (4.1m) if you’re running out of funds.
Wrap-up
That’s it for the fixtures. Of course form players and world class players will perform regardless of fixture, people like Aguero (15m), Ozil (12.1m), Kane (12.5m), it’s all about finding the right balance.
Finally, just a reminder that for the Stadium Astro game, although Premier League only starts on the 12th (next Tuesday), play still resumes this Saturday as the European Leagues (except the Bundesliga) all have matches. So make sure you field those Messis, Neymars, Higuains and Ronaldos in your first 11! Your captain also needs to be in place, so kindly take note.
Good luck!
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