FPL Gameweek 17: Best fixtures to target
By Holly Shand
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A fixture ticker is a fantasy manager's best friend, with an outlook of six gameweeks being considered a good timeframe to consider for an upcoming period of games. The Fantasy Football Hub fixture ticker can be fully customised for any gameweek range, giving custom ratings for both attack and defence, bearing in mind either opponent difficulty or predicted results.
Crucially, we have six sides with a scheduled double gameweek in the New Year; Chelsea and Fulham in Gameweek 19, and Manchester City and Spurs with in Gameweek 20. So which teams and players will be the key ones to target for our FPL squads?
Which teams have the best fixtures for the opening six gameweeks?
Chelsea sit top of the fixture ticker for the next six gameweeks, but picking starters from Graham Potter’s defence always presents a challenge. Chelsea have four favourable fixtures in the first four games back, plus a clash with current Premier League champions Manchester City.
Reece James (£5.8m) would ordinarily be the go-to pick but he’s returning to fitness off the back of a serious injury. The goalkeeper situation at Stamford Bridge is particularly interesting, with Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m) a budget route into a normally solid Chelsea defence, who have four clean sheets this season.
Mason Mount (£7.5m) is the pick of the attackers, but two goals and three assists in the opening period is some way off his best.
Manchester City and Fulham sit second and third, with their respective double gameweeks. The double is tricky for City, but the fixtures surrounding it are favourable so tripling up on their assets is a great strategy.
Erling Haaland (£12.2m) should continue to build on his 82.8% ownership, with a remarkable 18 goals from 15 starts this season. A double-up with Joao Cancelo (£7.4m) will be popular: he’s started 15 games this season, with four attacking returns and six clean sheets. Kevin De Bruyne (£12.6m) and Phil Foden (£8.3m) will likely battle it out for the final place in our squads, with team value the key decider in this instance.
Turning our attention to Fulham, Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m) is fit and on the radar with nine goals in 12 games to start the season, building on an excellent Championship-winning campaign. With the fixtures favourable, go-to budget midfielder Andreas Pereira (£4.6m) could be considered a starter during this period given his involvement in set pieces. He’s delivered seven attacking returns this season, with two goals and five assists.
When looking at the attacking fixture ticker, Aston Villa and Brentford find their way into the top five. Budget midfielder Leon Bailey (£4.5m) is Villa’s highest scoring fantasy asset in this position, with two goals and an assist from his last four. Striker Danny Ings (£6.6m) has four goals in the same period, with the side much improved under new manager Unai Emery.
Ivan Toney (£7.4m) could be a key pick if his availability isn’t impacted by FA charges. He has 12 attacking returns so far this season and looks set to improve on the 12 goals and five assists he amassed last campaign. He may be one to bring in for Gameweek 20 to avoid home games against Spurs and Liverpool. However, he did impress with a brace against Manchester City before the break.
When it comes to defensive prospects, Manchester United and Southampton have the fixtures on their side. The Saints only have one clean sheet this season though and shouldn’t be a key team to target.
Looking at defensive targets from Old Trafford, Diogo Dalot (£4.8m) tops the list as the cheapest route into the defence. He has one assist this season and crucially has netted 12 bonus points: only Kieran Trippier has more among defenders. Luke Shaw (£4.8m) is now first choice on the opposite flank, with two assists in his last four games.