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Winter is here! The Premier League teams are back in action on Tuesday night after a short two-day break, and the madness of the December schedule is now officially upon us. Gameweek 22 ends on January 3rd, which is a little over 5 weeks from now.
That means that there are 9 premier league game-weeks over the next 5 weeks. Add to this, the last round of the UEFA Champions League group stage fixtures and also the quarter-finals of the Carabao cup. With this congested schedule up ahead, FPL managers have to be wary of player rotation in all teams (and not just Manchester City).
Don't forget, the deadline is 6:45 P.M. GMT on Tuesday night (12:15 A.M. IST on Wednesday morning)
Here are 5 essential tips that will help you with your FPL team over the upcoming game-weeks:
#5 Ensure all your 15 players are regular starters
What the congested run of fixtures in December means for fantasy managers, is that we are bound to see a lot of unforeseen rotation, especially amongst teams playing both the Carabao cup, as well as the Champions League.
A lot of managers have the game's cheapest players like Hunemeier, Quaner, Ladopo and Carrick just to free up funds for other players. It's time to get rid of these bench fodders and look to fill our bench with cheap regulars from smaller teams.
Here are the cheapest regularly-starting players for each position, along with other cheap options to fill up your bench:
Goalkeeper:
Rob Elliot - Newcastle United (£4.2): At £4.2, he's a definite bargain. Speroni was the other option, but Hennesey made his return last week for Crystal Palace. At £4.3 and a good run of fixtures, Hennesey is a good option too.
Defender:
Adrian Mariappa - Watford (£4.0): He has started the last 2 games and looks to have sealed his spot in Watford's back 3. Other options are Jonjoe Kenny - Everton(£4.3), Gaetan Bong - Brighton(£4.4), Simon Francis - Bournemouth(£4.4), Marvin Zeegelaar - Watford(£4.4) and Angelo Ogbonna - West Ham(£4.3).
Midfielder:
Ruben Loftus-Cheek - Crystal Palace (£4.5): He finally got a much deserved first goal for Crystal Palace on Saturday, and is a steal at a measly £4.5.
Some good alternatives include Tom Carroll - Swansea(£4.5) and Andrew Surman - Bournemouth(£4.7) who take set pieces, Luka Milivojevic - Crystal Palace(£4.6) who is on penalty duties, Fabian Delph - Manchester City (£4.5) who regularly plays as left back in an attacking Manchester City and an impressive Will Hughes - Watford(£4.6) who has scored twice and assisted once in the 266 minutes he's played this season.
Striker:
Oumar Niasse - Everton (£5.0): He is suspended for the midweek game, but will be eligible to play against Huddersfield. He is the best gamble if you are looking for a cheap bench forward in your strike force. Other options include his colleague Calvert-Lewin - Everton(£5.0) and Jordan Ayew - Swansea(£5.1).
#4 Attack the fixtures
There are more than 15 players across a season who perform better than average. It is naturally impossible to have all of them on your team at the same time, and this is why having the right player at the right time is crucial.
One way to make sure you have the right player at the right time could be by transferring in players based on their upcoming fixture difficulty.
Here are the teams with a relatively easy set of fixtures lined up in the near future:
Chelsea - SWA(H), NEW(H), WHU(A), HUD(A), SOU(H), EVE(A), BRI(H), STO(H)
Crystal Palace - BRI(A), WBA(A), BOU(H), WAT(H), LEI(A), SWA(A)
Liverpool - STO(A), BRI(A), EVE(H), WBA(H), BOU(A), ARS(A), SWA(H), LEI(H)
Spurs - LEI(A), WAT(A), STO(H), BRI(H), MCI(A), BUR(A), SOU(H), WHU(H), SWA(A), EVE(H)
Apart from these, Manchester City, Burnley, and Arsenal have attractive fixtures too.
West Ham, Brighton, West Brom, Newcastle, Southampton, and Swansea have a bad run of fixtures, so try and stay away!
#3 Pick players who 'rotate' well
Look at the fixtures over the next 10 game-weeks and buy cheap pairs, who when viewed together, have a run of good fixtures. This is called player 'rotation'. For example, here are Bournemouth and Watford's fixtures until game-week 23:
BOU: BUR, SOU, CRY, MUN, LIV, MCI, WHU, EVE, BRI, ARS
WAT: MUN, TOT, BUR, CRY, HUD, BRI, LEI, SWA, MCI, SOU
If you pick Simon Francis - Bournemouth (£4.4) and Adrian Mariappa -Watford (£4.0) in your team and rotate them by playing the player with the easier fixture (highlighted in bold) every week, then you'd effectively have a player with a terrific run of fixtures over the next 10 games. Here are some other rotation pairs for the next 8-10 game-weeks:
West Brom and Watford
Everton and Huddersfield
Brighton and Stoke
Leicester and Newcastle
#2 Choose players from teams playing fewer games
Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal play in both the UEFA Champions League/UEFA Europa League, as well as the Carabao cup, apart from, of course, the Premier League.
Leicester City, Bournemouth and West Ham play in the Carabo cup, while Liverpool and Spurs play in the Champions League.
This leaves eleven teams who are playing in just the Premier League in the next month. Players from these eleven teams are less likely to be victim to rotation. Most of us have a handful of stars from the top 6 clubs, but it may be a good idea to not be entirely dependant on them.
Here are three excellent options for each position from teams that are playing only in the Premier League in December:
Goalkeepers: Nick Pope - Burnley (£4.6), Heurelho Gomes - Watford (£4.5), Lukasz Fabianski - Swansea (£4.5)
Defenders: Kiko Femenia - Watford (£4.5), Shane Duffy - Brighton (£4.6), or any Burnley defender!
Midfielders: Wilfried Zaha -Crystal Palace (£6.9), Richarlison - Watford (£6.6), Pascal Gro? - Brighton (£6.0)
Forwards: Salomon Rondon - West Brom (£6.0), Oumar Niasse - Everton (£5.0), Andre Gray - Watford (£6.3)
It is also important to be aware of situations of the teams in other competitions to decide how likely they are to be rotated in the Premier League.
For example, Spurs are already through as group-toppers in the Champions League, which means they could afford to rest their star players in their inconsequential final group game against APOEL, in which case, the Premier League fixtures might not necessarily witness any rotation.
Similarly, Manchester United play Championship side Bristol City in the Carabao Cup, which could see them field a weaker side. Chelsea, on the other hand, face a tough Athletico Madrid in the final game of the Champions League, where a win would give them the opportunity to top the group.
They also face Bournemouth, who would be focussed on getting their hands on some silverware, in the Carabao cup. This could see a few Chelsea stars missing some games due to rotation. Be wary!
#1 Don't make unnecessary transfers
There may be weeks wherein some of your most expensive players are unexpectedly rested. The biggest mistake you can do is to panic and use up your free transfers or even take -4 hits to ship these players out.
In fact, them being benched (or 'Pep-ed', as many call it nowadays) once might be a good reason to stick with them as the odds of them being benched again reduce.
Save your free transfers until the manager press conferences are done. With so many crammed fixtures, players are more likely to pick up knocks and miss odd games. The manager press conferences generally happen a day before the game-week begins, and will give you a comprehensive update on player injuries.
