With the first month of the new season approaching, it’s the perfect time to look at fixtures for August in advance for planning an initial team and any transfers to be made in August. Below I’ve focused on the top seven teams from last year’s Premier League season and sorted them in terms of teams with the best fixtures:
Wolves (6/7 games)
Leicester (A)
Europa League Qualifying (potentially)
Man Utd (H)
Europa League Qualifying (potentially)
Burnley (H)
Europa League Qualifying (potentially)
Everton (A)
With potential additional Europa League qualifying games in August, Wolves top my list of teams with the best fixtures. They had a great season last time around, however I’ll probably spread the risk by not going too heavy with their players. Some defensive coverage would be sensible and possibly Jimenez but I don’t want to be in a position where I need to make too many early transfers by placing too much emphasis on these extra fixtures.
Man City (4 games)
West Ham (A)
Spurs (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Brighton (H)
There’s not a lot between Man City and Liverpool in terms of fixture ease. However I’ve gone for Man City as they don’t have the distraction of the Super Cup in between their first two fixtures. I’m also being told that this game won’t count from a point scoring point of view. I’d fully expect Man City to make a strong start but their first two games are their most difficult during the month. It’s also worth considering that we never know exactly who is going to start for City, which is always a nightmare from a fantasy football point of view. This is especially true at the start of the season.
Liverpool (4 games)
Norwich (H)
Southampton (A)
Arsenal (H)
Burnley (A)
If Liverpool can carry on their form from last season it’s going to be difficult to ignore their players, in particular from a defensive point of view. Looking at their fixtures for the month would any of us be surprised if they picked up three clean sheets out of the four games. They do have the complication of the Super Cup between their first two fixtures and I’ve been told this game won’t count from a point scoring perspective. What I do like about Liverpool is that it’s much easier to predict who is going to start for them. I’d be fairly confident that Van Dijk, Robertson, Mane and Salah are all pretty much certain to play in every game of the month. The same can’t really be said for many Man City players.
Chelsea (4 games)
Man Utd (A)
Leicester (H)
Norwich (A)
Sheff Utd (H)
Chelsea have a tough start against Man Utd and this is followed by another tough game against Leicester. Their fixtures improve after this, however they’ve lost Hazard and have a transfer ban. For me this creates a lot of uncertainty around the type of season they are going to have. It will all come down to player values when the game opens but it’s hard to look past Man City and Liverpool players.
Arsenal (4 games)
Newcastle (A)
Burnley (H)
Liverpool (A)
Spurs (H)
Arsenal get off to an easier start but then have tough very tough fixtures towards the end of the month. I can’t say I’ve got much faith in them after some of their performances last season – especially defensively. The only two players I’d look at are Lacazette or Aubameyang.
Spurs (4 games)
Villa (H)
Man City (A)
Newcastle (H)
Arsenal (A)
Spurs have a mixed opening month to the season. On the one hand they have two favourable home fixtures, on the other they have two very difficult away fixtures. At this stage the only player I’m really looking at from them is Harry Kane. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him get off the mark against Villa on the opening day of the season. It would be a risky move to leave him out.
Man Utd (4 games)
Chelsea (H)
Wolves (A)
Palace (H)
Southampton (A)
Man Utd probably have the toughest start out of all the top clubs. Hosting Chelsea in the opening game of the season won’t be straightforward. Traveling to Wolves for the second game of the season won’t be either. Their fixtures improve after this but I’m still not overly convinced at this stage that their players are worth investing in. They weren’t great defensively last season – and as a result Wan-Bissaka looks over priced at 3.5m. They’ve also not moved on any of the more disruptive players in the squad who don’t seem to want to give their all for the club. This puts a big question mark next to any of their players in my opinion. I’ll only be considering any of them if they are a real bargain price.
Based on the number and fixtures and ease of fixtures I’ll be looking to create a team that looks something like this:
GK: Liverpool/Man City
DEF: Liverpool, Man City, Wolves, Liverpool/Man City
MID: Liverpool, Man City, Man City
ST: Liverpool, Wolves, Man City
Realistically, I doubt this will be possible within the budget. If it were, I’d then be looking to move on the Wolves players after the additional fixtures. I think this season is going to be more challenging than ever to accommodate those “essential” players. Ideally everyone is going to want Ederson/Alisson, Van Dijk, Mane, Sterling, Kane, Salah and Aguero. This simply isn’t going to work within the budget. The big question will be who do we dare leave out.
As always, share your thoughts/ideas in the comments below.
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Everton have really nice fixtures early doors so I might be considering the likes of Digne, Coleman, Richarlison and Siggy, depending on price of course.
I’d be astounded if you were able to get that kind of line-up early doors though DTT.
I’d be astounded as well – I think in an ideal world that’s what I’d go for but it’s never going to happen. I must admit I hadn’t looked at Everton’s fixtures so I may look them up.
Very helpful piece in on the fixtures DTT. Top stuff! 👍🏻
Great insight to start the preseason off 👍👍
I haven’t really started to look at fixtures and top teams yet but I have just started to look into the teams that have come up and who takes the pens. I can see this season being a penfest!!
I had similar thoughts initially Cefnstar re: penalties, but in Spain, they actually found a reduction in pens awarded. I suppose the players going down too easily in the box will now get found out and not earn the penalties that they would have previously? It will be interesting to see how it pans out…
It’s a tough one – as Chris says there could well be a reduction in penalties. I’ll probably just pick players based on overall play but I can see why other people would definitely consider it.
I’ve read that it’s going to be 3 players maximum from one team so it’s going to be impossible to get a team looking how you’ve laid it out in the article. Definitely a much needed rule in my view
I thought the same but I’ve been led to believe by someone in a group on Facebook who has asked someone in the know at Dream Team that it won’t be limited to 3 players per team. I’d agree that the rule would have been an improvement though.
I also hope they bring up the three player rule from the same club rule. Otherwise for me personally I won’t enjoy playing the game much as it will evolve around the same pattern as last season with players from two clubs: Man City and Liverpool dominating. Really don’t think fantasy football should be solely about two teams (hence the ‘clone wars’ where similar based teams as the pool of players is very small), not testing the wider knowledge of a football mad individual. I don’t really get excited writing about Salah, Aguero, Sterling, Mane (exciting to watch real life but they don’t excite me fantasy wise as they already have high ownership and act as shields rather than swords) in great detail so not really motivated to write stuff anymore. Maybe years ago but seen them play too often now on TV so know their strengths.
Couldn’t agree more but I’m fairly sure they aren’t going to introduce this rule, which is a shame as I’m with you. I don’t want to be competing against teams dominated by Man City and Liverpool players.
I got burnt by pretty much all my differentials last season so without the 3 per rule sadly i’ll be sticking with the boring safe picks this season by the look of it. Such a shame as it would be just the shake up it needs
I do think the Liverpool and man city prices will make it difficult to get a block defence from these teams plus the big hitters. At least two cheaper players will be needed to offset the big guns
But that would still offer the slight possible template of DTT team above which is 9 players from pool or city plus two cheaper enablers. That’s why I can’t comment much about the game anymore.
I myself like to talk about other teams ( I do like to go bargain hunting – my style is kinda like Harry Redknapp in a way) but they looks to be a waste of time if no restrictions are in place. I find the comments last season on Doherty, Moura and other less known players interesting but can see a lack of those ideas if all thoughts are focused on two teams. This is a criticism of the game we play. I wouldn’t play the game but my mini league friends are reluctant to go elsewhere (don’t like the restrictions on FPL and don’t actively follow football often). Dream team caters towards their needs. Three transfers per month any time (can be used at the end of the month if they forget so pick and forget kind of game with low maintenance) and just a small amount of football knowledge (fit in as many players from two teams as you can and guaranteed points). Not really rocket science. Me personally I want the game to be with restrictions, I want to make hard choices and feel smug (privately) why I get them right, look further afield and expand my football knowledge. I even suggested a non- liverpool or city mini league with my friends but that’s a non goer – understandable as most are the casual sort of players and this move will take them outside their comfort zone.
I’d like to see more transfers and the restriction on number of players from one team. I much preferred the World Cup game from a tactical point of view when there were lots of options with 20 transfers over a short competition. What’s your thoughts on the game from a tactical point of view? We all talk about players and football. But in basic terms it’s really just a simple mathematical problem and we’ve got plenty of trend data to work from. Do you think there’s a way of working out statistically the types of players we should go for and the probability of success based on previous performances? I’m convinced someone much more clever than myself should be able to look at all the numbers and come up with a solution. It really is after all just a maths problem – work out the best players to pick on probability of point scoring and get the most points on the board.
I do as well. Although the new rule doesn’t appear to be coming in, I think it’s going to be more challenging than ever to have all the big guns from the off.
I don’t know why but I am feeling anti Liverpool and Man City right now. I am starting to dislike their players.
There is absolutely no doubt that the sun dream team game is aimed at the casual fan and is made as easy as possible to play (the winner this year had never played before), even when they introduced .3 price changes they dumbed it down to a completely ineffective .1 the next season (.2 would be the sweet spot I feel).
I can completely understand your anti Liv and Man City stance as I feel the same from a fantasy perspective, I had a run of winning my mini leagues several years in a row and started to want to show that there is more than one way to skin a cat, and like you wanting to feel smug I wanted to feel that not only have I beat everyone but I’ve done it in a way that no one thought possible, leaving out some of the big hitters and going for differentials. Sadly it hasn’t worked out that way over the last couple of seasons and I’ve been battered by the template, the two teams that won my mini league had 10 players from the two teams virtually all season while I scrabbled round going for differentials to catch up
Yeah District, I feel your pain about losing against the template. I just wish fantasy football success is not solely governed by two teams. Variety adds spice to life and can make it exciting and interesting. Otherwise it’s like going to the same place over and over again on holiday and not really testing yourself to the limit and getting out of your comfort zone. People are comfortable owning city and pool players. Myself I have an maverick way and find it difficult to be just another fantasy football dullard.
Casual players complained about the 0.3m as they don’t spend every week looking at the team so they were annoyed at losing 1.2m on a player in a month. The casual people make the bulk of the players in sun dream team so they have listened to.
Posted this in the latest thread:
If we take the prices already released as a basis and have an educated guess at the others that people are likely to want you are probably looking at a combined team of:
Ederson 4.5
Robertson 4.5
TAA 4.5
VVD 6
Mane 6
Sterling 6.5
Salah 7.5
Aguero 7.5
That leaves 3 players needed with 3m left but only 2060 points (from last seasons final points total) which is almost a third less than the winner so its definitely not just a case of filling your team with Man City and Liverpool players and it will take you all the way to the top.
I genuinely don’t think its feasible to have more than 6 of the 8 players listed above. Robertson TAA and VVD will cost approx. 5m more than last season, the keepers will be more as well as are Sterling and Aguero and B Silva will be too
I couldn’t agree more District – as much as I want to look beyond the usual big names, the reality is that this won’t work for the vast majority of the time and comes with huge risks.
Couldn’t agree more – when you look at the top scorers it’s generally always the same players. Makes it a little dull but I’m with you the safer picks tend to produce the most points.
I also like the idea of using wolves players for the first month. Will Jimenez be back straight away due to Mexico game time.i If not should we think of picking Jota who had a very good season and has scored during pre season already?
It’s difficult because Jota didn’t score as many as Jimenez last season but they did start with a strong team in the week during the qualifier. They also kept a clean sheet but it will be interesting to see who they are drawn against in the next round.