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 eight teams from last years Premier League season and sorted them in terms of teams with the best fixtures:
Burnley (5 games)
Southampton (A)
Europa League Qualifying (potentially)
Watford (H)
Europa League Qualifying (potentially)
Fulham (A)
With potentially two additional Europa League qualifying games in August, Burnley top the list of teams with the best fixtures. Although they have the best fixtures for August, I’m not tempted to go too heavy with their players. Some defensive coverage would be sensible but I don’t want to be in a position where I need to make too many early transfers.
Liverpool (3 games)
West Ham (H)
Palace (A)
Brighton (A)
No additional Champions League qualifying games for Liverpool this time around but they do have favourable opening Premier League fixtures. The majority of their key point scoring players should also be available for selection with very few going to the distance in the World Cup.
Man City (3 games)
Arsenal (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Wolves (A)
There’s not alot between the rest of the teams in terms of fixture ease. Man City get off to a more difficult start as they travel to Arsenal but then face Huddersfield and then travel to Wolves. They could also be missing some key players for the first game after the World Cup.
Man Utd (3 games)
Leicester (H)
Brighton (A)
Spurs (H)
Man Utd have a potential banana skin first game against Leicester. They then travel to Brighton and finally host Spurs. This isn’t the most straightforward of starts and they could also be missing key players such as Pogba and Lukaku for the opening game. Fortunately as they are playing first (Friday) we get to check their line up before confirming our initial team.
Spurs (3 games)
Newcastle (A)
Fulham (H)
Man Utd (A)
Spurs have a decent couple of opening fixture. However they could suffer the most from having players missing with an extended rest from the World Cup. Players who went the distance are Lloris, Trippier, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Kane, Alli, Dier, Dembele and Rose. Son could also be missing for the start of the season.
Chelsea (3 games)
Huddersfield (A)
Arsenal (H)
Newcastle (A)
Chelsea have a decent start but look likely to be missing two of their key players in Courtois and Hazard – if they are sold. With a new manager, it could be a shaky start to this season’s Premier League campaign but this remains to be seen.
Everton (3 games)
Wolves (A)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
In terms of fixtures Everton have one of the easiest starts. I’m just not overly convinced they’ve got a strong enough squad to compete with any of the other top five clubs. Despite finishing 8th last season, not many of their players picked up a vast number of points.
Arsenal (3 games)
Man City (H)
Chelsea (A)
West Ham (H)
Arsenal have a tough start this time around. Regardless of fixtures I do like the look of Aubameyang at 5.5m after the start he made to life in the Premier League last season. I’m also considering their new keeper (Leno), who could be a bargain at 3m should he be their number one choice.
Based on the number and fixtures and ease of fixtures I’ll be looking to create a team that looks something like this:
GK: Burnley
DEF: Liverpool, Man Utd, Burnley, Spurs/Chelsea
MID: Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea
ST: Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City
And then use my August transfers to bring in a stronger defence and Harry Kane:
GK: Burnley
DEF: Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Spurs/Chelsea
MID: Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea
ST: Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs
As always, share your thoughts/ideas in the comments below.
As always, share your thoughts/ideas in the comments below.
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If Burnley beat Aberdeen their 2nd leg of the third qualifying round will be on 16th August, I presume this will count and mean potentially 3 extra games in August
Burnley’s next europa tie is the 12th August – so does this not cool by and mean that they will only have 4 dream team fixtures in August rather than 5?
Sorry I meant the next tie is 9th – I’m presuming this will not count?
I don’t think the one on the 9th will count but I believe if they get through that they will have another two legged qualifying round to get through before the competition starts.
logic looks good doubling up on burnley players for extra 2 games…however with pope and heaton both as good as each other isnt there a case they might rotate for the europa games ?
wouldnt it be wise to pick pickford or leno of arsenal who are cheap stick with them and go tarkswi and maybe ben mee then take those 2 out after the additional games as both have more of a chance playing in every game ?
There’s absolutely a case for this and it’s probably quite likely. I’m currently considering Leno but he will also be rotated for Europe.
Seems as both Heaton and Pope are currently injured, I’d say the choice of a Burnley goalkeeper goes out of the window anyway.
They’ve signed Hart so will be interesting to see how much he’s valued at.
also kane has not gone on holiday after the world cup as his girlfreind heavily pregnant and is already back in the gym i feel he’ll be back first game and will be desperate to get rid of his august curse i will be for one bringing him in from the off…..along with salah
Yeah I’ve left enough money in the bank to do this move. So I may well do it before the season starts in place of Aguero.
Cheers for that, I always find it useful to have the following months fixtures to. Any chance you could add those, helps as you only get three transfers a month.
I use this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t8-J8t2NKmHWDepR-Sf4Dqbd7oo7KcCkzR3ij4Fi3FU it’s got all the fixtures but I created it before Premier League games were assigned to Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon games so I wouldn’t assume it’s completely accurate.
I too suspect that Kane will be in from the start.
Surely he cannot keep going through till Sept/Oct without scoring?….
I’d assume not. But if there was ever a case for not starting with him, it’s this season with the World Cup. However it’s a bit of a waste of a transfer even if he’s back for game week 2.
We said that last year as well…
Yes and probably two years before that too, but if you keep flipping a coin, it will eventually land on heads!
You said on your opening statement that you’re considering Aubameyang, but have not included him in your proposed team?
That’s because of Arsenal’s opening fixtures.
Not to say of course that Aubameyang isn’t capable of scoring against Man City and Chelsea, but their run in looks much simpler from the end of August.
Completely agree, that was my reasoning for leaving him out but I’m still tempted to start with him.
Purely because Arsenal have a tough start but this hasn’t always mean’t low points. The starting team will change quite a bit between now and the start of the season I’d imagine.
Think you should be having a bit more faith within the west ham squad. Tough start to our season but our players are impressive. Felipe Anderson seems to be adapting well and tricky, Arnie is already on fire, i tip him to score a lot.
I’m including Arnie for sure.
He is down as a relatively cheap midfielder so 433 will in effect give you 4 strikers like it did last year with Salah.
I’ve not completely decided who I’m going for yet but Arnautovic is definitely on my shortlist of players. I was hoping he would start a little cheaper than 4m. I’m preferring Mahrez at that price at the moment.
If Chelsea do indeed sell hazard as I think they will, who are we thinking of filling in their. Also, pope will be starting as Heaton is now injured
Nick pope has just gone off injured against Aberdeen. We might have to stick another Burnley defender in there if we want to double up
Depends if they go through as well – currently losing.
They’ll go through now.
Do we need to give some consideration to Chelsea’s back-line, Azpilcueta, Alonso, with perhaps a new keeper, Zaha also looking good in pre-season.
New keeper could be a great option but not sure about their backline – very expensive and so much uncertainty.
Hi Tom,
I think it’s fantastic that you have set this up. The onfo is top drawer. Fair play. This is only my second year to play. Im a bit stuck really on what to do on my defence. Same back line and keeper from one team or separate clubs. What’s the best solution ? Thought would be much appreciated.
Michael
Depends if you have one main team or if you’re playing with all 10. I focus on one team which I use in cash leagues and in this team I wouldn’t use defenders all from the same team because it’s too risky. I’ll be spreading the risk out in my main team by going for players from different teams.
Sound. Thanks for that. I don’t want to be making up the numbers this year lol. If you’re setting up a mini league , I’d be up for that.
Michael
I’ll be setting one up – will publish the PIN as soon as it’s in place.