Fixture List



Help me out here. 

I'm looking at Yahoo!'s fixture listings for the next few weeks... Is it my imagination or are there some teams with more upcoming matches than others?  I'm going to break down what I'm seeing, but can someone/anyone help confirm these issues?
  • This week (12/19-21) there is a full slate of matches.  Everyone plays once.
  • Next week (12/26-30) is a double week. There will be a full slate of matches Saturday and Sunday, with the teams' second matches Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  Now if I'm reading this correctly Manchester United and Wigan DO NOT HAVE TWO MATCHES.  They are the only two teams playing once this matchweek.  [See the corrections in the comments below.]  Additionally, everyone has the second match after just one off day save for Liverpool, Bolton, Portsmouth and Arsenal who each have two days off before their second match.
  • Matchweek 17, following the New Year (1/5-6) will consist of only two midweek matches - Stoke v. Fulham and Arsenal v. Bolton.
  • The rest of January sees all teams in action four times with a double week sandwiched between two vanilla "everyone plays once on Saturday through Monday" weeks the last game of which is Sunderland v. Stoke on February 1.
  • February then "starts" with a double week followed by two regular weeks.
Of course there is the added complications of teams participating and progressing in the FA and League Cups.  The next rounds are arleady scheduled, but weeks further out may be impacted by Cup games.

The League schedule has a hard stop this year because of the World Cup so we're likely to see a lot of fixture pile-up come the spring.

In the mean time, what does this all mean?  For me it means Rooney and Rodallega, while they would be tempting otherwise, are out of the discussion.  If you have Kirkland for ridiculously cheap you're going to lose a game unless you're in for the long haul.  Arsenal players become very attractive in the short-term and we'll try to keep up with who is actually available for selection at any given time.  It also puts Bolton players on the map, which if you've read the blog for any length of time, you know we don't bet on or against Bolton.  Unless we do.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:33 AM

    Er..

    26/12 Wigan vs Blackburn Rovers
    27/12 Hull City vs Man Utd
    30/12 Man Utd vs Wigan

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  2. imues8:35 AM

    man u will face wigan on 30th dec.. check premierleague.com, n manutd.com..

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  3. Anonymous8:35 AM

    Hey!

    Yahoo is wrong. United and Wigan play two games too. They face each other at Old Trafford on the 30th. See premierleague.com.

    Andy

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  4. My bet now is that everyone has a 2-game week, and Arsenal, Fulham, Stoke, and Bolton have 3-game weeks for the 12-26/12-30 week. That happened last year with a couple of teams, I think Fulham and Blackburn? Either that, or they tack those two games on to the next week and those four teams are the only 2-gamers.

    I snagged Chung-Yong early in anticipation of this, and am also holding Arshavin at discount at least through then. Cesc and MTay could also be musts if healthy, and I'm now sad I missed the Almunia-cheap train, though I have Kirkland at 1.64 and probably plan on staying with that indefinitely.

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  5. Wisdom of the crowd. Thanks, all!

    Guess Rooney was a god bet after all.

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  6. imues8:54 AM

    rooney may be a good bet..but remember that his now got 4 yellows already..

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  7. DeviL9:58 AM

    Valencia all the way !

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  8. Anonymous10:58 AM

    I like the matchups this week. I believe these are where the points will come from (*):

    LIV(*)-POR
    A.V.(*)-STO
    B.B.-TOT(*)
    ARS(*)-HULL
    WOL-BUR(*)
    WIG-BOL(*)

    After weeks of disappointing expensive goalkeepers I think I'll play it safe with Jaas or Kirk (depending on which team you fancy to win)
    I have picked R.Dunne and Milner on a cheap so those two are staying. With Traore and Cesc gone Arsenal should be forced to rely on Silvestre and Arshavin so i'm sticking to Arshavin for sure but I still have doubts about Silvestre. SeaBass is still relatively cheap so I'm keeping him also. Mikel is dirt cheap and he will play so that's a great filler no matter how he does.
    Drogs is not moving from the team even if he doesn't play. I have Rooney who I picked at 19 ... but I don't know if I should keep him. I also have Eagles which I kinda wanna keep but I might need some money.

    So, as it stands....

    I have 10.01 left ... and I need 1 DF and 1 FW.
    I am willing to get rid of Rooney (19.12) and less willing to get rid of Eagles (8.14), but of course I would need replacement for them. Any recommendations?

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  9. Anonymous6:32 PM

    Lovely - that Manure game wasn't up when I dumped Rooney. Thx Yahoo!

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