Fixture bombshell leaves Fantasy Premier League plans in tatters

Burnley’s shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Lincoln City had significant implications for FPL managers. It now means that their fixture with Liverpool scheduled for 12th March would go ahead, eliminating the threat of a blank gameweek for the Reds.

Our plan was simple – to use our 2 free transfers to bring in one of Liverpool’s offensive four, that’s Adam Lallana, Phillipe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mané, all of whom are categorised as midfielders, in addition to a forward whose team was guaranteed to play in GW28. Zlatan Ibrahimović would be the fall guy due to Manchester United having 2 blanks out of the 3 gameweeks in question.

Choosing between the 4 Liverpool midfielders wasn’t easy – when they play together the Reds enjoy some frightening results but we decided to take a chance on Coutinho, in the hope that he can rediscover his early season form. When he’s good – he’s very good and a mid-season sunshine break might just provide him with the tonic he needs.

When a player is referred to as one of the worst ever January signings, one of his club’s biggest flops of all time and not even deemed worthy of a first-team locker the chances of him resurrecting his career would appear somewhat slim. However, Oumar Niasse might just go on to prove that he’s not that bad after all. A record of 13 goals and 8 assists from just 31 appearances for Lokomotiv Moscow, Everton and Hull City speaks volume and we’re going take take a punt on him, in the hope that he can be a differential that proves the doubters wrong as the Tigers embark on a terrific run of fixtures.

Adam Forshaw is also transferred out, while Romelu Lukaka looks an ideal candidate for the GW26 armband.

With £2.5m tucked away in the bank and Gylfi Sigurdsson very much on our radar for the following gameweek, the mouse had barely settled on its mouse pad when the bombshell hit.

GW27 and Manchester City

The official Manchester City website announced that their match with Stoke City, scheduled for 11th March would be brought forward to the 8th March, if the Citizens successfully negotiate their way past Huddersfield Town in their FA Cup replay, effectively creating a double gameweek for Pep Guardiola’s men, the first of the 2016/17 FPL season. So it will be a case of blank, double gameweek, blank for City from GWs 26-28, creating major headaches for Fantasy Premier League managers.

Fixture congestion and Guardiola’s notorious rotation policy will put plenty of managers off but a double and an assist for Sergio Agüero in that epic game against Monaco will surely have a few managers dusting down that triple captain chip!

Welcome to the ugly side of the Fantasy Premier League!