Postponement Chaos

Rule number one of fantasy football is to field a full side of 11 players every week and preferably have at least one sub ready to step in in case of a last minute injury. This week is going to be the exception to the rule. With four games off:

• Liverpool v Spurs
• Fulham v Portsmouth
• Sunderland v Bolton, and
• Burnley v Stoke

many managers are going to be struggling to pick a side this week. The key here is not to overreact. Do not throw 4 point transfer fees around just to field a team this week and don't transfer out players with good future prospects just because they are off this week. Also remember that if you own a player whose value has significantly risen (eg Fabregas) then you will lose money if you sell him with the intention of buying him back.

If I make two transfers, as I was considering anyway, I will be able to play 10 men and I'm happy with that. If you think you can manage in GW23, City and United players might be worth the 4 point hit as you will get back the extra game in week 22. Don't go crazy though or you will be left short handed again in GW23.

As always, post your thoughts below or @plfantasy.

Don't skip a week

Due to the snow along with domestic and European cup competitions the Premier League fixture list has been disrupted of late. I'm sure many of us were burned by the cancellation of tonight's Arsenal-Bolton fixture (I had four players set to play) but as Fantasy Football Scout said, we need to dust the snow off and get back to work. Unhelpfully, premierleague.com still lists the fixtures as they were but a quick search around the Internet has shed some light on this mess.

Below is a quick summary of who is playing well which can be used in conjunction with the strength of schedules to help you make your transfer decisions:

Gameweek 21 - all 20 teams play once

Gameweek 22 - all 20 teams play once

Gameweek 23 - Man Utd, Man City, Hull and Stoke all have no game due to the league cup semi final between City and United. For some reason the corresponding Villa-Blackburn fixture has been arranged around the league fixtures so they are still safe plays. Note though that both teams' fixture lists are looking congested and rotation/fatigue are a threat to all players involved.

Gameweek 24 - all 20 teams are back in action

Unscheduled games - Arsenal, City, Everton, Wigan and Bolton (2) all have games in hand and will have double gameweeks in the future to exploit. Further information to come when these are fixed. Hopefully the Arsenal-Bolton is rearranged soon but I would not expect this before this week's transfer deadline.