Triple Gameweek opportunity for Aston Villa as FA Cup defeat consequences for Dean Smith’s side & Newcastle revealed

Fixture chaos

With the congestion of fixtures in combination with a number of match postponements, Premier League matches are going to stack up significantly in the period of time that more games are possibly called off and other sides progress into the latter stages of domestic and continental cup competitions.

Aston Villa were knocked out of the FA Cup after fielding a youthful side against Liverpool in the third round after a Covid-19 outbreak at their senior squad training ground saw the first team coaches and playing staff need to self isolate and therefore miss the match against the Merseysiders.

However, due to their elimination, in combination with Newcastle’s loss to Arsenal, this now means that the previously postponed match between the Villans and the Magpies can be rearranged for one of two possible weeks where FA Cup fixtures will be taking place in the following two rounds.

Newcastle’s squad is thinning with Callum Wilson and Jonjo Shelvey missing for the trip to north London. Steve Bruce has been critical of matches continuing on during the severity of the outbreak.

“Financially it’s right to play on, but for me, morally, it’s probably wrong,” said Bruce. “I understand people want to see a game of football but we are just as vulnerable as everybody else.”

Triple Gameweek?

For Fantasy managers, the next two Gameweeks present challenges and a variety of different options to consider. Gameweek 18 will see 8 sides not compete and therefore much change will be needed within player’s squads. Matches played between Tuesday 12th January and Thursday 14th January features Manchester United’s rearranged game with Burnley fitted into it.

With the weekend of the 22nd-25th of January set aside for the 4th round of the FA Cup, with both Villa and Newcastle out, the postponed fixture could be arranged during the cup weekend.

This could mean that Villa would have a triple game week. They would play Everton on the 16th, Manchester City on the 20th and the rearranged Newcastle match the following weekend.

Whilst the initial two matches with Everton and City are certainly not easy matches, the opportunity for picking up points on three occasions in combination with a triple captain selection could return a league defining haul for players.

Attractive options could be the talismanic figure of the Jack Grealish, striker Ollie Watkins or goalkeeper Emi Martinez – although with Villa coming up against some strong attacking sides this may not be advisable.

Considering the amount of matches in the possibility of just one week, Dean Smith may choose to heavily rotate and predicting such changes could become tricky. Triple up on the wrong player and they could end up starting just once and blanking.

Triple up on Villa’s possible trio of matches if you dare.

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Source: 101greatgoals.com