Teams with the worst FPL fixtures after the break

November’s international break means that, for now, domestic football is on pause. This provides a great opportunity to assess which teams will resume with the worst upcoming Fantasy Premier League (FPL) fixtures, using the Season Ticker from Fantasy Football Scout’s Members Area.

In theory, having the worst FPL fixtures should mean a decrease in productivity for participating players. By selling some and avoiding others, managers can plot a route to success that beats mini-league rivals.

WORST FPL FIXTURES

SOUTHAMPTON

After handing Wolves their first win of 2024/25, bottom-of-the-league Southampton are about to face table-topping Liverpool. And the following fixtures barely get any better, considering Brighton just beat Man City, Chelsea sit in third, Aston Villa are a Champions League outfit and Spurs, well, more on them later.

In reality, this run won’t affect most FPL managers. The Saints’ most-owned players are cheap bench options like Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£4.1m) and Tyler Dibling (£4.6m). Moreover, defensive prospects are about to worsen now that goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale (£4.4m) is undergoing surgery on a fractured finger.

CRYSTAL PALACE

One of the hardest things to fathom from these early months is Crystal Palace’s drop. Of course, the sale of Michael Olise explains a small part of it. But the same side that won six of last season’s final seven – scoring 21 times – is now in the relegation zone with 1 victory from 11.

Talisman Eberechi Eze (£6.6m) is an immediate hamstring doubt but also has the ‘honour’ of being FPL’s biggest expected goals (xG), underachiever (-2.01). Furthermore, he ranks third overall for shots (37) despite only playing 9 of 11 occasions.

Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.3m) isn’t justifying his price and, while a couple of clean sheets have arrived, meetings with Aston Villa, Newcastle, Man City, Brighton and Arsenal don’t suggest returns for Dean Henderson (£4.4m) and Marc Guehi (£4.5m).

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

It’s been a brilliant start for Chris Wood (£6.6m), who enters this break as the second-best FPL forward. He’s just blanked for the first time in five outings but maybe ruthless managers will use these fixtures as a reason to sell him for Matheus Cunha (£6.8m), Yoane Wissa (£6.1m), Evanilson (£5.9m) or a Brighton asset.

For defensive names, it’s less straightforward. Four clean sheets have been collected and no team has conceded fewer big chances (15). So the appealing Ipswich encounter of Gameweek 13 makes it tough to ditch stopper Matz Sels (£4.7m). If defender Ola Aina (£4.7m) can be rotated on and off Fantasy benches in the short term, he could be a longer keep.

EVERTON

Results have picked up for the Toffees but it doesn’t feel like it, such was the dullness of Saturday’s 0-0 at West Ham and the previous week’s loss to Southampton.

The infamous Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m) didn’t score at all in an attractive seven-game run that is now over. He’s been dropped en masse. At least Dwight McNeil (£5.7m) began it in some form before things slowed down.

However, their backline has three clean sheets from the latest five matches. It’s worth keeping Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) and Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.3m) for the next few.

TOTTENHAM

On Monday, we explored whether it’s worth sticking with Spurs players and these upcoming fixtures suggest not. A lot of the goodwill gained for Dominic Solanke (£7.7m) and Brennan Johnson (£6.8m) during their 4-1 win over Aston Villa has quickly disappeared thanks to their shock home defeat to Ipswich. Both they and Pedro Porro (£5.5m) have high ownership.

Yet even some of the blue-rated fixtures could prove challenging. Fulham are seventh after consecutive victories and Bournemouth recently collected seven points from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Man City.

Their very ‘Spursy’ performance came at a bad time.