Bruno Fernandes & Antoine Semenyo among popular players starved of fixtures this month

DREAM TEAM managers need to be aware of a major shift after the international break.

From Gameweek 4 onwards, the double headers start coming thick and fast with the Champions League and Europa League league phases set to get underway this month.

AFPThe European competitions always have a significant bearing on Dream Team[/caption]

Factor in the continuation of the Carabao Cup plus Crystal Palace’s Conference League campaign and there are many players with plentiful points-scoring opportunities to come over the next few weeks.

Conversely, some of the game’s most popular assets are about to be on the wrong side of a fixture deficit.

NUMBER OF FIXTURES ACROSS NEXT THREE GAMEWEEKS

6 – Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham

5 – Crystal Palace

4 – Brentford, Brighton, Burnley, Everton, Fulham, Wolves

3 – Bournemouth, Leeds, Manchester United, Sunderland, West Ham

While it’s absolutely true that certain players are able to provide healthy returns from relatively few fixtures, Dream Team bosses should target double Gameweeks in search of bumper points.

GettySemenyo is a quality player but his workload is light compared to others[/caption]

This is particularly relevant at this juncture as some of the game’s most popular assets are among those with just three fixtures to fulfil across the next three Gameweeks.

Antoine Semenyo (£4.7m), Bruno Fernandes (£5.8m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£5.5m) all feature in over 15% of teams at the time of writing.

All three are among the eight most-selected midfielders right now.

Other prominent players set to be starved of games this month include: Jarrod Bowen (£5m), Lucas Paqueta (£3.7m), Matheus Cunha (£4.9m), Benjamin Sesko (£4.1m), El Hadji Malick Diouf (£2.6m), Dan Ballard (£2.3m), Patrick Dorgu (£3.2m) and Robin Roefs (£2.1m).

GettyFernandes usually has European commitments but not this season[/caption]

This is not to say gaffers must ditch these players without consideration – the likes of Bowen and Mbeumo have a history of defying fixture deficits – but owning too many of these players would be very risky.

Such managers risk being overtaken by rivals fully focused on the double Gameweeks.

It’s imperative that gaffers give due attention to the schedule when formulating their strategy and making transfers.

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