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In this piece I – James – will look at every team’s fixtures for the first 19 gameweeks using our fixture swing analysis tool (which will launch publicly soon).
I will tell you which teams start the season well, and – afterwards – when to hop-on and hop-off picks in each of those teams.
Importantly, some players (usually premiums and DefCon merchants) are largely immune to fixture swings – so when using this, please note that just because it says to hop-off a team, that doesn’t mean you have to sell a player.
The simplest way to think about this is to consider Haaland – he is basically fixture proof and always a captaincy option. So, if the table says to “hop-off” Man City, you don’t need to sell Haaland.
Finally, if you want to look at all these runs for yourself, our new and improved fixture ticker is now live. You can see that, and play around with it yourself, right here.
Okay, let’s look at each team in the order in which they appear in our gameweek 1 fixture swing analyser.
For this analysis, I have looked at fixtures overall because it gives a good overall indication. If you look at the tool itself though (which, again, will be live soon!), it shows attack and defence too.
(Spoiler alert: nobody has an absolutely amazing run of fixtures, but some are definitely better than others).
Manchester United have two lovely fixtures to start the season.
After that, though, their fixture list isn’t particularly exciting throughout the first half of the campaign. There isn’t a run of five fixtures that really stands out as being especially positive. So while the opening is appealing, there’s no obvious point later in the season where you feel you have to target United assets because of the schedule.
I think Bruno Fernandes is someone who is immune to fixture schedules, but the rest of them are worth weighing up – for or against – based on fixtures.
Newcastle also have a strong start to the season, with some very attractive opening fixtures.
However, by around Gameweek 7, the quality of those fixtures drops off significantly. From there, they’re largely just fine for the remainder of the first half of the season. In fact, they have some of the worst fixture runs in the league between Gameweeks 7 and 11, before another particularly difficult spell between Gameweeks 16 and 19.
The difficulty with them is that there is so much change going on in that squad that a) we don’t know who is nailed; and b), we don’t know if they’re any good.
Still, I don’t hate a little punt on someone like Osula to start the season – he was the number one striker at the end of last season. I would still fear Wissa and Woltemade though.
Liverpool begin the season reasonably well, sitting around fourth or fifth best for fixtures in Gameweeks 1 and 2. By Gameweek 5, however, they move into one of the toughest fixture runs in the league, and that difficult stretch lasts until around Gameweek 12.
From Gameweek 12 onwards, things improve dramatically. They have an excellent run of fixtures which lasts until around Gameweek 17, before the schedule begins to get more difficult once again.
They have some quality players who can be played in good and bad fixtures – particularly players like Isak and Szoboszlai. However, they will also have European football, where the former will most likely need to be rested to compete in as Ektikie is out with an injury until about christmas.
Manchester City are a little bit all over the place from a fixture perspective.
They never really have the standout run in the league, although that arguably matters less given they’re still one of, if not the best attacking side in the division.
Across the season they’re consistently near the top without ever quite being first. They’re third overall for fixture ease around Gameweek 3, fourth around Gameweek 7, fifth around Gameweek 13, fifth again around Gameweek 15, and third once more around Gameweek 16.
There’s nothing here that screams you absolutely need to target City players for a specific fixture swing. Chances are, you’ll own Haaland for the entire season anyway.
Arsenal obviously have a lovely plum fixture to start the season, but beyond that they don’t really have an outstanding run until around Gameweek 6, when they put together an excellent five-fixture spell.
That then drops away again before another brilliant run arrives around Gameweek 17, where they once again become one of the standout teams to target.
Like City and Liverpool, I think you can trust most of their FPL relevant assets like Gabriel and Saka to be good all through the season, but I currently don’t fear them.
Tottenham’s best spell of the season comes between roughly Gameweeks 6 and 12.
During that period they’re consistently among the top five or six teams for fixture ease, making Spurs players well worth considering. Outside of that run, though, their fixtures aren’t particularly exciting.
I know many FPL managers (like me – James) will be particularly excited for the return of Maddison and a cheap Solanke, but I think you can avoid them for the start of the season and consider them again later on.
Villa have a nice little run beginning around Gameweek 3, although it doesn’t last especially long before things become more average again.
Their standout period comes between Gameweeks 9 and 14, when they enjoy a really attractive stretch of fixtures before returning to a fairly average schedule.
Emery teams aren’t especially good at the back or high-scoring, so I am inclined to ignore them at the start of the season.
Chelsea have an okay start to the season before a noticeable positive spike in fixture quality around Gameweek 4.
After that they’re largely middle of the road until around Gameweek 14, where they move into the top six teams for fixture ease and remain there until approximately Gameweek 18.
I want Joao Pedro and/or Morgan Rogers for good fixture runs, and I really fear the former’s ownership, but I just don’t see a period until Christmas that I desperately want them. Even this early run is basically just because they play Hull in Gameweek 4.
Nottingham Forest enjoy a lovely start to the season, with good fixtures lasting until around Gameweek 6.
The home fixtures are amazing in this run but the away ones are pretty poor, which is quite annoying – perhaps better to target the defence for this reason..
After that, they settle into the middle of the fixture rankings and largely bounce around without any particularly notable runs for the rest of this period.
Crystal Palace also begin the campaign well, before their fixtures start to deteriorate around Gameweek 4.
Things improve again from around Gameweek 8 through to approximately Gameweek 12, before dropping away sharply.
From Gameweek 13 through to the midpoint of the season, Palace face one of the tougher fixture runs in the league.
Brentford start the season reasonably well, before things become a little tougher by Gameweek 3.
They then return to fairly average fixtures until around Gameweek 8, before another difficult spell between Gameweeks 9 and 13.
From Gameweek 14 through to roughly Gameweek 17, they once again enjoy a very favourable run.
Everton begin the season pretty well before jumping into the top two teams for fixture ease for a couple of weeks.
From around Gameweek 5 they drop back into the middle of the rankings, and generally fluctuate between average and poor fixtures until Gameweek 17, when they climb back up to having the fourth-best fixtures.
Brighton don’t really enjoy any standout fixture runs until around Gameweek 10.
From there, the schedule becomes very attractive, and remains that way until approximately Gameweek 17, after which it starts to become more difficult once again.
Hull probably aren’t especially relevant from an FPL perspective, but they do have a decent run beginning around Gameweek 5. Their next notable improvement doesn’t arrive until around Gameweek 18.
Leeds begin the season with a difficult run of fixtures. From around Gameweek 8 onwards, though, things improve considerably.
The fixture quality still fluctuates between great and average from week to week, but overall the schedule is much kinder from that point onwards.
Coventry, again, probably aren’t among the most relevant FPL teams, but they do have a nice run beginning around Gameweek 5. That gradually tails off before improving again until around Gameweek 11. After that, the fixtures become more difficult until roughly Gameweek 17, where they begin to improve once more.
Ipswich also aren’t especially fantasy relevant. They have a difficult start to the season, but by around Gameweek 5 they move up to having the fourth-best fixtures in the league. They remain there or thereabouts until around Gameweek 11 before entering a very difficult run that lasts until approximately Gameweek 18.
Sunderland have a poor opening to the season, before things get a bit better around Gameweek 6.
That improvement is short-lived, though, with another difficult spell arriving around Gameweek 9. From there they generally sit somewhere around the middle of the fixture rankings until roughly Gameweek 19.
Bournemouth also have a difficult start to the season, largely because they face so many of the league’s strongest teams early on.
From around Gameweek 6, however, they enjoy an excellent fixture run that lasts until approximately Gameweek 15. After that, the schedule settles back into being fairly average.
Fulham begin the campaign with a difficult fixture run.
By around Gameweek 5 they move into the top two teams for fixture ease, although that starts to fade around Gameweek 8.
From there onwards, they generally bounce between average and below-average fixtures for the remainder of this period.
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That leaves us with the following table showing you who has the best fixtures in gameweek 1, and who to hop-on and who to hop-off:
Gameweek | Hop-On | Hop-Off |
1 | Manchester United, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Brentford, Everton | – |
2 | Newcastle, Everton, Crystal Palace | |
3 | Newcastle, Man City, Aston Villa, Everton, Crystal Palace, Fulham | Liverpool, Man United |
4 | Newcastle, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Forest | Aston Villa |
5 | Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Everton | |
6 | Arsenal, Bournemouth, Fulham, Sunderland | Nottingham Forest, Hull, Crystal Palace |
7 | Spurs, Man City | Newcastle United, Coventry |
8 | Crystal Palace, Leeds United | Fulham, Brentford |
9 | Aston Villa Brighton | Brentford |
10 | Brighton | Sunderland |
11 | – | Spurs, Coventry, Ipswich |
12 | Liverpool | Crystal Palace |
13 | Manchester City, Brentford | |
14 | Chelsea | Aston Villa |
15 | Man City | Bournemouth |
16 | Newcastle | |
17 | Arsenal, Everton | Liverpool, Brighton |
18 | Leeds, Ipswich Town | |
19 | – | Arsenal, Chelsea |
In this piece we have looked at the best fixtures to start the FPL 26/27 season, and when to consider hopping on and hopping off assets.
It’s fair to say there isn’t one absolutely amazing, can’t-miss run to start the season. Even teams who start the season pretty well, like Man U and Liverpool, drop off again pretty soon.
It’s a bit of a boring conclusion – but hey, it’s the truth. You could even see it as freeing, since you can just get the players you actually want, without worrying that you’re missing out on some amazing 4+ game run of fixtures.
Let us know who you will be targeting to start the season, dear reader, over on Reddit.
In the meantime, be sure to check out all our other preseason preview content, and happy tinkering!
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