The release of the 2025/26 Premier League fixtures on Wednesday morning will allow managers in Fantasy Premier League to start planning for the season ahead.
At 09:00 BST, the matches for all 38 Gameweeks of the new season will be available on premierleague.com.
Through the Premier League's digital calendar, you can get all the 2025/26 fixtures downloaded straight to your mobile device as soon as they are released. You can set it up right now to avoid having to lift a finger on Wednesday morning, and sync the Gameweek deadlines to your devices.
Use Fixture Difficulty Ratings to guide your plans
While it’s always nice to get a good start in Gameweek 1, FPL managers will need to avoid the temptation to get too focused on the opening-weekend fixtures.
The Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR) can be invaluable in assessing matches over a period of time. It is a tool based on a complex algorithm developed by FPL experts, where the difficulty of each fixture is ranked from one to five, with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest.
The early-season displays of Chelsea pair Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson last campaign show why managers should factor in the first four to six Gameweeks and use the FDR when building their initial squads.
The Blues had a really tough fixture in Gameweek 1 of 2024/25, facing Manchester City.
But according to the FDR, five of their subsequent six matches scored only two – an indication that Enzo Maresca’s side were set for a very favourable run of opponents.
As a result, Palmer and Jackson were BOTH among the six top-scoring players in Fantasy after the first six Gameweeks.
Palmer delivered six goals, four assists and 61 points to sit second behind the 65 points of Erling Haaland, while Jackson collected 40 points thanks to four goals and three assists.
The FDR for the 2025/26 season will be available on Wednesday, after the fixtures are released.
Get attackers who face promoted clubs
Targeting attacking players who face promoted clubs has been a very profitable strategy in recent campaigns.
In each of the last two seasons, all three clubs who were promoted then suffered relegation due to their frailties in defence.
As shown by the table below, as many as 13 midfielders or forwards delivered a double-figure haul against one of the three promoted clubs in the first six Gameweeks of 2024/25.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Manchester City’s Haaland were quick to set the tone, producing 14 and 17-point scores respectively against Ipswich Town in the first two Gameweeks.
Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo followed suit with a 14-pointer against Southampton in the next round of matches, while the likes of Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins similarly profited.
Attackers with double-figure hauls v promoted clubs 24/25
| GW | Players |
|---|---|
| 1 | Salah (14pts), Joelinton (11pts) |
| 2 | Haaland (17pts), De Bruyne (12pts), Gibbs-White, Smith Rowe (10pts) |
| 3 | Mbeumo (14pts) |
| 4 | Mateta (13pts) |
| 5 | Dibling (11pts) |
| 6 | Martinelli (13pts), Trossard (12pts), Watkins (11pts), Cook (10pts) |
Consider impact of summer tournaments
Managers can further refine their targets by avoiding players who are involved in competitions late into the summer.
This was a tactic employed by the current FPL champion Lovro Budisin, who avoided ALL of England’s players due to their run to the final of UEFA Euro 2024.
"The first Gameweek was the toughest one of the whole season. You don't know who will start," he explained.
This summer, both Chelsea and Man City are currently taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup.
If Chelsea and Manchester City are involved in the final stages of the competition which ends on 13 July, this is likely to impact the timings of their players' return to pre-season training and their readiness for the start of the season.
This could mean that the likes of Palmer and Haaland have their minutes managed in their clubs’ final pre-season friendlies, which might affect their ability to hit the ground running in Gameweek 1.
Attackers from other top clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool might become safer picks, increasing the importance of their fixture schedule in the early Gameweeks.
