FPL Planning Kicks Off Wednesday as Fixtures Are Released

The release of the 2025/26 Premier League fixtures on Wednesday morning will ignite excitement among managers in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), allowing them to start strategizing for the upcoming season. At 09:00 BST, the matches for all 38 Gameweeks will be available on premierleague.com.

You can download the fixtures directly to your mobile device using the Premier League’s digital calendar as soon as they are released. It’s a good idea to set this up now, so you won’t have to worry about it on Wednesday morning, and you can sync Gameweek deadlines to your devices.

Use Fixture Difficulty Ratings to guide your plans
As tempting as it may be to zero in on the opening-weekend fixtures, FPL managers should take a broader view. The Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR) can be crucial for evaluating matches over time. This resource, guided by a complex algorithm from FPL experts, ranks the difficulty of fixtures from one to five—one being the easiest and five the hardest.

Looking back at the early-season performances of Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson last campaign highlights the importance of considering the first four to six Gameweeks while utilizing the FDR when constructing initial squads. Both Palmer and Jackson emerged as top performers in Fantasy after the first six Gameweeks, with Palmer scoring six goals and four assists for 61 points, just behind Erling Haaland, who scored 65 points, and Jackson scoring 40 points. Chelsea had a difficult Gameweek 1 match against Manchester City, but they had a much softer schedule after that, with five of their next six games rated only two on the FDR scale.

The FDR for the 2025/26 season will be unveiled on Wednesday after the fixtures release.

Get attackers who face promoted clubs
Targeting attacking players matched against promoted clubs has proven to be an effective strategy in recent seasons. All three promoted teams over the last two years ended up suffering relegation, largely due to defensive weaknesses. Statistics from the last season show that numerous midfielders and forwards racked up double-digit scores when facing these newly promoted sides in the first six Gameweeks.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Manchester City’s Haaland set the standard early, scoring 14 and 17 points respectively in their opening matches against Ipswich Town. Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo continued this trend with 14 points against Southampton, while other players like Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins also cashed in.

Attackers with double-figure hauls vs. promoted clubs (2024/25)
– GW1: Salah (14pts), Joelinton (11pts)
– GW2: Haaland (17pts), De Bruyne (12pts), Gibbs-White, Smith Rowe (10pts)
– GW3: Mbeumo (14pts)
– GW4: Mateta (13pts)
– GW5: Dibling (11pts)
– GW6: Martinelli (13pts), Trossard (12pts), Watkins (11pts), Cook (10pts)

**Consider the impact of summer tournaments**
Furthermore, managers can refine their choices by steering clear of players involved in summer competitions that run into late July. This strategy was successfully utilized by the current FPL champion, Lovro Budisin, who opted against selecting any England players during their Euro 2024 run, explaining how the first Gameweek could be challenging due to uncertainties surrounding player rotations.

This summer, Chelsea and Manchester City are participating in the FIFA Club World Cup. If either team reaches the final stages, which conclude on July 13, it is likely to affect their players’ return to pre-season training and their readiness for the season kickoff. Consequently, stars like Palmer and Haaland might have their minutes managed in pre-season friendlies, which could impact their performance in Gameweek 1. In contrast, attackers from clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool may become safer selections, making the fixture schedule in the early Gameweeks even more critical.