Players from Chelsea and Manchester City are likely to be early targets for managers in 2025/26 Fantasy Premier League after the fixtures were released on Wednesday morning.
Chelsea will avoid ALL of last season's top seven clubs over the first six Gameweeks, with contests against Crystal Palace, West Ham United, Fulham and Brentford in their opening four matches bound to raise interest in Cole Palmer.
Chelsea's first six fixtures
| GW | Opponent | FDR* |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crystal Palace (H) | 3 |
| 2 | West Ham (A) | 2 |
| 3 | Fulham (H) | 3 |
| 4 | Brentford (A) | 3 |
| 5 | Man Utd (A) | 3 |
| 6 | Brighton (H) | 3 |
*1 = easiest, 5 = hardest
Similarly, Man City face only ONE of last season's top seven across their first six matches of the new campaign, which will make Erling Haaland a popular early pick.
Man City's first six fixtures
| GW | Opponent | FDR* |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wolves (A) | 3 |
| 2 | Spurs (H) | 3 |
| 3 | Brighton (A) | 3 |
| 4 | Man Utd (H) | 3 |
| 5 | Arsenal (A) | 4 |
| 6 | Burnley (H) | 2 |
An assessment of the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR) also helps to highlight those clubs with the most favourable starts. The FDR 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.
Promoted Sunderland have the BEST schedule over the first four Gameweeks, with their matches averaging just 2.5 in the table below. That includes encounters with West Ham and Burnley in their opening two fixtures.
Lowest average FDR, first four Gameweeks
| Club | FDR average |
| Sunderland | 2.5 |
|---|---|
| Brentford, Chelsea, Everton, Spurs, West Ham | 2.8 |
| Aston Villa, Burnley, Fulham, Leeds, Man City, Newcastle, Nott'm Forest | 3.0 |
Elsewhere, a host of clubs have the chance to make a strong start in their first full season under their new managers in 2025/26.
Brentford, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham have an FDR average of just 2.8 across their opening four fixtures of the new campaign.
