The 2026/27 fixtures are in our Fixture Ticker, and the opening five Gameweeks already split the league into haves and have-nots. Summing official FDR over GW1–5 (lower = easier), here is the landscape.
The friendliest starts
- Liverpool (13) — nothing harder than FDR 3 in five games; the pick of the league.
- Leeds, Man City, Man Utd, Spurs (14) — United open with two promoted sides; City get three home windows; Leeds play three of five at Elland Road.
The starts to avoid
- Bournemouth & Fulham (18) — the two hardest openings in the league.
- Coventry (17) — the promoted side visits Arsenal and Man City inside three weeks.
One warning and one trick
The warning: Leeds’ lovely start hides the league’s biggest difficulty jump from GW6. The trick: Newcastle’s run is front-loaded — after Liverpool and Spurs it opens right up, making them the classic “buy in GW3” club. The full club-by-club breakdown, including our GW1–5 vs GW6–10 swing report, is in our fixture analysis.
Research and data analysis supported by AI (our own rating engine); reviewed and edited by the author. Ratings update hourly — check the live AI Player Rankings.