When selecting your Gameweek (GW) 1 draft, it’s important to try to get a mixture of players with short-term and long-term good fixtures. The short term is to attack the strong fixtures in a smaller window, but you also need good long-term picks to hopefully give you flexibility to roll transfers or focus them elsewhere.
Here we will go through some teams you may want to consider picking from for your GW1 draft.
The Best Opening Defensive Fixtures
No good FPL team is complete without a strong defence, with the added introduction of Defensive Contribution points, here are some of the teams with the best opening fixtures you can consider to give yourself those points at the back!
Chelsea
Chelsea have a strong set of fixtures to start, and play two home games in their first three fixtures. They also put up the 6th-best defence in the league for expected goals against xGA (47.3) and were the 4th-best team for xGA at home (19.0) last season.
With 5 goals and 1 assist from 33 starts, Marc Cucurella (6.0m) could get even more returns this season if he continues to be played in that attacking role on the left-hand side.
If you want another route into the Chelsea defence, Robert Sanchez (5.0m) could be your guy as we expect him to start the season as the number one goalkeeper following a successful Club World Cup. Levi Colwill (5.0m) also offers better value, good minutes and is a player who would benefit from the additional points now earned for defensive contributions.
Everton
Everton are known to be a strong defensive unit; they were the 4th best defensive team in the league last season for xGA, and they have 3 great fixtures to start the season with a great opportunity to rack up some clean sheets. They play newly promoted Leeds away and then play Brighton and Wolves, who both finished in the bottom half for xG.
Tarkowski (5.5m and currently considered a differential) also offers a great way into the Everton defence with the bonus for Defensive Contributions; he would have been the highest beneficiary of this rule had it been in place last season, with 44 additional points! Pickford (5.5m) is one of the most expensive keepers in the game, but has been the top-scoring keeper for two seasons running now.
Mykolenko (5.0m) offers a cheaper way into the Everton defence, but Tarkowski could be worth the extra 0.5m with this added Defensive Contribution bonus benefitting Centre Backs the most.
And while you’re here, why not check out which Everton forward made it into our article on the best budget forwards in FPL.
The Best Opening Attacking Fixtures
Goals, goals, goals! Picking our attackers is where we have the most fun with our teams. Here are some of the teams you can target with the best opening fixtures for attack.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa do have a tough start to the season playing Newcastle United at home, but once that fixture is out of the way, it is an excellent run of games up to gameweek 8! In that run are 2 newly promoted teams and some favourable home ties. Ollie Watkins (9.0m) was their highest scorer last season with 16 goals and 8 assists, and Morgan Rogers (7.0m) had 8 goals and 10 assists and could offer excellent value for this great run, or, if you want a budget option, Youri Tielemans (6.0m) made it onto our list of best budget midfielders.
Bournemouth
On a similar theme, a tough start playing Liverpool away, but after that it’s a nice run of games which include Wolves and Brighton at home, who were both in the bottom half for xGA away from home last season. Add a somewhat leaky Tottenham Hotspur side and newly promoted Leeds, and you have some excellent opportunities for Bournemouth to rack up some goals.
Kluivert (7.0m) was their top scorer last season with 12 goals from 29 starts. If he can start more regularly, he really could offer excellent value at that price. Antoine Semenyo (7.0m) is an absolute shot monster, taking an average of 3.51 shots per 90 minutes, which puts him 5th among all players in the league last season.
If you’re looking for a Bournemouth defender, Truffert (4.5m) made it onto our list of best budget defenders.
Tottenham
Spurs palace particularly highly on the difficulty fixture tracker for the first 7 weeks, especially once they get their game against Manchester City out of the way in GW2. With a home fixture against Burnley in the opening game, Spurs offer good picks that can last you mid to long term.
Spurs’ top scorer last year with 11 goals, Brenan Johnson (7.0m), offers good value in what should be a well-structured team under Thomas Frank. Dominic Solanke (7.5m) can also be a forward to consider for GW1, he had 12 attacking returns last season and could find further success under Frank, who is well known for getting the most out of his strikers.
One player that has the potential to be great value is new signing Mohammed Kudus (6.5m). A nice price bracket to get into the Spurs attack and could find regular minutes under the new manager, definitely one to watch!
Team To Avoid During The Opening Fixtures
Of course, there are some teams with some ‘not so good’ starts to their respective campaigns, and some of those teams have some of last season’s most popular picks.
It has been well documented that Arsenal are placed very low on the fixture difficulty tracker, although an excellent fixture in GW2 with Leeds at home, their run contains away trips to Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle in the first 6 weeks, not to mention home ties to Nottingham Forest and Manchester City.
Arsenal can still do well in these fixtures, but you may want to wait for the start of their great run in GW7 when they have a home tie against West Ham. They then go on to play Crystal Palace, Burnley and Sunderland in a 5 week span.
Manchester United also have a tricky start, facing Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea all in the first 5 weeks.
Who Has The Best Opening Fixtures in FPL 2023-24
When considering your defensive options, it’s always important to take into account who has the best defensive fixtures and who they can rotate with. Defensively stronger teams with good fixtures are always a great place to start, so teams such as those mentioned above, as well as the likes of Nottingham Forest (Murillo 5.5m), can be considered.
In attack, Chelsea again, and even the likes of West Ham (Jared Bowen 8.0m) can offer long-term solutions for your attacking players.
Thanks for reading our article about the best opening fixtures in FPL 2025-26.
You may also be interested in our article analysing the best FPL tools to use this season.
