The 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League season is almost here, and with the new Premier League fixtures confirmed, FPL managers can start planning their opening squads whether it be for FPL or FanTeam’s £65k fantasy game.
Fixture difficulty is always an important part of pre-season planning. A player might look attractive in isolation, but a difficult opening run can considerably reduce his appeal. Conversely, identifying clubs with several favourable fixtures can help managers find defenders with clean-sheet potential, attacking players capable of producing early returns and useful lower-priced options.
To help with that process, two months ago in June, FISO launched its new interactive Fixture Difficulty Planner (FDR) covering the opening ten Gameweeks of the 2026/27 Premier League season.
Try the FISO Fixture Difficulty Planner:
https://www.fiso.co.uk/games/fdr/
The Premier League season begins on Friday 21 August with Arsenal hosting promoted Coventry City and runs through to the final round on Sunday 30 May 2027.
What is Fixture Difficulty Rating?
Fixture Difficulty Rating – usually shortened to FDR – provides a quick visual indication of how difficult a team’s forthcoming fixtures are likely to be.
The official FPL system rates fixtures from one to five, with one representing the easiest fixtures and five the hardest. The Premier League says its FDR uses formulas incorporating Opta data together with teams’ recent home and away form.
FDR can be particularly useful when looking beyond an individual Gameweek.
For example, an FPL manager deciding between two similarly priced defenders might discover that one has a significantly better run over the next five matches. Likewise, a run of favourable fixtures could strengthen the case for doubling up on a particular team’s defence or investing in one of their attackers.
The FISO tool takes that idea further by allowing managers to create their own assessment of team strength.
Why FISO’s FDR is different
There is an obvious problem with any fixed Fixture Difficulty Rating: football supporters don’t necessarily agree about how strong every team is.
A club rated as a difficult opponent at the beginning of the season could lose key players, suffer injuries or simply perform below expectations. Another team might make several strong signings and prove considerably better than initially expected.
The FISO Fixture Difficulty Planner therefore makes team Strength editable.
The initial ratings are based on performances from the 2025/26 season, but they are only intended as a sensible starting point.
If you think a team is stronger or weaker than the default rating, simply change its Strength figure.
The complete FDR immediately recalculates.
That means you aren’t restricted to somebody else’s opinion of fixture difficulty – you can create your own.
Home advantage is included – and adjustable
Playing Arsenal at the Emirates shouldn’t have exactly the same difficulty as playing Arsenal at home.
The FISO model therefore incorporates home advantage into its calculations.
The default Home Advantage setting is 2, but this is also adjustable.
Managers who believe home advantage should have a greater influence can increase it. Those who think the difference is relatively small can reduce it.
Again, the entire fixture grid recalculates automatically.
Nine colour bands make fixture runs easy to spot
Rather than relying on only a few difficulty categories, the FISO FDR uses additional colour shades to provide greater separation between fixtures.
At a glance, managers can identify:
- favourable fixture runs in shades of green;
- relatively neutral fixtures through the middle of the scale;
- increasingly difficult matches moving through orange and red.
Each fixture also displays its underlying difficulty figure, providing more information than colour alone.
The result is particularly useful when scanning several Gameweeks simultaneously.
Compare the next 3, 5 or 10 Gameweeks
One easy fixture isn’t necessarily a good reason to buy an FPL player.
What happens afterwards is often more important.
The FISO planner therefore calculates rolling difficulty figures for:
Avg 3 – the opening three Gameweeks
Avg 5 – the opening five Gameweeks
Avg 10 – the entire period covered by the planner
This makes it much easier to distinguish between a team with one attractive match and a club embarking upon a genuinely favourable run.
The Premier League itself recommends looking at fixture difficulty over a period rather than concentrating solely on an individual match, and its pre-season analysis has highlighted the value of planning across the opening four-to-six Gameweeks.
Sort the table to find the best fixture runs
The FISO FDR isn’t simply a static fixture chart.
Managers can sort the teams according to different periods, making it possible to identify the clubs with the strongest schedules for the part of the season that matters to their own FPL strategy.
That could be particularly useful when building a Gameweek 1 squad.
You might, for example, prioritise the first three Gameweeks if you’re expecting an aggressive early Wildcard, while another manager intending to hold their initial squad for longer may be much more interested in the five or ten-Gameweek ratings.
Save and share your own FDR
One of the most useful features is the ability to share your customised rankings.
After changing the Strength ratings to reflect your own view of the Premier League teams, the planner can generate a shareable version.
That makes it possible to post your FDR on the FISO FPL Forum and compare it with other managers.
Think Manchester United should be rated higher?
Think one of the promoted clubs is being underestimated?
Adjust the numbers, see what happens to the fixtures and share your version with other FPL managers.
Which teams have attractive early fixtures?
The official Premier League FDR has already identified Manchester City and Manchester United among the teams with favourable schedules over the opening six Gameweeks.
Manchester City’s early schedule, for example, contains home matches against Bournemouth, Coventry and Sunderland in the first five Gameweeks, along with a trip to Crystal Palace. The official FPL analysis gives City an average FDR of 2.8 over GW1–5.
Arsenal, meanwhile, start the season at home to promoted Coventry before facing Aston Villa away and Chelsea at home. Their first six also include Sunderland, Brighton and Leeds.
But that’s where the editable FISO ratings become useful.
Do you consider Coventry significantly weaker than the rest of the Premier League? Increase the gap.
Do you think another club’s summer recruitment makes them much stronger than their 2025/26 finishing position suggests? Increase their Strength.
The fixture colours and rolling averages change accordingly.
Why only GW1–10?
The FISO tool deliberately concentrates on the opening ten Gameweeks.
The main purpose is to help FPL managers with their pre-season squad selection and early-season planning.
There is also little point pretending that the fixture calendar will remain untouched throughout the campaign. Television selections, domestic cups and European competitions can all affect scheduling as the season develops.
Restricting the planner to GW1–10 therefore keeps the tool focused on the period when it should be most useful: selecting that initial 15-man squad and planning the first few transfers of the new season.
Start planning your 2026/27 FPL squad
Fixtures shouldn’t be the only factor when selecting an FPL player. Price, expected minutes, attacking potential, clean-sheet prospects, set pieces and individual form all matter.
But favourable fixtures can make a good FPL asset considerably more attractive.
The new FISO Fixture Difficulty Planner provides a quick way of finding those opportunities – while allowing you to decide for yourself just how strong each Premier League team really is.
Use the FISO FPL Fixture Difficulty Planner:
https://www.fiso.co.uk/games/fdr/
And if you want to discuss your ratings, opening squad or 2026/27 FPL strategy with other managers, head over to the FISO FPL Forum.