Teams With The Easiest Upcoming Fixtures

Six clubs enter the opening stretch with fixtures pointing the right way — but the model's favourites aren't always the obvious ones.

The read: Manchester United and Arsenal have the kindest attacking runs of the group. United open with Hull (a), Ipswich (h) and Everton (a) before City, Fulham and Spurs, and our projections put Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m, 48.7% owned) at the top of the entire evidence set for attacking output — the single most reliable route into that run. Behind him, Mbeumo and Cunha (both £8.0m, owned in the low teens) are the differentials, and the model likes them ahead of any United defender even though the clean-sheet outlook there is genuinely decent.

Arsenal are the outlier. Their fixtures — Coventry (h), Villa (a), Chelsea (h), Sunderland (a), Brighton (a), Leeds (h) — look very kind for goals, yet the model's Arsenal picks are all at the back: Gabriel (£8.0m) first, then Raya (£6.0m) and Calafiori (£5.5m). That's a nudge that the defensive assets carry the clearest route to points here, with Calafiori the cheap way in at under 13% ownership.

City and Liverpool sit a step below on fixture kindness but not on quality. Haaland (£15.5m, 74.8% owned) projects at the very top of the forward pool across Bournemouth, Palace, Coventry, United, Sunderland and Liverpool. Semenyo (£8.5m) is the standout mid-price attacker in the group. For Liverpool, Szoboszlai (£7.0m) leads the list ahead of Virgil and Wirtz.

The nuance: Brighton's kind attacking run does *not* extend to their defence — the clean-sheet outlook there is among the worst of these six, so Groß (£5.5m, 2.0% owned) is the sensible Brighton route, not Verbruggen. Similarly, Arsenal's clean-sheet fixtures are only middling, so Gabriel and Raya are backed on quality, not soft opponents. Two caveats in the other direction: United's run turns hard from City onwards, and City close with a trip to Liverpool.

FPL VERDICT. Buy Bruno Fernandes — the strongest projection in this set, and the front-loaded fixtures justify the £12.0m. Captain Haaland where fixtures allow; at 74.8% owned he's a hold-by-default. Buy Gabriel if you can fund £8.0m; otherwise Calafiori at £5.5m is the value defensive route. Watch Groß and Mbeumo as low-owned upside. Avoid Brighton clean-sheet assets.