Ranking every 26-27 Premier League club by how difficulty of first 6 fixtures | OneFootball

Manchester United have statistically the easiest start to the 2026-27 Premier League season, whereas Manchester City and Chelsea have come off worse.

Now that the calendar has been set in stone, we’ve ranked every team in the Premier League by the difficulty of their first six matches, based on every club’s 2025-26 finishing position.

Newly-promoted sides Coventry, Ipswich and Hull have been deemed to have finished 18th, 19th and 20th respectively last season.

This isn’t an exact science. Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham all underperformed last season and would be viewed as trickier fixtures than, to pick two examples, Sunderland or Brentford.

And it wouldn’t be the Premier League without some shocks; the early fixtures are often a good time to bet on the outsiders.

But United will certainly fancy their chances of a good start to their season as they face Hull and Ipswich in their opening two matches.

Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Everton have all emerged relatively unscathed from the Premier League supercomputer, with a good chance of starting the campaign strongly.

Manchester City and Chelsea, both under new management, have not fared so well. The Blues have a kind run on paper, but Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth all finished above them last year.

Meanwhile, City will face early trips to Old Trafford and Anfield as they start the post-Guardiola era.

Champions Arsenal are middle of the road, with early fixtures against Villa and Chelsea cushioned by some home bankers.

Sunderland, who overachieved to finish 7th last season, have a run of tricky fixtures at the start of a campaign that features European football for the first time since 1973. Is their squad deep enough?

We’ve crunched the numbers to see which team has the easiest and hardest run to start the 2026-27 season, listed in reverse order:

20. Manchester United

First six fixtures: Hull (A), Ipswich (H), Everton (A), Man City (H), Fulham (A), Tottenham (H)

Average difficulty: 13.6

19. Newcastle

First six fixtures: Liverpool (H), Tottenham (A), Bournemouth (H), Leeds (A), Hull (H), Coventry (A)

Average difficulty: 13.3

18. Everton

First six fixtures: Crystal Palace (H), Bournemouth (A), Man Utd (H), Tottenham (A), Ipswich (H), Hull (A)

Average difficulty: 13.3

17. Crystal Palace

First six fixtures: Everton (A), Hull (H), Fulham (A), Ipswich (H), Leeds (A), Nottingham Forest (H)

Average difficulty: 12.5

16. Nottingham Forest

First six fixtures: Leeds (H), Liverpool (A), Tottenham (H), Aston Villa (A), Coventry (H), Crystal Palace (A)

Average difficulty: 12.1

15. Aston Villa

First six fixtures: Brighton (A), Arsenal (H), Hull (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Tottenham (A), Brentford (H)

Average difficulty: 11.8

14. Liverpool

First six fixtures: Newcastle (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Ipswich (A), Fulham (H), Bournemouth (A), Manchester City (H)

Average difficulty: 10.8

13. Arsenal

First six fixtures: Coventry (H), Aston Villa (A), Chelsea (H), Sunderland (A), Brighton (A), Leeds (H)

Average difficulty: 10.1

12. Leeds United

First six fixtures: Nottingham Forest (A), Brentford (H), Brighton (A), Newcastle (H), Crystal Palace (H), Arsenal (A)

Average difficulty: 10.1

11. Hull City

First six fixtures: Man Utd (H), Coventry (A), Aston Villa (H), Chelsea (A), Newcastle (A), Everton (H)

Average difficulty: 10

10. Fulham

First six fixtures: Chelsea (H), Sunderland (A), Crystal Palace (H), Liverpool (A), Man Utd (H), Ipswich (A)

Average difficulty: 9.83

9. Coventry

First six fixtures: Arsenal (A), Hull (H), Man City (A), Brighton (H), Nottingham Forest (A), Newcastle (H)

Average difficulty: 9.83

8. Brentford

First six fixtures: Tottenham (H), Leeds (A), Sunderland (H), Bournemouth (A), Chelsea (H), Aston Villa (A)

Average difficulty: 9.6

7. Tottenham

First six fixtures: Brentford (A), Newcastle (H), Nottingham Forest (A), Everton (H), Aston Villa (H), Man Utd (A)

Average difficulty: 9.5

6. Chelsea

First six fixtures: Fulham (A), Brighton (H), Arsenal (A), Hull (H), Brentford (A), Bournemouth (H)

Average difficulty: 9.1

5. Manchester City

First six fixtures: Bournemouth (H), Crystal Palace (A), Coventry (H), Man Utd (A), Sunderland (H), Liverpool (A)

Average difficulty: 9

4. Brighton

First six fixtures: Aston Villa (H), Chelsea (A), Leeds (H), Coventry (A), Arsenal (H), Sunderland (A)

Average difficulty: 9

3. Ipswich

First six fixtures: Sunderland (H), Man Utd (A), Liverpool (H), Crystal Palace (A), Everton (A), Fulham (H)

Average difficulty: 9

2. Bournemouth

First six fixtures: Man City (A), Everton (H), Newcastle (A), Brentford (H), Liverpool (H), Chelsea (A)

Average difficulty: 8.5