Well, where to begin? A summer break full of Club World Cup action and Lioness success is over, meaning it’s time for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers to lock in their Gameweek 1 squads.
A wealth of Scout content has been published on our new-look site, all compiled in our Ultimate Guide.
- The ultimate FPL 2025/26 pre-season guide
- 127 of the best – and worst – Fantasy team names
- FPL Gameweek 1 – Best players, predicted line-ups, team news + more
Here is an attempt to gather the most important and interesting things each manager needs to know ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.
If you’re new to FPL, check out our beginner’s guides, too!
WHEN’S THE FPL GAMEWEEK 1 DEADLINE?
All team decisions need to be made by 18:30 BST on Friday 15 August.
CHANGES TO THE GAME
Lots of pre-season attention has been dedicated to the introduction of defensive contribution (DC) points. This increases a player’s score by two if they reach a minimum number of clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (plus recoveries for non-defenders).
- Huge rule change as defensive contributions come in
- Where to find all of last season’s DC points
- How the new rules would have altered 2024/25’s player points totals
But it’s not the summer’s only rule alteration. The chip allowance has changed, plus every manager’s free transfer allocation will be topped to five once AFCON gets underway and 11 players have had their FPL position changed.
THE FIXTURES
On June 18th, we could start picking out which teams have the best early fixtures and the worst ones. Promising for Aston Villa and Chelsea assets, not so good for Newcastle United and Arsenal.
The ‘jump on, jump off’ article finds each side’s nicest-looking fixture run.
NEW SIGNINGS
Meanwhile, there are Scout Reports for a bunch of exciting new names on the FPL scene: Florian Wirtz, Viktor Gyokeres, Jeremie Frimpong, Tijani Reijnders and Hugo Ekitike. Two of these scored in the Community Shield.
Moving across the Premier League are Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Joao Pedro, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Mohammed Kudus.
HOW DID PRE-SEASON GO?
It was ok, thanks. Scout Notes have piled up, regularly picking out pieces of news and identifying the in-form individuals.
Furthermore, our detailed team previews give reasons to be cheerful and fearful, while assessing friendlies, fixtures and their key FPL assets.
| Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton |
| Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham |
| Leeds | Liverpool | Man City | Man Utd | Newcastle |
| Nott’m Forest | Sunderland | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves |
BEST PLAYERS AT EACH PRICE POINT
Speaking of which, as always, each position’s most appealing names have been split into price points.
PRO PUNDIT OPINIONS
Based on the information above, our highly-regarded panel of Pro Pundit experts have dropped by throughout the summer to give their latest thoughts. For example:
- FPL General: Five top tips for FPL success
- Lateriser: Premium names, captaincy, Wildcard + Bench Boost
- Zophar’s Q&A: Haaland or Salah, a Forest triple-up + the best £4.0m Leeds player
- FPL Family’s Sam: Is Spurs’ Pape Sarr a good FPL pick?
- Is the Gameweek 1 Bench Boost a good idea?
The newest addition to our team of contributors is Tom Hadley, once ranked first in the world. He debuted by highlighting three defenders who have monstrous DC points potential.
If you have time, check out our YouTube channel for Scoutcast, The Watchlist and much more.
TEAM REVEALS
As the countdown approaches zero, these high-profile people are dropping by with their Gameweek 1 squads.
- 42 GW1 FPL Team Reveals: Ultimate Expert Guide (Winners, Pundits, Hall of Famers and FFS Staff)
- FPL General: No Salah, no Haaland
- 2024/25’s world number two, Jack Brennan
- Lateriser: Bruno or Bru-no?
- Zophar: Salah + Wirtz but missing Fernandes
- Milanista: Saka in
- Snooker star Neil Robertson’s first draft
- Four previous FPL winners: Jon Reeson, Simon March, Ben Crabtree + Adam Levy
- Four of our Hall of Fame’s best managers
GAMEWEEK 1
Shortly after this evening’s deadline, the Premier League kicks off for another nine-month rollercoaster of emotions. Good, bad, joy, mad, but rarely indifferent.
We’ve predicted the starting XIs of all 20 Premier League teams.
Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) is the recommended armband recipient of both Captain Sensible and our Rate My Team (RMT) algorithm. Though the opinion is split on whether Erling Haaland (£14.0m) or Cole Palmer (£10.5m) is second-best.
Both Salah and Haaland are unanimous Scout Squad picks from Sam, Marc, Neale and Tom, just like Ollie Watkins (£9.0m). The Aston Villa forward has been labelled as a ‘must-have’ for these early weeks.
Keep checking the Thursday and Friday press conference round-ups to get late updates on the match fitness of Dominic Solanke (£7.5m), Morgan Rogers (£7.0m) and Caoimhin Kelleher (£4.5m).
As for our weekly Scout Picks selection – which is essentially a Free Hit in all but name – there are double-ups on Liverpool, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United.
Elsewhere, Hammers teammate Niclas Fullkrug (£6.0m) features in our trio of initial differential picks.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck with FPL Gameweek 1!
HOW TO PLAY FPL
- What is Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?
- How to pick an initial FPL team
- How to join and create an FPL mini-league
