The 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season is finally here, and attention now turns to the opening Gameweek.
Each week, we’ll be using the Fantasy Football Scout Fixture Ticker to assess every Premier League team’s projected clean sheet chances. The percentages give FPL managers another useful tool when weighing up their defensive picks, transfers and starting XI decisions.
Below, we rank all 20 teams by their projected Gameweek 1 clean sheet probability, before picking out the main talking points.
GAMEWEEK 1: CLEAN SHEET PERCENTAGES
Arsenal are the clear standouts in our Gameweek 1 clean-sheet projections, with a 54% chance of shutting out newly promoted Coventry City at home. The Gunners dominated top spot in our clean-sheet projections for much of last season and eventually finished the campaign with an impressive 19 shut-outs, so it’s no surprise to see them leading the way again.
Manchester United rank second at 45% ahead of their trip to Hull City. United were inconsistent defensively last season, but there were signs of improvement after Michael Carrick took charge. Their favourable opening fixture now gives them a good opportunity to start the new campaign with a clean sheet.
Completing the top three are Manchester City at 38%, who host Bournemouth. Everton follow on 32% at home to Crystal Palace, while Nottingham Forest and Sunderland are both given a 30% chance of a shut-out.
At the other end, the difficult opening fixtures are reflected in the numbers. Coventry have the lowest clean-sheet probability at just 8% for their trip to Arsenal, with Bournemouth only slightly higher at 10% away to Man City. Hull complete the bottom three on 13% against Man Utd.
BEST CLEAN SHEET RUNS FOR GAMEWEEKS 1-6
Gameweek 1 is only part of the picture when building an FPL defence. Looking further ahead can help managers identify teams worth investing in for several weeks, rather than chasing a single favourable fixture.
Our Fixture Ticker maps out the clean-sheet projections across the opening six Gameweeks, highlighting some potentially strong runs.
Arsenal have the strongest-looking defensive run across the opening six Gameweeks. They start with a 54% clean sheet chance against Coventry, before projections of 32%, 36%, 41%, 34% and 45%. Crucially, they remain above 30% in every round.
Chelsea’s schedule is more mixed. Their clean-sheet probability drops to just 14% away to Arsenal in Gameweek 3, but the following run looks much better. They jump to 50% at home to Hull in Gameweek 4, before facing Brentford and Bournemouth in the next two rounds.
Aston Villa also have a difficult opening couple of fixtures, with projections of 23% and 20% against Brighton and Arsenal. However, that rises sharply to 41% away to Hull in Gameweek 3 and 33% against Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 4.
