Budget wasn’t really a problem for many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers last season – but it might be at the start of 2025/26 after the usual round of summer price rises.
To afford the big guns, we may need to find some budget gems elsewhere.
Especially so in the last two campaigns, FPL managers typically look to make savings in defence. It’s there where we can find £4.0m and £4.5m starters, who are harder to come by further forward.
One approach is to get two or three of these cut-price picks and rotate them to guarantee favourable and/or home fixtures.
And it’s that strategy that forms the basis of this article…
HOW TO USE THE TICKER TO FIND ROTATION PAIRINGS
We’re using our customisable Season Ticker for this article, a tool that allows you to filter clubs by rotation amongst other sortable options.
Premium Members can select any side from the Season Ticker and click ‘Sort by Rotation’, which will then organise the other 19 clubs by how well their fixtures intertwine with the original team (as seen above).
HOME/AWAY ROTATION PAIRINGS IN 2025/26
There are 10 pairings that alternate home fixtures perfectly next season (credit goes to Fantasy Football Scout user Portsmouth Bubblejet for the research):
Five of the above couplings are decided by geographical proximity, created by the need to spread police resourcing. Liverpool/Everton, Manchester City/Manchester United and Arsenal/Tottenham Hotspur are notable examples.
And a number of these combinations are largely irrelevant when it comes to rotation pairings because of the price tags associated with at least one of the respective clubs’ assets and their ability to score points on the road – Fantasy managers aren’t likely to alternate benchings for Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes simply because they have an away fixture, for example.
BEST FPL FIXTURE ROTATIONS
For more realistic pairings, we have to box a little bit more cleverly.
We’re not too fussed about having home games every week, just so long as there’s a favourable game.
Below we’ll look at rotation pairings of various lengths, as many of us won’t be holding our Wildcard for anywhere near as long as 19 Gameweeks.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR/WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
This fine run sees five meetings with newly promoted clubs in the first nine Gameweeks. Three of them are at home.
There are clashes with low-scoring 2024/25 strugglers West Ham United and Everton, too, as well as Spurs’ hosting of Wolves in Gameweek 6.
There’s even a chance to field players from both teams in Gameweek 9.
The only real iffy fixture is Wolves’ trip to Bournemouth in Gameweek 2. Even then, that might be a good time to face the Cherries given the exodus of players from the Vitality this summer.
Most of Wanderers’ defenders will be £4.5m or less next season. Nelson Semedo, who supplied four assists, will be one of them if he stays. The identity of Rayan Ait-Nouri‘s replacement, and his FPL price, is keenly awaited, given that the Algerian delivered 11 attacking returns in 2024/25.
It remains to be seen whether any Spurs defenders are competitively priced. Given that they registered a paltry six clean sheets (only one of the sides that survived the drop, Fulham, kept fewer), there’s a decent chance. Micky van de Ven started 2024/25 as a £4.5m asset, and he’s not done much to warrant an increase.
The hope for this pairing is that Wolves continue their end-of-season momentum under Vitor Pereira and that Spurs rediscover their mojo under Thomas Frank. Best-laid plans and all that…
NOTTINGHAM FOREST/FULHAM
