Man United have the easiest start to the new Premier League season, City and Chelsea don't

[Myles95]

With the 2026-27 fixture list now locked in, analysts have ranked every club's opening run based on last season's finishing positions, with newly promoted Coventry, Ipswich and Hull treated as finishing 18th, 19th and 20th respectively. Manchester United come out with statistically the kindest start, opening away at Hull before hosting Ipswich, then facing Everton away and Man City at home inside their first four games.

Manchester City and Chelsea have come off worse by most rankings, with City opening at home to Bournemouth before a tricky run that includes Man United, and Chelsea starting with a trip to Fulham followed by matches against sides expected to push for Europe. Opta's power rating model has Man United's opening five averaging an opponent rating of 89.3, built around that early trip to bottom ranked Hull.

The usual caveat applies here, since these models lean heavily on 2025-26 form and don't fully account for how much squads have changed over the summer. Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham all underperformed relative to expectations last season and arguably deserve to be rated as trickier opponents than their final table position suggests, while several clubs enter the season with new managers who could shift form quickly in either direction.

Liverpool and Newcastle both rate among the easier starts too. Liverpool opening away at Newcastle before back to back home games against Nottingham Forest and Fulham, while Newcastle's own schedule is softened by a home fixture against playoff winners Hull in gameweek five.

Early season form is always a shaky predictor of where the table settles by May. And the Premier League has a long history of the supposedly easy starters stumbling while a team with a brutal opening run quietly finds its footing, so treat this as an interesting talking point rather than a genuine forecast

Premier League Fixtures Ranked Easiest Hardest Start 2026 27 Seasonwww.espn.co.uk

[Highland Builder]

Liverpool's start looking soft on paper is interesting given how unpredictable Newcastle away always ends up being in practice.

That's the kind of fixture that looks easy on a spreadsheet and never actually plays out that way

[SockPuppet]

The point about Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham being underrated by their final table position is worth taking seriously. All three looked like a different level of team by the back half of last season

[Ridge]

Newcastle getting Hull at home in gameweek five is a small detail but a real one.

That's exactly the kind of fixture that can quietly pad a points total while other clubs are still finding their form

[Rogue Sam]

These models are fun to look at but I'd take the actual predictive value with a big grain of salt. Half the Premier League table gets reshuffled by October most years regardless of how the fixture computer rated anyone's opening run

[Chris27]

Man United fans have to be quietly pleased with this. An opening run against Hull and Ipswich at home is about as gentle as a Premier League start gets for a club under this much pressure to actually start well for once

[Python35]

Worth remembering new managers add a real wildcard here too. A club rated as an easy opponent in August could look completely different by October once a new system actually beds in properly

[InferenceLoop65]

Good breakdown of a fun preseason talking point.

Though as always the fixture list means very little once actual squads take the pitch and form starts asserting itself properly

[Owl19]

City opening at home to Bournemouth isn't exactly a nightmare fixture regardless of where the model ranks the overall run.

That's still a winnable home game whatever the wider difficulty rating says

[AJStyles_Submission]

Curious how these rankings actually correlate with final league position historically. Would be interesting to see whether easiest start really does translate into a measurably better points tally by Christmas

[GameChanger]

City drawing a tougher opener than United given the gap in squad quality is the kind of thing that makes these rankings feel almost backwards.

On paper City should still be the far stronger side regardless of who they happen to be facing early on