The 2026-27 Premier League season begins on Friday after a summer shaped by transfer spending, a World Cup campaign and months of anticipation. Defending champions Arsenal open the new term against Coventry City, while Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea all face testing away trips to start the campaign.<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s Community Shield win over Manchester City offered a sharp reminder of their strength. A 3-0 victory followed mixed friendly results and underlined their status as the team to beat as they chase another title. Coventry arrive back in the top flight after a 25-year absence and Frank Lampard will hope his side\u2019s momentum can make things awkward, but Arsenal look set for a controlled start.<\/p>\n
Manchester United also appear well placed to begin with a win. Michael Carrick\u2019s side travel to Hull City and, with Bruno Fernandes linking up with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, there is expectation that their revamped attack will be too strong. Hull, however, have strengthened and will be eager to repeat the stubborn draw they managed when these sides last met.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Everton versus Crystal Palace has the feel of a low-scoring stalemate, while Ipswich Town\u2019s return to the Premier League could be spoiled by Sunderland, who have kept much of last season\u2019s side together. Nottingham Forest against Leeds United shapes as one of the tightest contests of the round, with both clubs heading into the game with belief.<\/p>\n
Tottenham Hotspur should be improved after heavy investment, but Brentford have built steadily and could make life difficult. Brighton & Hove Albion may take advantage of Aston Villa\u2019s unsettled summer, while Manchester City are still expected to edge Bournemouth despite early teething problems under Enzo Maresca.<\/p>\n
Newcastle United and Liverpool look capable of producing another lively meeting, especially with both squads carrying change and uncertainty. The round then ends with Fulham hosting Chelsea, where the visitors\u2019 late preseason form suggests they should have too much in attack.<\/p>\n
Predictions:<\/strong> Arsenal 2-0 Coventry, Hull 1-3 Man Utd, Everton 0-0 Crystal Palace, Ipswich 0-1 Sunderland, Nottingham Forest 1-1 Leeds, Brentford 1-1 Tottenham, Brighton 2-1 Aston Villa, Man City 2-1 Bournemouth, Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool, Fulham 1-3 Chelsea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A full set of Gameweek 1 predictions as Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Chelsea begin the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[1754,1836,1981],"class_list":["post-18652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-epl","tag-2026-27-fixtures","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-gameweek-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}