Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) is a 1–5 score that tells you how hard your team's next match is. 1 = Very Easy, 5 = Very Hard. It's the first thing serious FPL managers check before transferring in a forward or captain choice — buying a £12m striker for a run of three 5s is how you lose your mini-league.
How FDR is calculated
FootballDream's FDR is built from three inputs: (1) final 2025/26 league finishing position, (2) goals scored and conceded at home and away separately, and (3) squad quality adjustments for major summer transfers. We separate home and away strength because they genuinely diverge — Athletic Club at San Mamés rates 4 (Difficult), but away from Bilbao they drop to 2 (Easy). The formula is weighted 50/30/20 across those three factors, then rounded to the nearest integer 1–5.
FDR scale
- 1 — Very Easy: Newly promoted sides with weak away records. Target their defenders and keepers.
- 2 — Easy: Lower-half PL or mid-table La Liga teams at home. Solid option for budget picks.
- 3 — Medium: Established mid-table sides with genuine threat. Worth holding if you own.
- 4 — Difficult: Top-6 PL or top-3 La Liga sides. Avoid captain choices, sell attacking assets.
- 5 — Very Hard: Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool at home / Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético anywhere. Double-check before captaining your premium.
Premier League: best runs GW1–6
Man City open with Bournemouth (H) and Man United (A) — back-to-back 1s and 2s for Haaland, making him the safest GW1 captain in years. Arsenal begin with Coventry (H, FDR 1) before a GW3 home game against Leeds — two green fixtures for Saka and Havertz. Aston Villa face Ipswich (H) and Sunderland (A) in the first two, a free-scoring start. Liverpool's GW2 trip to Newcastle (away, FDR 4) is one to navigate before their run eases from GW3 onward.
Premier League: hardest early schedules
Brentford face Tottenham (GW1), Arsenal (GW3) and Liverpool (GW5) — 14 cumulative difficulty points across three fixtures. Their defenders are ones to avoid until GW6. Crystal Palace face Man City in GW2 at the Etihad, one of the toughest single-fixture assignments in the opening month. Sunderland, newly promoted, face Arsenal away in GW3 before hosting Chelsea in GW5 — both rated 4 or 5.
La Liga: best runs J1–J6
Real Betis have three home fixtures in the first six Jornadas and avoid Real Madrid and Barcelona until J7. Their wingers (Isco, Lo Celso) are premium fantasy picks for the early run. Levante return from the second division and open with Espanyol (H) and Getafe (H) — both rated 2, offering rare clean sheet potential for promoted sides. Celta Vigo open at home to Deportivo La Coruña in the Galician derby (FDR 2) before a run that avoids the big three until J5.
La Liga: toughest starts
Villarreal open away at Barcelona (FDR 5) then host Atlético (FDR 4 home) — 9 cumulative difficulty in two weeks. Avoid their attackers for the opening fortnight. Sevilla face Real Madrid in J3, with their historically poor Bernabéu record (one win in 10) making it a near-certain blank for their fantasy assets. Getafe and Alavés each face at least one trip to a big-three side inside J1–6.
How to use FDR in practice
- Captain planning: your captain should face a FDR 1 or 2 — never captain into a 4 or 5 unless it's a truly unmissable player (Haaland vs anyone).
- Differential hunting: mid-price players from teams with three consecutive 1s and 2s often go under-owned. That's where the rank jumps happen.
- Bench order: swap out your weakest FDR fixture to the bench if a double-up option faces a green run.
- Transfer timing: buy a premium when they have a FDR 1 or 2 incoming — you avoid paying a price premium AND get the return in the same week.
- Avoid knee-jerk sells: a 5-rated blank week for a great player is expected. Check the next 3 fixtures, not just this one.
View the full FDR tables
The color-coded FDR tables for Premier League (GW1–6) and La Liga (J1–J6) are updated automatically whenever the fixture list changes. Green = easy, red = hard — it's that simple.