Ten fixtures open the 2026-27 Premier League season across four days, from Arsenal's Friday-night curtain-raiser against newly promoted Coventry to Chelsea's Monday trip to Fulham. Below is our call on every one of them — an exact scoreline, and the reasoning, drawn from the same squad-by-squad ratings behind our full season preview.
Disagree? Good. Predict every scoreline yourself — it's free, takes two minutes, and scores 5 points per exact result against the real matches, with a leaderboard that runs all season.
Friday
Arsenal v Coventry City 3–0
The widest squad-quality gap of the entire weekend — our ratings have it at more than 15 points, the biggest mismatch Gameweek 1 offers. Coventry's fairytale return to the top flight begins at the home of the title favourites, and Viktor Gyökeres against a newly promoted back line is close to unfair. The only question is the margin.
Saturday
Hull City v Manchester United 0–2
The early kickoff hands Hull the roughest welcome-back imaginable. United's rebuilt midfield should control this comfortably; Hull's survival season will be defined by matches against the other 16, not days like this.
Everton v Crystal Palace 1–1
Two mid-table squads separated by fractions in our ratings, and stylistically built to cancel each other out. The classic opening-day draw.
Ipswich Town v Sunderland 1–2
The most interesting of the promoted-club fixtures, because Sunderland's quiet, sensible summer has left them clearly stronger. Daizen Maeda will cause chaos for Ipswich all season — but Sunderland's midfield should tell here.
Nottingham Forest v Leeds 2–0
Forest rate ninth in our squad rankings; Leeds seventeenth, with the thinnest squad of the non-promoted clubs. Xaver Schlager's debut behind a settled front line makes this the weekend's most confident home pick outside the Emirates.
Brentford v Tottenham 1–2
Brentford's sales have bitten into their depth, and Conor Gallagher makes his Spurs debut in exactly the kind of scrap Tottenham used to lose. Narrow away win.
Sunday
Brighton v Aston Villa 1–2
The hipster fixture of the weekend. Brighton's machine keeps producing, but Villa with Alejandro Garnacho added to an already top-seven squad are the better side on paper — by three clear rating points.
Manchester City v Bournemouth 3–1
Haaland opens his account; the only reason this isn't a clean sheet is that Bournemouth's front line is genuinely decent and City's opening days are traditionally generous at the back.
Newcastle v Liverpool 1–2
The match of the weekend. St James' Park under lights against the league's third-best squad is exactly the test Liverpool's title claim needs in week one. Newcastle at home are worth a goal — Salah is worth two.
Monday
Fulham v Chelsea 1–2
A west London derby to close the weekend, and the fixture most likely to make these predictions look silly — Chelsea's floor and ceiling remain further apart than any club in the league. The squad gap says away win; nobody would be shocked by anything.
The Banker
Our banker — the one result we'd double down on — is Arsenal 3–0 Coventry. When you make your own picks, you get a banker too: tap the star on one fixture and it counts double. Choose the result you'd stake your weekend's bragging rights on.
For the season-long view — champion to relegation, every award, locked before a ball is kicked — see our 2026-27 season preview or go straight to Season Predictions, where early locks score ×3 on every hit.
Fixtures from the official Premier League schedule; kickoff times shown in-game convert to your local timezone. Predictions are editorial. This page reflects squads as of 20 August 2026 — the summer window is open until 1 September, so late moves may not appear yet.