The Premier League has pushed the start of the season back a week this year, to Friday 21 August. The reason is player recovery: the league wanted 89 clear days after last season and 33 days after the World Cup final. The Gameweek 1 Fantasy deadline is 18:30 BST on opening day, ninety minutes before the first match kicks off at 20:00. The season ends on Sunday 30 May 2027, with every fixture starting simultaneously.

Four things have changed since last year, and they affect how you should think from the moment you pick your first squad.

Chips come in two sets, and they expire

You get eight chips across the season: wildcard, free hit, triple captain, and bench boost, in two identical sets. The first set has to be used before the Gameweek 19 deadline at 13:30 GMT on Saturday 2 January. The Premier League is explicit that anything left cannot be carried into the second half. Four chips across eighteen gameweeks sounds generous, but as we cover in a separate piece, finding a home for all of them before Christmas is harder than it looks.

Up to five free transfers can be rolled

The cap stays at five banked transfers. That keeps open the option of sitting still for two or three gameweeks and then rebuilding half your squad without taking hits, which remains the cheapest way to ride out an injury run.

The bonus point system has been rebuilt

This is the change that has drawn the least attention and probably matters most. The Premier League says the intention is to limit the crossover of players earning both defensive contribution points and bonus points in the same match, and to boost attacking players instead. In concrete terms, clearances, blocks, and interceptions have been marked down: two of them used to yield a bonus point, now it takes three. At the same time the penalty for being tackled has been removed, which helps full-backs and wingers, and goalkeepers get their own lift with bonus for saves outside the box and an extra point for saving a big chance.

No extra December transfers

The Africa Cup of Nations is not being played this season, so the extra December transfers are gone. The Christmas schedule is also less compressed than usual, with no two gameweeks falling within 60 hours of each other. Less rotation chaos, but also fewer chances to profit from other managers being asleep.

Playmaker covers the Premier League from Gameweek 1. The models update after every completed gameweek.

The Premier League has pushed the start of the season back a week this year, to Friday 21 August. The reason is player recovery: the league wanted 89 clear days after last season and 33 days after the World Cup final. The Gameweek 1 Fantasy deadline is 18:30 BST on opening day, ninety minutes before the first match kicks off at 20:00. The season ends on Sunday 30 May 2027, with every fixture starting simultaneously.

Four things have changed since last year, and they affect how you should think from the moment you pick your first squad.

Chips come in two sets, and they expire

You get eight chips across the season: wildcard, free hit, triple captain, and bench boost, in two identical sets. The first set has to be used before the Gameweek 19 deadline at 13:30 GMT on Saturday 2 January. The Premier League is explicit that anything left cannot be carried into the second half. Four chips across eighteen gameweeks sounds generous, but as we cover in a separate piece, finding a home for all of them before Christmas is harder than it looks.

Up to five free transfers can be rolled

The cap stays at five banked transfers. That keeps open the option of sitting still for two or three gameweeks and then rebuilding half your squad without taking hits, which remains the cheapest way to ride out an injury run.

The bonus point system has been rebuilt

This is the change that has drawn the least attention and probably matters most. The Premier League says the intention is to limit the crossover of players earning both defensive contribution points and bonus points in the same match, and to boost attacking players instead. In concrete terms, clearances, blocks, and interceptions have been marked down: two of them used to yield a bonus point, now it takes three. At the same time the penalty for being tackled has been removed, which helps full-backs and wingers, and goalkeepers get their own lift with bonus for saves outside the box and an extra point for saving a big chance.

No extra December transfers

The Africa Cup of Nations is not being played this season, so the extra December transfers are gone. The Christmas schedule is also less compressed than usual, with no two gameweeks falling within 60 hours of each other. Less rotation chaos, but also fewer chances to profit from other managers being asleep.

Playmaker covers the Premier League from Gameweek 1. The models update after every completed gameweek.