FPL Christmas Fixtures 2026

Four gameweeks fall between Boxing Day and the first week of January: Gameweek 17 on Boxing Day, Gameweek 18 three days later, Gameweek 19 on New Year's Day and Gameweek 20 in the first week of January. That is four deadlines in eleven days, against one a week for the rest of the season.

The table below reads each deadline and the first and last kick-off straight from the FPL game, in UK time. Broadcast picks can still move a match; when the first match of a gameweek moves, its deadline moves with it, and the table follows.

Over four games in eleven days, the fixtures matter more than usual, because there is no time to transfer your way out of a bad run. The grid below shows every club's four festive fixtures, coloured by FPL's own difficulty rating and ordered by the average, easiest first.

Read it as a shortlist of clubs to own going into Boxing Day rather than week by week. A defender from a club near the top of the grid can hold his place in your team for all four gameweeks; an attacker from a club near the bottom is a candidate to sell before the first deadline, not after the second.

Not as the FPL game lists the fixtures today: every club plays once in each of Gameweeks 17, 18, 19 and 20. That makes the festive period a test of rotation and fixtures rather than of chip timing around blanks.

If a match is postponed, FPL moves it out of its gameweek, which creates a blank for both clubs and usually a double later in the season. The grid above shows a dash for a blank and two fixtures for a double, so it will show the change as soon as FPL makes it.

Plan the four weeks as one block. Make the transfers that cover the whole run before the Boxing Day deadline, and keep one free transfer in hand for injuries, because a knock on the 27th leaves only two days before the next deadline.

Expect rotation. Clubs with European football or a thin squad rotate more over Christmas, and a player who starts three of four games is worth less than his fixtures suggest. Prefer players whose minutes have held up all season, and check the line-ups before each deadline rather than once for the whole period.

FPL lets you carry up to five free transfers, so a manager who has saved transfers can rebuild a large part of the squad over Christmas without a hit. Saving one more in the week before Boxing Day is often worth more than a marginal move.

For most managers, yes: the festive period is the last chance to use the first set of chips. Every first-half chip must be played by the Gameweek 19 deadline on New Year's Day, or it is lost, and only one chip can be played in a gameweek. The table below shows each chip's window as the FPL game defines it.

With no blanks or doubles over Christmas, the Free Hit is the weakest of the four here; it earns most when many clubs are missing. A Bench Boost earns most in the gameweek your bench has its easiest fixtures, and a Triple Captain on the single fixture you trust most. A first Wildcard still unused should go before Boxing Day or in Gameweek 18 at the latest, so the squad it builds covers the festive run; the second Wildcard opens in Gameweek 20.