Your First Gameweek: A Step-by-Step Prediction Walkthrough

You have signed up, joined a league, and now you are staring at a list of ten Premier League fixtures wondering what on earth to predict. Sound familiar?

Your first gameweek can feel overwhelming. There are ten matches, each needs a score, and you have no idea if you should go with your gut, check the stats, or just put 1-1 for everything. This walkthrough takes you through the whole process so you know exactly what to do.

Before the gameweek starts

Step 1: Check the fixture list

Head to the Play page on ScoreBadger and you will see every fixture for the current gameweek. Each match card shows the two teams, the kickoff time, and a countdown to the deadline.

Take a few minutes to scan the full list. Some matches will jump out as obvious - a strong home side against a struggling away team, for example. Others will feel like a coin flip. That is completely normal.

Step 2: Do some quick research

You do not need to spend hours on this. Five minutes is enough for your first week. Check:

• The league table - who is near the top, who is near the bottom?
• Recent form - have any teams won or lost their last three or four?
• Home or away - is the home team strong at their ground? (They usually are.)

If you want to go deeper, our guide on reading form tables shows you how to extract more from the stats. But for your first week, just knowing the basics is plenty.

Making your predictions

Step 3: Start with the matches you feel confident about

Do not try to predict all ten matches in order. Start with the fixtures where you have a strong feeling. Maybe you know Liverpool are in great form at home, or you reckon a particular derby will be tight. Do those first.

For matches you feel confident about, commit to a specific scoreline. If you think the home side wins, decide on the margin. A 2-0 or 2-1 home win is more common than a 4-0 thrashing, so lean towards realistic scores unless you have a good reason not to.

Step 4: Handle the tricky matches

For fixtures you are less sure about, here are a few default strategies that work well: