Four things to look out for this Premier League season | Write Up
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It might feel like the football never stopped, with the Club World Cup and the Women’s Euros, but we’re already staring down the barrel of the new Premier League season. Here are four things to keep an eye out in the opening weeks of 2025/26…
Title challengers spending big in attack
Champions Liverpool will be looking to make it back-to-back titles for the first time since the 1980s, but they’ll face stiff competition from Manchester City (who have won 6 of the last 8 titles) and Arsenal (second place an agonising three years in a row). All three clubs have made big moves in the transfer market.
Liverpool have strengthened their side with young attacking talent, as 23-year-old Hugo Ekitike and 22-year-old Florian Wirtz are poised to make an impact for the Reds. The saga of the summer continues surrounding Alexander Isak - the latest in this story is that the Swede is keen to leave Newcastle, but that Liverpool are not (yet) ready to meet his asking price. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on.
Arne Slot’s team will face stiff competition in their title defence. Manchester City got much of their business done before the Club World Cup, bringing in winger Rayan Cherki and attacking midfielder Tijjani Reijnders.
And how can we forget Arsenal’s new signing, Viktor Gyökeres, who joined the Gunners from Sporting Lisbon? Just two years ago, the Swede was tearing it up for Coventry in the Championship, and now the centre-forward hopes to be the catalyst for Arsenal’s first Premier League title in over twenty years.
New boys on the block
In the last two seasons, all three promoted teams have been relegated from the Premier League - Burnley, Luton, and Sheffield United in 2024; and Ipswich, Southampton, and Leicester in 2025. Two recent Premier League favourites return to the fold, Leeds and Burnley, and - excitingly - Sunderland will make their return to the top flight for the first time since being relegated in 2017 (in their time out, they even managed to spend four seasons in League One).
And Sunderland are ready to make a splash. They’ve spent over £130million in the transfer window, picking up eye-catching players like Habib Diarra from Strasbourg, Simon Adingra from Brighton, and - most excitingly - Granit Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen. I can’t wait to see the fiery 32-year-old midfielder back in the top flight, and I really will take any excuse to share this video from the North London Derby in 2023, where Mikel Arteta had to drag Xhaka away from getting involved in a fight on the pitch.
Granit Xhaka, and of course the rest of the Sunderland team, start their season against West Ham on Saturday.
Spurs and United can’t be that bad again… surely?
2024/25 was a pretty historic season for Spurs and Manchester United.
I’m being facetious of course - in some ways. Despite their record 22 league losses, Tottenham lifted their first trophy since 2008. However, in the Super Cup on Wednesday, it was more of the same-old-Spursy from Tottenham - they had a commanding 2-0 lead in the 84th minute… and managed to lose the game in a penalty shootout.
As for Manchester United, they enter this season after a full pre-season with Ruben Amorim and some fresh signings - most notably, striker Benjamin Šeško. They’ll be training from a shiny new Carrington complex, and won’t face the challenge of balancing European football.
Spurs face newly promoted Burnley on Saturday, while on Sunday Manchester United take on Arsenal.
Record teams face the challenge of European football
Speaking of European football, a record number of Premier League teams will play on the continent this season - nine! - including Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace who have spent some years without the tempo of mid-week fixtures. Plus, with the Club World Cup running until mid-July, many teams’ seasons didn’t finish until over a month after the last ball was kicked in the Premier League. It’s maybe not the sexiest question, but what role will fatigue play in this season? Maybe there’ll be an outside challenger for the league…
Step forward…
…Fulham.
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