After a long summer (it’s been a whole 33 days since Chelsea’s Club World Cup victory), football – and more importantly – the Premier League is back and raring to go.
Liverpool surprised many by storming to the title last year under new manager Arne Slot, but how will the Reds cope with being the hunted this time around?
Can Manchester City bounce back after a disappointing campaign? Will Arsenal finally shake their bridesmaid tag after their third successive runners-up finish? And what about Thomas Frank, the new man in the dugout at Tottenham?
After a one-sided title race and an abject attempt at survival from the three promoted teams, fans will be hopeful for a more dramatic season at both ends of the table.
And to mark the return of the action, Metro Sport’s writers have dished out their boldest (and perhaps daft) predictions for what to expect over the course of the season.
Your ultimate guide to the football season
Metro's new weekly football newsletter: In The Mixer. Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk sent straight to your inbox every Friday – sign up, it's an open goal.
Manchester United to bounce back and finish in the top four
There’s absolutely no reason why Manchester United cannot finish in the Premier League top four this season.
Having missed out on any form of European football for the first time in a decade, the Red Devils can fully focus on the domestic campaign while their rivals will be forced to deal with extra fixtures.
United will surely have some fire in their belly after a disastrous 2024-25 campaign saw them finish 15th and head coach Ruben Amorim is more settled in as head coach after replacing Erik ten Hag mid-season last term.
Amorim has made some really smart signings this summer – bringing in two players with bags of Premier League experience – Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
Mbeumo registered 28 goal involvements in 38 top-flight games last season, while Cunha produced 21 goal involvements across 33 Premier League matches.
While there are question marks over how well Benjamin Sesko will settle in English football, he’ll surely be an upgrade on flop striker Rasmus Hojlund.
With Mikel Arteta under pressure at Arsenal, and Newcastle’s nightmare of a summer transfer window, United have a huge chance to join the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea in the top four.
Liam Grace, Sports Reporter
Premier League 2025-26 predictions
Title winner: Liverpool
Top four: Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United
Relegated: Brentford, Leeds, Burnley
Arsenal to spearhead return of ‘Big Six’ dominance
This may not seem like a hot take, but the Premier League’s ‘big-six’ – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – haven’t lived up to their name of late.
Only once in the last six years have all the big six actually finished in the top six, with the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa disrupting the establishment. But normal order will resume this season.
For one, it’s hard to see Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City or Chelsea dropping out. United are in the middle of (another) rebuild, but they have assembled a very potent attack and don’t have any European football to distract them.
Spurs are perhaps the biggest question mark. Adjusting to a new manager is always tricky, not least when the outgoing boss was so popular and with two key leaders in the dressing room – Son Heung-min and James Maddison – not there to help. But Thomas Frank worked wonders in his last job and can do so again.
As for those who would challenge the big six, Newcastle’s morale is low following a terrible summer and could yet lose their best player, Alexander Isak. It seems Villa will keep hold of Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez but haven’t added much to their squad.
Perhaps Nottingham Forest, Brighton or even FA Cup and Community Shield winners Crystal Palace could give it a go, but the big six look set to have a big season.
Callum McAvoy, Sports Reporter
Premier League 2025-26 predictions
Title winner: Arsenal
Top four: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool
Relegated: West Ham, Leeds, Burnley
Thomas Frank fails to last the season at Tottenham
This is a scorching take and I’m ready to get burned alive, but something about Frank and Tottenham doesn’t sit right as a pairing. Ange maintained the backing of so many supporters throughout the club’s darkest times when striving, often to his detriment, to play the so-called ‘Spurs Way’.
The structure-obsessed Frank plays a far more pragmatic brand of football and patience will wear thin amongst the fanbase should results begin to spiral.
I’ve already got one eye on the club’s fixtures heading into a gruelling winter period when they face Chelsea, United, Arsenal, Fulham, Newcastle, Frank’s former side Brentford, Forest and Liverpool… where they’re placed after this nasty little run will be key.
Frank’s Brentford picked up just three league wins between November and January last term and lost seven from eight during that same period in their previous campaign. Will the Dane still be ‘brave’ should he find himself in a similarly tricky situation with Tottenham at the midway stage?
With Maddison out for months and Son gone, I’m not convinced they’ve made the signings or have the necessary experience and firepower to cope.
Tom Olver, Assistant Sports Editor
Premier League 2025-26 predictions
Title winner: Liverpool
Top four: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea
Relegated: Leeds, Burnley, Sunderland
All three promoted sides to avoid the drop
We’ve had back-to-back seasons which saw all three promoted teams relegated immediately, so it is time for that to change and in spectacular fashion. The trio of promoted sides will survive this time round!
There are a few candidates for the drop from the established top-flight clubs. Brentford have been ravaged this summer, as have Bournemouth, with both facing a slump as a result.
Wolves have lost key players and Vitor Pereira could struggle when the chips are down, while the unimpressive West Ham don’t look up to much.
Burnley have a mean defence, Sunderland have done some nice transfer business and I haven’t got much good to say about Leeds, but fingers crossed for that lot.
The three promoted teams have all survived four times before; it’s time for it to happen again.
Phil Haigh, Sports Reporter
Premier League 2025-26 predictions
Title winner: Arsenal
Top four: Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United
Relegated: Wolves, Brentford, Bournemouth
Liam Delap to take home the Golden Boot
Right, I’ll concede, there’s a more-than likely chance that Liam Delap finds himself on the bench against Crystal Palace on Sunday, but it’s called ‘Hot Takes’ for a reason.
12 goals in his first Premier League season was enough to earn Delap a summer move to Chelsea, and his two goals in the Blues’ final pre-season fixture against AC Milan showed a striker full of clever movement and a clinical finish to boot.
Fellow summer signing Joao Pedro looks likely to get the nod at first, but it won’t be long before Delap is banging down the door to start regularly if he continues to build upon his impressive showings in the off-season.
If Pedro isn’t replaced, the Brazilian could be shifted out to the left to accommodate Delap, who will score bucket loads of goals if Chelsea can continue to demonstrate the same attacking prowess that saw them carve open Paris Saint-Germain at will in the Club World Cup final.
Ben Fleming, Sports Reporter
Premier League 2025-26 predictions
Title winner: Manchester City
Top four: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal
Relegated: Wolves, Sunderland, Leeds United
Viktor Gyokeres won’t be all that
Viktor Gyokeres has widely been described as the final piece of the jigsaw for an Arsenal side that have come agonisingly close to winning the Premier League. But the same was said about Romelu Lukaku upon his return to Chelsea in 2021 and we know how that worked out.
Gyokeres’ stats for Sporting were incredible but Darwin Nunez enjoyed similar success in Portugal before underwhelming in the Premier League. It’s taken a fair while for Gyokeres, 27, to earn a move to one of Europe’s top five leagues.
This time two years ago, in fact, he had just spent his fourth successive season in the Championship, scoring a respectable but far from remarkable 21 goals in 46 games.
He’s an upgrade on Kai Havertz but don’t expect mind-blowing returns from a player who has been branded a ‘gamble’ by the likes of Paul Scholes and Gary Lineker. ‘I don’t think he’s the guy,’ Rio Ferdinand even said shortly after his £64m move to north London was announced. Mikel Arteta doesn’t get too many signings wrong but it was him, remember, who pushed to sign Raheem Sterling last summer.
Arsenal were torn between signing Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko earlier in the summer. Time will tell if they made the right decision.
Louis Sealey, Deputy Sports Editor
Premier League 2025-26 predictions
Title winner: Liverpool
Top four: Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea
Relegated: Burnley, Sunderland, Brentford
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
No comments:
Post a Comment