⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[JoyMarsha]

If Pep really turned EPL into the farmer league, many people who are not fans of his club would be so mad. I have seen so many people who hatred to him so much just because he won 4 PL trophies in a row.

We might be seeing people yapping about here and there on Pep. So, the god has nerfed his club, and he can rebuilding his winning club back from the scratch.

Is it that the gods have answered people's prayers, or what? What is happening to Manchester City is what many clubs are already verging fall to see the downfall of Manchester City because Pep Guardiola has for long dominated the Premier League to the extent that fans of other clubs have begun to take the Premier League to be farmer league for Manchester City.

However, Pep Guardiola didn't see this coming to him in a manner that his team would find it so hard to win against teams in the Premier League like. Imagine the almighty Manchester City not qualifying for the round of 16 and their top position not stable in the Premier League table. That's really somehow to imagine

Yep, for now there is actually a little happiness for several other clubs when Manchester City experiences something like this because in the end the dominance of 4 consecutive seasons for the EPL is clearly not a good thing so it will be quite natural when there is a lot of grapevine about the EPL which is only a peasant league because even every season Pep has always made history in the previous few seasons including last season. But for now it is clear that the situation is a little different even though in terms of competition now is not as good as before where Liverpool are currently running alone without getting any obstacles but as long as Manchester City is held back it seems like this provides more encouragement and happiness for some fans.

Manchester City since a few seasons ago too dominate in the EPL which sometimes makes their players complacent especially seeing Pedri now who sometimes talks more so for now at least it is enough to make that they are still the same club and next season they must improve their current performance.

Despite Manchester City's poor performance this season, it will be worthwhile to mention that Pep Guardiola is the best manager in the Premier League. He will be remembered for it, to have won the Premier League trophy about six times(three straight seasons at once). No Premier League coach has done that before except him.

However, if he later gets sacked next season or upper season because of the poor performance of Manchester City, the history made by him as a coach in the Premier League will be remembered, from time to time, not broken yet by anyone as a coach in Premier League

[Stable090]

Arsenal is not showing any consistency towards winning the Premier League title or the Champions League trophy, although, as you said, Arsenal has been chasing the Premier League title for a long time now but is still finding it difficult to get there. Yes, they are dream chasers, and for sure, one day it will happen. Forget the fact that they have been trying for a long time now; it can still happen at any moment as long as they do not give up. However, Arsenal is a big club; you can’t say they pretend to be one, but obviously they are a big club.

The only trophy which Arsenal can win this season is champions league, because I don’t even think they will be able to compete with most of the teams in championship league because their performance has dropped this season, we all can see how Arsenal have been playing lately, they have been able to get just 1 point in their last two matches, which is really a bad one, it’s surprising that Arsenal lost to west ham, and they couldn’t win Nottingham forest.

Arsenal next champions league match will be against PSV, I don’t think it’s going to be e easy one for Arsenal, but if Arsenal can win against PSV, then they are still not going to go far, because their next fixture will be a tough one.

[Adbitco]

West Ham United 2 Vs Leicester City 0, it seems like it's this season that the once Premier League champions will finally go for relegation. As it stands, in recent games Leicester City has had the second most worst form in the league. I can't remember the last time they won a league game, I'm very sure they haven't won any any in their last five games in the league. The are currently occupying the 19th position which makes them a candidate of relegation this season. 

[Kristiyana]

.......................

Arsenal is not showing any consistency towards winning the Premier League title or the Champions League trophy, although, as you said, Arsenal has been chasing the Premier League title for a long time now but is still finding it difficult to get there. Yes, they are dream chasers, and for sure, one day it will happen. Forget the fact that they have been trying for a long time now; it can still happen at any moment as long as they do not give up. However, Arsenal is a big club; you can’t say they pretend to be one, but obviously they are a big club.

Even Leicester City in the 2015/16 season was able to win the EPL title, even though in that season Leicester City was a promotion team, and what was even more painful was that Arsenal was only stuck in second place. Arsenal is a fairly consistent team in every season, they always compete at the top of the standings, but for some reason they find it difficult to win the title, even though they are quite close to winning it.

And moving on to another discussion, today in the last 27th week Leicester City will face West Ham, this match will take place at the London Olympic Stadium which is the home of the Aston Villa club, so of course they are quite favored to be able to win, especially in terms of quality West Ham players are more favored than Leicester City. But on the other hand we also cannot underestimate Ruud Van Nistelrooy's team, they always provide unexpected surprises, especially at this time they are in need of points to be able to get out of the relegation zone.

West ham has dominated the first half of the game with 2 goals while leicester has non, you know if you look at the  previous meeting between this both teams. you will find out that leicester has more wining record than west ham and also with the analysis I made earlier I was somehow convinced that leicester may likely win or draw, but considering their previous performance I think West ham is way more better than leicester which is why I decided to bet on West ham. Well let's see how the second half of the game will looks like.

[Zaguru12]

The only trophy which Arsenal can win this season is champions league, because I don’t even think they will be able to compete with most of the teams in championship league because their performance has dropped this season, we all can see how Arsenal have been playing lately, they have been able to get just 1 point in their last two matches, which is really a bad one, it’s surprising that Arsenal lost to west ham, and they couldn’t win Nottingham forest.

Arsenal next champions league match will be against PSV, I don’t think it’s going to be e easy one for Arsenal, but if Arsenal can win against PSV, then they are still not going to go far, because their next fixture will be a tough one.

One cannot easily predict that the race is over but with 10 games left to play for Liverpool and a point gap of 13 Points and a possible 30 left to be won I think the tittle can be said to be in the hands of the Reds already, seriously just like the last two seasons ago Arsenal had the best opportunities to actually scoop this tittle but just like in the last two seasons they simply lack consistency when it matters the most, dropping points against weaker opponents, this simply means they are definitely not in the title race again.

As for the champions league, quite alright I see them advancing against PSV because they have been pretty good in the competition but after this PSV encounter and a progression to the quarter finals I think that will be their last phase of the competition as I don’t see them actually getting pass either of the Madrid clubs because both of them are strong contenders in the competition.

West Ham United 2 Vs Leicester City 0, it seems like it's this season that the once Premier League champions will finally go for relegation. As it stands, in recent games Leicester City has had the second most worst form in the league. I can't remember the last time they won a league game, I'm very sure they haven't won any any in their last five games in the league. The are currently occupying the 19th position which makes them a candidate of relegation this season.  

I am not too surprised because it has always been a custom of recent that Clubs that got  promoted back into the champions league are usually those who are most often relegated back to the championship with exception of like one who gets to escape, I think same thing might be happening again with all the three clubs who got promoted to the Premier League last season aren’t looking like they will survive any drop, the club close to relegation that Leicester can at least later battle with at the end might be Wolves who sit 17 but even them will be careful not with Leicester alone but even with Ipswich looking to beat the drop

[kawetsriyanto]

Don't you know the fact that if Arsenal is always tie to the Saka? Once he missed the game, then Arsenal is nothing than a bunch of guys who being so clueless. Arsenal is absolutely terrible without him, not many big chances created, unable to break the line, and many more.

I don't think Arsenal relies on one player only. Saka may have a big role in Arsenal but Arsenal never relies on him only. If Arsenal relies on Saka, it means Arteta has no function at all. For me, the coach's role is always bigger than one player. The coach who choose the lineup, formation, and tactics. These are the things that influence much on the match.

I think it's has been mentioned so many times about how Arsenal's attack always flanking from Saka's side. If you're regularly watching PL, you must know this cuz it's a basic thing about Arsenal.

I don't regularly watch Arsenal game, but I'm sure Arsenal won't use a boring strategy. If Arsenal only started their attack from one side, it will easily be stopped by the opponent. I know Saka has a big role, he may be like Salah in Liverpool. But in the match, a team must build their attack from many sides, they can use a monotonous approach.

Dude, you need to count how many attackers of Arsenal who get injured. The problem of Arsenal is they have lack of available attackers. All of their main attackers are injured, that's why they can't win the current matches.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-arsenal/sperrenundverletzungen/verein/11

[Egii Nna]

After watching this great performance against Newcastle, I have no doubts that Liverpool will win the Premier League title this season. As the end of the season approaches, Liverpool will only have to look for consistent performances in the upcoming matches. If they can perform consistently, they can win the Premier League title with a big margin of points against the second placed team in the points table.

Liverpool team is in great form. For a long time we have been seeing consistent performance  of Liverpool players. We thought that Arsenal might be able to reduce the gap with Liverpool. But Arsenal team has fallen behind again after losing points in the last two matches. Arsenal team is now 13 points behind Liverpool.

Liverpool will not have any problem to dominate the Premier league. Liverpool will win the Premier  league title quite easily. With the help of Arne Slot, Liverpool is very strong this season. Arne Slot will now exert his maximum energy to do well in the Champions League. Now Arne Slot's main target is the Champions League.

And I think he will be able to achieve that because the strategy that Arne Slot has brought to Liverpool is actually working for them, because no one was expecting such amazing performance from them this season. So you think with their presence performance, Liverpool will not find it hard to meet up to the Champions League trophy this season, but it’s not that sure because there are a lot of threats in the Champions League.

Furthermore, back in the Premier League, Arsenal has really made us lose hope in them because we all thought that they would be consistent in their performance so that any mistakes or defeats made by Liverpool would be an advantage for Arsenal, but unfortunately they ended up messing up everything, and from all indications Arsenal will never meet up to that points gap given to them by Liverpool, so they will have to accept that fact of not being a champion this season again.

[pawel7777]

Despite having a better position in the league and despite playing at home, Nottm Forest is the underdog in next Saturday's game against Man City.
Odds are:
Nottm Forest: x3.60
Draw: x3.66
Man City: x1.96

What's worse for Forest, if they lose this one, they will likely drop 2 places down, outside of the top 4. That's because they would get overtaken by the City and currently 5th Chelsea is playing at home against weak Leicester (19th place).

[uchegod-21]

Despite having a better position in the league and despite playing at home, Nottm Forest is the underdog in next Saturday's game against Man City.
Odds are:
Nottm Forest: x3.60
Draw: x3.66
Man City: x1.96

What's worse for Forest, if they lose this one, they will likely drop 2 places down, outside of the top 4. That's because they would get overtaken by the City and currently 5th Chelsea is playing at home against weak Leicester (19th place).

Anyone who wants to place a bet against Nottingham Forest should study the pattern in which they are playing this season's football. You cannot confidently say that they are consistent or inconsistent but one thing is sure, they are very determined to remain in the top 4 of the English Premier league.
So, with that mindset of being in the top 4, they are out to fight against anyone and we all know that Manchester City is not much of a big problem to any reasonable team in the English Premier league currently.

[TelolettOm]

--snnipped--

Manchester United won their game tonight despite playing with 10 men in most parts of the game - a result that speaks how committed the club players are if you ask me.

Yes, and again, Maguire who was once known as an enemy in disguise, now actually several times became the club's savior. Yes, because after the red card, his goal was the winning goal. And after that, Man United was able to maintain their defense very well until the whistle was blown. Even though Ipswich Town made a significant attack.

West Ham United 2 Vs Leicester City 0, it seems like it's this season that the once Premier League champions will finally go for relegation.

The result of this match was quite impressive for Westham by being able to optimize 2 shots on target all of which became goals. and being able to maintain their defense very well. Because here, Leicester City also made various attacks, but they were able to ward them off strongly. Again, Van Rud failed to win in the EPL.

Thus, West Ham experienced an increase in position 15, while on the other hand, Leicester City was increasingly established in the relegation zone.

Source: West Ham vs Leicester

[blue Snow]

Don't you know the fact that if Arsenal is always tie to the Saka? Once he missed the game, then Arsenal is nothing than a bunch of guys who being so clueless. Arsenal is absolutely terrible without him, not many big chances created, unable to break the line, and many more.

I think it's has been mentioned so many times about how Arsenal's attack always flanking from Saka's side. If you're regularly watching PL, you must know this cuz it's a basic thing about Arsenal.

Arsenal is Saka FC.

Yes, Saka is a key player, the same as Rodri, who makes Manchester City be like this when he can not turn on the field. Arteta is a former Guardiola assistant and will apply the same thing with his mentor, Pep. These kinds of coaches will rely on one person to control the game, organize the attack patterns and rhythm of the match, so if a player is injured or has a problem, it makes the club lame, they are like a ship without a captain, they will find it difficult to win the match. Arsenal will continue like this until Saka comes back to play. But if Arsenal has a player who can play as role at the beginning, it probably won't be like this, Arteta must prepare a player who is qualified or the same skill as Saka.

[bitgolden]

Most important game of the week will be between City and Forrest, because that will definitely decide a lot on the future of the top four. Chelsea may get a win, or may not even get a win, that won't be really that much important, but who wins this game will matter a lot more. If City wins, they could be either back in top four, or they could at least be very close, and Chelsea getting a win too, will make Forrest be in trouble.

Nottingham Forrest has done amazing so far this season but I have no hopes for them to continue like this and I am guessing that they are going to probably end up with a loss here. City needs it badly, out of UCL, and lost to LFC, they really need a win soon here to make sure we can do better.

[Proty]

Mikel Arteta has made Arsenal stronger than before, but unfortunately, there is one thing he doesn't have, that is the champion mentality, therefore whoever the competitor is in each season (be it Man City or Liverpool), Arsenal has always been under their shadow, and they always ran out of energy when the season was coming to an end. I think Arsenal need that factor because they haven't won a trophy for too long, and for that they need the right manager with strong character. If that is taken into consideration, so it's reasonable if Arsenal needs a new manager to replace Arteta (but the change should not be made while the season is still ongoing).

Yes Arteta has made arsenal really strong thankgod you have acknowledged that fact. Sometimes I really do ask myself why people always have this mindset, whenever the team is not doing they will shift the blame to the manager, in fact if arsenal should like they should be changing manager every season the problem will still be there just like Manchester united that changed there manager but yet the club is still facing the same issues. Until the club should be able to figure out where they are not getting it right, changing there managers won't solve the problem  morespecially if the fault is not coming from the manager. Some of this problems may be coming from the management of the team, Arteta has really done well as long as arsenal is concerned. 

[Velvet78]

But I think one reason for their inconsistency is that they didn’t improve on most of the positions compared to the last seasons. I thought they would hire some well known players, but the are more about taking some risk and build high potential played into stars. That can save some money, but come at the risk of going wrong for some of the players they think have potential.

Still they are to be taken seriously,  but in my opinion not in terms of becoming the Premier League champions. The distance in general between them and clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City is too big.

That's another thing yeah. When Newcastle was bought by very rich people, I thought it would be the start of a completely new era. I expected them to sign a very successful and well-known manager first. Then to go for big signings.

But none of them happened.    They are rich but can't use their money very effectively. If only they signed a big name for the manager position then maybe they could be more convincing for big players to sign for them.

For example Manchester City is aiming to let go of some of their stars such as De Bruyne. Newcastle shouldn't miss this kind of opportunities at least.

[MainIbem]

--snnipped--

Manchester United won their game tonight despite playing with 10 men in most parts of the game - a result that speaks how committed the club players are if you ask me.

Yes, and again, Maguire who was once known as an enemy in disguise, now actually several times became the club's savior. Yes, because after the red card, his goal was the winning goal. And after that, Man United was able to maintain their defense very well until the whistle was blown. Even though Ipswich Town made a significant attack.

West Ham United 2 Vs Leicester City 0, it seems like it's this season that the once Premier League champions will finally go for relegation.

The result of this match was quite impressive for Westham by being able to optimize 2 shots on target all of which became goals. and being able to maintain their defense very well. Because here, Leicester City also made various attacks, but they were able to ward them off strongly. Again, Van Rud failed to win in the EPL.

Thus, West Ham experienced an increase in position 15, while on the other hand, Leicester City was increasingly established in the relegation zone.

Source: West Ham vs Leicester

After losing to West Ham without any goal, I now strongly believe that Leicester City would not be in the EPL next season, Ruud Van Nistelroy has tried his best but it's not enough to keep them in the Premier League, their defense and attack is very poor and that's why they concede goals without replying back, four consecutive times is not a coincidence it shows how poor they're currently, too bad they'll have to go back to the Championship League. Anyways, Maguire is a clear example that footballers should learn to overlook their critics and work hard to improve better, they should use the backlash from fans on the media as a motivation to get better, that's clearly what he did and that's why he's improved from a player most hated by fans to a better player currently.

[shogun47]

But I think one reason for their inconsistency is that they didn’t improve on most of the positions compared to the last seasons. I thought they would hire some well known players, but the are more about taking some risk and build high potential played into stars. That can save some money, but come at the risk of going wrong for some of the players they think have potential.

Still they are to be taken seriously,  but in my opinion not in terms of becoming the Premier League champions. The distance in general between them and clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City is too big.

That's another thing yeah. When Newcastle was bought by very rich people, I thought it would be the start of a completely new era. I expected them to sign a very successful and well-known manager first. Then to go for big signings.

But none of them happened.    They are rich but can't use their money very effectively. If only they signed a big name for the manager position then maybe they could be more convincing for big players to sign for them.

For example Manchester City is aiming to let go of some of their stars such as De Bruyne. Newcastle shouldn't miss this kind of opportunities at least.

I am not a fan of signing players that are old (or getting old) and have no future elsewhere. Maybe yes in a few exceptional cases, but not as a general approach as to how a top team should be formed. 

Indeed I thought they would be pumping hundreds of millions into team building similar to what PSG did, but it seems they want to pursue a more sustainable approach and build the team over time. It is not like they didn’t spend anything at all, but I thought it is going to be more than what they did.

I think the investors have learned a lesson or two that building a successful team requires more than just buying the biggest names in the market. Management, infrastructure, reputation and many things more. 

[shinratensei_]

Don't you know the fact that if Arsenal is always tie to the Saka? Once he missed the game, then Arsenal is nothing than a bunch of guys who being so clueless. Arsenal is absolutely terrible without him, not many big chances created, unable to break the line, and many more.

I don't think Arsenal relies on one player only. Saka may have a big role in Arsenal but Arsenal never relies on him only. If Arsenal relies on Saka, it means Arteta has no function at all. For me, the coach's role is always bigger than one player. The coach who choose the lineup, formation, and tactics. These are the things that influence much on the match.

I think it's has been mentioned so many times about how Arsenal's attack always flanking from Saka's side. If you're regularly watching PL, you must know this cuz it's a basic thing about Arsenal.

I don't regularly watch Arsenal game, but I'm sure Arsenal won't use a boring strategy. If Arsenal only started their attack from one side, it will easily be stopped by the opponent. I know Saka has a big role, he may be like Salah in Liverpool. But in the match, a team must build their attack from many sides, they can use a monotonous approach.

Dude, you need to count how many attackers of Arsenal who get injured. The problem of Arsenal is they have lack of available attackers. All of their main attackers are injured, that's why they can't win the current matches.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-arsenal/sperrenundverletzungen/verein/11

Arsenal's situation is pretty much the same like Chelsea. They often relied to the a player, and it's Saka.

You can't deny Saka is one of highest rating premier league player after Salah. A player with most contribution to the club. He's always helping to carrying his club by created so many big chances for his teammates.

[Zackz5000]

Mikel Arteta has made Arsenal stronger than before, but unfortunately, there is one thing he doesn't have, that is the champion mentality, therefore whoever the competitor is in each season (be it Man City or Liverpool), Arsenal has always been under their shadow, and they always ran out of energy when the season was coming to an end. I think Arsenal need that factor because they haven't won a trophy for too long, and for that they need the right manager with strong character. If that is taken into consideration, so it's reasonable if Arsenal needs a new manager to replace Arteta (but the change should not be made while the season is still ongoing).

Yes Arteta has made arsenal really strong thankgod you have acknowledged that fact. Sometimes I really do ask myself why people always have this mindset, whenever the team is not doing they will shift the blame to the manager, in fact if arsenal should like they should be changing manager every season the problem will still be there just like Manchester united that changed there manager but yet the club is still facing the same issues. Until the club should be able to figure out where they are not getting it right, changing there managers won't solve the problem  morespecially if the fault is not coming from the manager. Some of this problems may be coming from the management of the team, Arteta has really done well as long as arsenal is concerned.  

Arteta should be given more chance for me he is still doing well as Arsenal manager despite not winning English premier league tittle but they are making progress to that every season and if they continue been consistent like this they will one day be the English premier league champions with Arteta, if not for their inconsistency towards ending part of the season Arsenal would have also won the English premier league with Arteta.

One thing you should also know is that in football ones the team is not doing well they put the blame on the manager if a team is also doing well the manager will be the one to eat the glory so that's just the nature of football.

[SensitiveEyes]

All managers make mistakes so did Mikel Arteta. He did not recruit suitable cover for Martinelli and Saka. This season Man City are inferior, Arsenal had space to win the PL title but Liverpool blocked the way. Mikel loves Arsenal, he will recruit in the summer to make them stronger.

Arteta should be given more chance for me he is still doing well as Arsenal manager despite not winning English premier league tittle but they are making progress to that every season and if they continue been consistent like this they will one day be the English premier league champions with Arteta, if not for their inconsistency towards ending part of the season Arsenal would have also won the English premier league with Arteta.

One thing you should also know is that in football ones the team is not doing well they put the blame on the manager if a team is also doing well the manager will be the one to eat the glory so that's just the nature of football.

[Pokapoka124]

Let's assume Bukayo Saka returns to full fitness today, dl you think that'll automatically make Arsenal a strong favorite for the English Premier League title this season? Arsenal were very much in the title race before losing five points in their last two league games which have now put them 13 points behind league leaders Liverpool. Though Arsenal have played one game lesser than Liverpool, I still don't see Mikel Arteta's men catching up with Liverpool tho season no matter who returns to the club and that's because Liverpool on the other hand doesn't look like a team that's ready to drop points in the coming games

Even if Bukayo Saka returns to full fitness, Arsenal still would not be strong favourites for the Premier League title this season. While both teams have shown resilience this season, I don't see Arsenal overtaking Liverpool especially given the significant point gap between them.Liverpool are in excellent form and have strong momentum making it unlikely they will slow down for Arsenal.