⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[pawel7777]

Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.

Man City was outside the playoffs before today, but they didn't disappoint their fans and beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home. The first half wasn't the most impressive on their part, but I'd rather have them playing ugly and winning than playing nicely and losing points.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.

Aston villa caught my attention to night. How the managed to scale through the first stage and finished in the top 8. They were lucky Atalanta couldn't defeat Barcelona else they would have been in Atlanta' s current position where they will have to play in the playoffs. Having three teams from the premier league make it to the next round without playing the play-offs gives the premier league a big face.

Man City was outside the playoffs before today, but they didn't disappoint their fans and beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home. The first half wasn't the most impressive on their part, but I'd rather have them playing ugly and winning than playing nicely and losing points.

Manchester City needed the win at all cost. When they were losing 0-1 just before the end of the first half and few minutes into the second half I began to wonder if they were going to missing out of the play-offs; but they were able to equalise and added two more goals to their tally. City gave their fans the pride the wanted from today's match. It is good to know that all the English premier league teams that participated in the first round all won their last game and stand a chance to press on for the title.

[mv1986]

Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.

Man City was outside the playoffs before today, but they didn't disappoint their fans and beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home. The first half wasn't the most impressive on their part, but I'd rather have them playing ugly and winning than playing nicely and losing points.

I think Manchester City felt a short period of like a punch in their gut when they conceded a goal right before halftime. A loss and even a draw would have knocked them out from the Champions League and that is why I think that goal against them released a shock.

But Brugge still had something to fight for as the risk was to have a goal fest against them and then Zagreb could have taken their position as they managed to beat AC Milan against all expectations and Milan therefore has to go through the playoffs. Musah's red card wasn't the smartest move obviously. he should have slowed down after he received the yellow 8 minutes before that. But then Zagreb saw a real chance and it could have become a real showdown if Zagreb scored another goal and City scored another goal, then it would have only been one goal difference between Brugge and Zagreb.

But anyway, nobody thought that Zagreb would end up with 11 points anyway after they got destroyed 9-2 in the first game against Bayern.

[Adams0001]

Even with 10 players, Arsenal should have been better without a doubt, they are fighting for a title third year in a row whereas Wolves are trying to fight to stay in the league, the gap between them is so obvious and yet we are seeing Arsenal having trouble, which is the reason why they are not going to win the league.

Arteta was loved by many fans for a while, because he made this team good enough to battle for the top, but then slowly each fan started to turn on him because while they are looking good and getting wins, they always end up failing to win the league. If your entire potential is to be just second, or simply just not win the league, then what is the point of having anything like this? Makes no sense to me at all.

I believe Arsenal have a bigger potential than being called as the 2nd in the Premier League. They have a capable squad and fitting manager for achieving a trophy in this league. I think that there is only one thing they are lacking now. It is a credible and effective striker. Gabriel Jesus is always out of the field because of serious injuries. Arteta has no choice other than relying on Havertz in this situation. But Havertz is a really terrible choice for this role. If Arteta signs a star player for this position then Arsenal can go for bigger achievements.

Arsenal performed well and qualified automatically for the ucl round 16 if they continue to do so thy can win the trophy.  Arsenal likely to win the title this season. Arteta is doing well in the UCL but isn't very strong in the league competition. I'm just assuming they have more strength to win the UCL than the Premier League this season. Let's see how Arteta does in the competition this season, because I'm confident in their performance in the game and that they'll finish third, which is a good position for them before the playoffs. All Premier League teams are still in the UCL, demonstrating that they are among the best in their respective positions in the competition. Arsenal truly misses, because arsenal should have be in a first position in the league table, but unfortunately they miss the players and trying to strongly in the league competition. But later they will still drop that point that they are now in the league league table, because they usually perform poor if the league as gone fa.

[AndySt]

Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.

Yes, this is an undoubted success and an indicator of the strength of the Premier League teams, because it's one thing just to be among the participants in the playoffs, and it's quite another thing to be among the chosen eight, who are spared the need to go through an additional stage and pay more attention to domestic competitions. Other leagues can't even boast a couple of teams in the top eight, limiting themselves to just one representative each, including countries like, not surprisingly, Spain, Italy or Germany.

[blue Snow]

What makes Arsenal inconsistent is that they do not have a quality center forward, hungry for goals, and able to provide victory after victory, we see they only rely on Kai Harvertz and Martinelli, in my opinion both of them do not always perform well in every match. Arsenal need a striker like Haaland, Osimhen, or Omar Marmoush, and I am pretty sure they realize that but strangely they do not move quickly to find a player like that, is the owner that stingy? If so, it is no wonder Arsenal will only be a complement every season.

yes, in fact, Arsenal doesn't have champions mentally also. they last got the Premier League trophy in 2003/2004, or 20 years ago; they forgot how to be champions in the local league, Because of that we can see Arsenal also playing inconsistent, even if they play well during the session, in the end of week they will get slip and their position will shift and happy on 2nd standing. yes maybe they are quite happy as a team that always wins the FA Cup, But as a team who always in the top 4, Arsenal should make an effort to won the league, they must be willing to spend a lot of money to recruit the potential players, not being stingy, or waiting for no interested parties to recruit targeted players.

[tusandii]

That's too harsh. I’m even amazed by their performance so far this season though it haven't been consistent. Chelsea are now under a new coach who has a different posting style compared to former coach Mauricio Pochettino. Transitioning into a new system takes time especially with a squad that is still adapting however Maresca has proven his tactical intelligence at Leicester City, I believe he can rebuild Chelsea and restore them to former glory despite the current challenges at the club.

Even in his first season alone he has amazed many people with Chelsea's performance this season so you can imagine for the next seasons if Enzo Maresca continues to be trusted by the club maybe he will make Chelsea compete in the hunt for the EPL title, for this season I do not expect too much to finish in the top 4 is enough for Chelsea to get a ticket to UCL next season, but of course in the coming seasons I expect something more from Chelsea under Enzo.

[tygeade]

Arsenal have not been able to play consistently well throughout the season. Arsenal have faced similar problems for three consecutive seasons. Arsenal suddenly lost the truck. And were eliminated from the title race. If you want to win the Premier League title, it is essential to play consistently well throughout the season.

However, this season too, Arsenal are far behind in the title race. Arsenal have achieved 47 points from 23 matches. On the other hand, Liverpool have managed to achieve 53 points from 22 matches. If Liverpool can win their next match, they will be ahead of Arsenal by 9 points. Will it be possible for Arsenal to reduce such a big gap? I don't think Arsenal will be able to win the title.

To be honestly, that's the problem with Artetas Arsenal, there isn't really anything wrong with the club when everything goes according to plan, but they keep making mistakes at times. They are doing "fine" right now, but you can check back on this season, or previous two seasons and you will see that they lost points on such useless games which caused them to not be leaders.

Same this year too, and I am sure they are going to regret these chances later on, we are not going to see them have any better chance anytime soon. They had a chance, they had a good period ,and they didn't take advantage of that good period and now they are going to get worse, and players will start to gradually leave, which will make them worse.

[Docnaster]

That's too harsh. I’m even amazed by their performance so far this season though it haven't been consistent. Chelsea are now under a new coach who has a different posting style compared to former coach Mauricio Pochettino. Transitioning into a new system takes time especially with a squad that is still adapting however Maresca has proven his tactical intelligence at Leicester City, I believe he can rebuild Chelsea and restore them to former glory despite the current challenges at the club.

Considering the quake of players at Chelsea and how they've been the most active club in the transfer window in recent years, I don't think there's anything amazing about their results and performances in the English Premier League this season. Enzo Maresca for a fact started the season on a good note but the club's results in recent games have now left them out of the top four. You don't win the league by being inconsistent like Chelsea gave been and I don't believe the opinion that the club is struggling because the current coach was appointed last summer. Liverpool current manager also arrived Anfield the same period Enzo Maresca arrived at Chelsea but the former have been able to help Liverpool remain at the top of league standings.

Chelsea fans expects more than what they're currently getting from the team in recent weeks and I think they're right with their expectations

[Marvelockg]

Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.

as expected, English teams are still doing really well this time with a strong representative that looks like the most likely to winning this edition of the champions league already qualifying with just a single loss to this round. arsenal and Aston villa have equally joined the party and even though Liverpool have stolen the show right from time, qualifying to this round show that they are good and have what it takes to winning this league, who know.

Man City was outside the playoffs before today, but they didn't disappoint their fans and beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home. The first half wasn't the most impressive on their part, but I'd rather have them playing ugly and winning than playing nicely and losing points.

even though the rout out of the playoff looks like one that will be rough as man city will have to go through real Madrid to the next round, this does not look like an impossible task for city as they have what it takes to getting the result. Liverpool defeated real Madrid and apart from defeating them, they were better at everything, Barca did same twice and for Manchester city that is seen to be in the same class with these clubs, this will be a test to show what kind of a team they are and if they are able to pull this victory through, it will mean a lot for them.

[bangjoe]

Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.

Man City was outside the playoffs before today, but they didn't disappoint their fans and beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home. The first half wasn't the most impressive on their part, but I'd rather have them playing ugly and winning than playing nicely and losing points.

Quite a lot of representatives from the English league can enter the top 8 of the Champions League, especially if we see that the Champions League is led by Liverpool as the leader of the Champions League and the English League and Arsenal in third place after Barcelona, ​​and the most disappointing is indeed Man City, they almost couldn't enter the next round and fortunately they were able to beat Club Brugge and were able to enter the Champions League play-off round, if they hadn't beaten that team it might have been a bad story that had to be swallowed by fans and the entire team about Manchester City failing to enter the Champions League play-offs.

[Just Say]

Sadly, I have to agree with your submission. Fulham were absolutely toothless that yesterday. That probably might be their worse game of the season so far. There was no any clue going forward and apparently, there's no way you win game if you don't strive forward and create chances. Fulham just can't score, they had at least four great chances right in front of the goal but fired it higher over the bar.

Lack of technicality in attack indeed. On a norms, Fulham can't stand Manchester United but definitely not the Manchester United of this season. That game was a clearly a game of draw or three points for them but they end up losing the entire points to underform United. They really need urgent and desperate striker upfront but I'm not sure if they are even making plans for that this January transfer.

Manchester United played worse than Fulham, that's obvious, but this is a case where the only thing that matters is that the team got 3 points, and for Amorim it was very important, because they expect him to improve the game. But if Manchester United continue to play like this, then in the next matches their luck may not be as high as it was yesterday with Fulham. Fulham often plays better in attack, and I thought they would score.

Man United didn't play better than Fulham but they got the win because they had better effectiveness and Fulham lost their clinical finishing. It's a bit suffocating indeed as Fulham squandered several good chances that could have resulted in goals, but that's football, surprises can happen anytime and to anyone. On the one hand, this is good progress for Man United, and I think it is time for Man United to be serious about making improvements (too much time has been wasted and until now not a single new player has joined Old Trafford).

Manchester United played against Fulham last night where Manchester United scored 3 points in this match. I must agree with you that Manchester United did not perform better than Fulham at all in this match but they had a chance which they took advantage of which Fulham could not do against Manchester United. Throughout the period we saw that Fulham had more volleys in their favor than Manchester United and Fulham had a higher attacking percentage than Manchester United but they did not finish well.

Manchester United won against Fulham but after watching their game, it seemed like they were still performing poorly, meaning they had not improved. Both teams had similar ball passing and ball position statistics, but Fulham was slightly stronger than Manchester United in terms of attack. Manchester United has been performing erratically. We saw they have been trying hard to perform consistently for a long timeago, but they have not been able to succeed in any way. They have enough good players in their team,  I think their team's game planning is still not good Maybe if the game planning was better, they would have been able to win the match.

Manchester United may have won against Fulham but their position in the points table is the same they are still 12th in the Premier League

Yes, Manchester United won the match and got points from there, then their points table position did not improve. They it is still in the same condition it was in before. If they could constantly win the match, they might have already been much up to the points table but they couldn't do that.

[Altryist]

yes, in fact, Arsenal doesn't have champions mentally also. they last got the Premier League trophy in 2003/2004, or 20 years ago; they forgot how to be champions in the local league, Because of that we can see Arsenal also playing inconsistent, even if they play well during the session, in the end of week they will get slip and their position will shift and happy on 2nd standing. yes maybe they are quite happy as a team that always wins the FA Cup, But as a team who always in the top 4, Arsenal should make an effort to won the league, they must be willing to spend a lot of money to recruit the potential players, not being stingy, or waiting for no interested parties to recruit targeted players.

It seems that City have come out of the crisis, especially since Guardiola has strengthened the defense and this should make their life easier in the Premier League, by the way, they coped with the Champions League even without new players. So, if everything is fine with City again, and it looks like this is the case, then I think that Arsenal will not be able to win this game.
Guardiola has accepted the fact that they will not be able to defend the championship title, but they need to try to consolidate their place in the top 4, and Arsenal still have a theoretical chance, but they need to show their best game and hope that Liverpool's game deteriorates and they start losing points.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Every season Arsenal players face injuries and their performance suffers. And Arsenal have not been able to solve this problem even in the last 2/3 years. Basically, this problem will not be solved unless more talented players are added to the squad. Arsenal's starting XI is good and their match strategy is also quite good. However, I would say that until the Arsenal management can strengthen their squad, it will not be possible for this team to dominate the Premier League. Liverpool and City's squads are much stronger and more organized than Arsenal's.

Yes, you're right on that point, but Arsenal can't think negatively anymore, they have to leave that dark past behind, this is their opportunity, they are behind the first place, but the PL still has a long way to go and Arsenal has a lot of potential, they have to work, there may be injuries, there may be internal problems, but this is their golden opportunity to do things right, Liverpool is a team that is giving it all, but let's remember last season when they were first and then City caught up with them and won, all teams are vulnerable, in football anything can happen.

[fuguebtc]

Manchester City needed the win at all cost. When they were losing 0-1 just before the end of the first half and few minutes into the second half I began to wonder if they were going to missing out of the play-offs; but they were able to equalise and added two more goals to their tally. City gave their fans the pride the wanted from today's match. It is good to know that all the English premier league teams that participated in the first round all won their last game and stand a chance to press on for the title.

Manchester City conceded a goal in the last minute of the first half. And Club Brugge took a 1-0 lead. I thought Manchester City's hopes of the Champions League were over this time. Manchester City was going to be eliminated in the first round. But Manchester City's comeback in the second half was memorable.

No mistakes were made by City players in the second half. Manchester City changed their match strategy and played a completely attacking strategy. And Manchester City succeeded. They were able to win the match 3-1. At the same time, the team confirmed the playoffs.

If Guardiola can stabilize Manchester City's performance, then this team still has the ability to dominate the Champions League. City has played quite well in the last few matches of the Premier League. I am waiting to see how Manchester City players perform in the playoffs.

[ILuckyGuyI]

That's too harsh. I’m even amazed by their performance so far this season though it haven't been consistent. Chelsea are now under a new coach who has a different posting style compared to former coach Mauricio Pochettino. Transitioning into a new system takes time especially with a squad that is still adapting however Maresca has proven his tactical intelligence at Leicester City, I believe he can rebuild Chelsea and restore them to former glory despite the current challenges at the club.

Yeah, maybe it's a little harsh because of the disappointment I felt about Chelsea lately. But they just lost too many points if you noticed. This is some kind of a serious fall anyway. As long as they don't re-enter top 4 and finish the season there, I won't call this progress.

Because progress is to finish a season at an upper place. They finished in 6th place last season. Now they are in the same place for now. In that case I'd say there was no need to sack Pochettino at all.

The reason why would be that Pochettino was already getting better with Chelsea in the last times of that season if you remember. He started this rise technically. 

[Baki202]

What makes Arsenal inconsistent is that they do not have a quality center forward, hungry for goals, and able to provide victory after victory, we see they only rely on Kai Harvertz and Martinelli, in my opinion both of them do not always perform well in every match. Arsenal need a striker like Haaland, Osimhen, or Omar Marmoush, and I am pretty sure they realize that but strangely they do not move quickly to find a player like that, is the owner that stingy? If so, it is no wonder Arsenal will only be a complement every season.

Were arteta is not suppose to focus on there are other things to focus like getting attackers not focusing on only defenders because that is what is killing arsenal right now they are to focus of spending money on defenders and that is a very wrong because everything in football works hand in hand that is why a lot of people are complaining about the way arteta is running the club the  defensive game he wanted to adopt so there is a lot of difference in pattern between this season and last season and last season, Harvertz is not doing bad but arsenal need to focus on they need to get more players, it might not be a player like haaland but even better because this season that we did not do well I trusted arsenal than Liverpool.

[len01]

Manchester United won against Fulham but after watching their game, it seemed like they were still performing poorly, meaning they had not improved. Both teams had similar ball passing and ball position statistics, but Fulham was slightly stronger than Manchester United in terms of attack. Manchester United has been performing erratically. We saw they have been trying hard to perform consistently for a long timeago, but they have not been able to succeed in any way. They have enough good players in their team,  I think their team's game planning is still not good Maybe if the game planning was better, they would have been able to win the match.

As long as Amorim has not made any changes to the current Man United line-up, I will not believe in the performance that MU currently has. Because it is clear that the attack line and the defense line are not equal and there is a very big difference. While in each line there are weaknesses that are already clearly visible. Unless in the coming season Amorim brings in players who he thinks can help Man United to get a strong performance, I am sure MU will be able to compete with the top teams. We can see Chelsea who made a major overhaul which is currently getting much better results.

[KingsDen]

Manchester United won against Fulham but after watching their game, it seemed like they were still performing poorly, meaning they had not improved. Both teams had similar ball passing and ball position statistics, but Fulham was slightly stronger than Manchester United in terms of attack. Manchester United has been performing erratically. We saw they have been trying hard to perform consistently for a long timeago, but they have not been able to succeed in any way. They have enough good players in their team,  I think their team's game planning is still not good Maybe if the game planning was better, they would have been able to win the match.

As long as Amorim has not made any changes to the current Man United line-up, I will not believe in the performance that MU currently has. Because it is clear that the attack line and the defense line are not equal and there is a very big difference. While in each line there are weaknesses that are already clearly visible. Unless in the coming season Amorim brings in players who he thinks can help Man United to get a strong performance, I am sure MU will be able to compete with the top teams. We can see Chelsea who made a major overhaul which is currently getting much better results.

I know that Ruben Amorim did not enter Manchester United by the end of the season, so he did not have the opportunity to go and pre-season the boys. Any coach that did not play the pre-season which is players would actually suffer a little before he will understand the players. By the case of Ruben Amorim is what because he came with a very new style of football which is rarely played in England.
Manchester United has not attained that significant improvement that many people are expecting of it. However are they have improved as they are not where they used to be again. Before now, Manchester United used to play so terribly. But now they are at least watchable and you could see a definite football style that they are trying to implement

[jaberwock]

Every season Arsenal players face injuries and their performance suffers. And Arsenal have not been able to solve this problem even in the last 2/3 years. Basically, this problem will not be solved unless more talented players are added to the squad. Arsenal's starting XI is good and their match strategy is also quite good. However, I would say that until the Arsenal management can strengthen their squad, it will not be possible for this team to dominate the Premier League. Liverpool and City's squads are much stronger and more organized than Arsenal's.

Yes, you're right on that point, but Arsenal can't think negatively anymore, they have to leave that dark past behind, this is their opportunity, they are behind the first place, but the PL still has a long way to go and Arsenal has a lot of potential, they have to work, there may be injuries, there may be internal problems, but this is their golden opportunity to do things right, Liverpool is a team that is giving it all, but let's remember last season when they were first and then City caught up with them and won, all teams are vulnerable, in football anything can happen.

Finding excuses is easy, you can always find an excuse, but that doesn't mean that we are going to see Arsenal win a title, I mean nobody will give them any free three points just because they have a decent reason to lose, they have to do whatever they can do, with whatever they have, and just look for their future. They have a small chance to win the title this season too, in case Liverpool loses a few games, Arsenal could win the title.

However, not only Liverpool looks like they are going to do better than everyone else, but also Arsenal looks like they are not going to win all their games. They could literally end up losing this game against Manchester City and nobody would be shocked about it at all, it does look like a possibility.