⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Adbitco]

If you ask me, I don't think anyone else could have helped this Manchester United finish even in top 4 this season.    I mean without bringing new players first.

Let's have a look at their manager history...



There have been people like van Gaal, Mourinho and Rangnick managing this team. Especially Mourinho is the most successful one among them. But what did he do more than winning the Europa League with Manchester United? Even he couldn't achieve a Premier League title. He also stated how difficult it was to finish in 2nd place with this team in the league - 2017-18 season.    Let's see what Amorim does. If he is given a 2nd chance then we will see if his transfers will change this team in a positive way.

Yeah, seems like after Sir Alex Ferguson's reign, Mourinho was the next best thing that happened to Manchester United. But this addition of the likes of Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Ruud Van Nisteelrooy isn't really adding up to me because these guys were never appointed as coaches in Manchester United, they were only what is called interim coaches. They were only there for the mean time while the club looked for coaches. So I won't count them as Manchester United coaches.

[SatoPrincess]

Liverpool played really horrible last night despite the 1-0 win. However this shouldn't be misleading because clearly Arne Slot didn't want to play all his cards. 

In two days, I'm confident that we will watch a completely different Liverpool. A much stronger one. Southampton is a really weak opponent and they will probably hope for not losing with another historical score.    The season is already theoretically over in terms of championship but still nothing is official yet. Therefore I won't expect any complacency from Liverpool until declaring it officially. Arne Slot already has 2 more years on his contract but this incredible season will secure his seat even more than ever.

Liverpool were nowhere close to their usual performance level we have been witnessing lately in the premier league this season, they looked weak and let PSG do most of the play in the game. PSG dominated the game throughout and Liverpool were only lucky to get a goal which was enough to secure an away win for them but against Southampton I expected a much better result and they delivered by securing all three points to keep their title dream alive and stronger.

[Cookdata]

It wasn't actually a surprise because Nothingham forest has more form this season than Manchester city though many people think Manchester city will win but I didn't see that as possible because Manchester city has lost the scoring mentality, all they do now is posses and what is possession without scoring goal, it is a total waste of time and energy.They possed Nothingham forest and has more attempt and on target yet they lose the game.

Chelsea was looking for this opportunity for long and now they have it again and has become among the runners at the top of the table. Manchester City at may still make it back again because despite the fact that they are bad and not doing good consistently, you see that top 4, they will finish there unless Guardiola isn't the one leading that team, they may not be able to win this season Premeir League but they must have to finished at the top.

At this point, I think Arsenal and Nottingham Forest are just trying to be among the top second and person that will come out third but the first place is gone for good. To be even clear, if we finish the matches in this month of March and April and they don't have any loss or draw, it's finish for the runner teams because they can't meet up with Liverpool at this point, it's not going to work no matter how hard they try, Arsenal and Nottingham will remain, I think only the fourth place will be a concern for any team later makes it later.

[skarais]

~~~

Nottingham really made a big surprise in this game, they managed to beat Man City and maintain the third position. Those who were previously underrated are now able to provide competition for the top four positions, this is where the excitement of the EPL is, there is always a dark horse team every season. After Nottingham have just gained some great momentum, I hope they can maintain this form and continue to compete at the top of the Premier League, it will be more interesting as more clubs compete for the top four.

This is Nottingham's best season in the Premier League, but I wouldn't really believe they can maintain their good form in the long term. It's always hard to maintain a good performance in a league as competitive as the Premier League, so I wouldn't expect Nottingham to do it. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool haven't been consistent, let alone Nottingham.

It would be nice if the Champions League spot was always contested by many teams instead of just 4 regular teams, but unfortunately not many Premier League teams are able to maintain their performance. Nottingham certainly has the ambition to qualify for the Champions League next season, but they will have to fight hard to maintain their position now. By the way, Manchester United and Arsenal drew 1-1, so Liverpool are likely to claim the title early this season.

[ajiz138]

Nottingham really made a big surprise in this game, they managed to beat Man City and maintain the third position. Those who were previously underrated are now able to provide competition for the top four positions, this is where the excitement of the EPL is, there is always a dark horse team every season. After Nottingham have just gained some great momentum, I hope they can maintain this form and continue to compete at the top of the Premier League, it will be more interesting as more clubs compete for the top four.

It was a good game and Nottingham showed with this win that they are still in the game and are not going to give up so easily. City after the defeat can lose their place in the top 4, if Chelsea beats Leicester then this will happen, I think that Maresca is capable of beating such a weak opponent, especially since they have quite a high motivation for this. And City still need time, they are not ready yet.

Manchester City this season has begun to sink, they have been overtaken by Chelsea who won over Leicester, not to mention under the Manchester City standings there will be those who pursue with close points, namely Brighton, Aston Villa if they continue to experience defeats or draws then it could be that the Champion League ticket will not be reached again, it's just that now still has time to improve the club.

[ndutndut]

I don't really underestimate a team like Nottingham Forest this season to be frank. They have been giving fine football this season but that doesn't mean they haven't suffered huge lost this season against Bournemouth when they lost 5 goals to nil. Football do happen indeed but the lost was still somehow surprising.

Pep Guardiola and his men definitely would be disappointed by the way.

Nottingham really made a big surprise in this game, they managed to beat Man City and maintain the third position. Those who were previously underrated are now able to provide competition for the top four positions, this is where the excitement of the EPL is, there is always a dark horse team every season. After Nottingham have just gained some great momentum, I hope they can maintain this form and continue to compete at the top of the Premier League, it will be more interesting as more clubs compete for the top four.

This season Nottingham made a big surprise by continuing to maintain their 3rd position in the standings, at the beginning of the season they were not even predicted to enter the top four but until now they have consistently maintained that position. You could say they are a dark horse team and maybe Nottingham will be victorious again because they are a sleeping lion and it's time for the lion to wake up and take control again. Because as far as I know Nottingham used to have a glorious period in the EPL.

When Nottingham beat Man City, their coach Nuno Santo seemed to have read Man City's game under Pep Guardiola. In Pep Gaudiola's philosophy, losing the ball is illegal, playing long balls is illegal and playing by only relying on counterattacks is also an abomination, a coach who is truly one-way. Nuno Espírito Santo understands this so he applies a strategy that only relies on defense and counterattacks which is very effective.

[Ryu_Ar1]

It was actually quite surprising when Southampton took the lead in today's match but it seems that it was not enough especially with 2 mistakes that resulted in penalties making Liverpool comeback with a score of 3-1 in this match.

Quite happy to see Southampton get 1 goal first, it's just that the dominance shown by Liverpool is quite good in today's match which makes Southampton unable to focus especially to withstand the onslaught by Liverpool which makes them make repeated mistakes that make the referee give 2 penalties in this match.

But on the other hand, this penalty made Liverpool lucky in my opinion because it cannot be denied that if there were not many mistakes made by Southampton, this match could have been a draw but there were so many mistakes they made that made the previous advantage in the first half ended in vain.

Liverpool played badly in the first half. They took too much time and didn't maximize the balls they got. Conceded in injury time made Slot think to make substitutions with Harvey Elliott, Andy Robertson, and Alexis Mac Allister, and it worked to increase the game tempo. I admit Salah's role made Liverpool become impressive to stumble Southampton defends, Liverpool should think to extend his contract to honor him. So with this win, Liverpool is getting further away from Arsenal. Liverpool will lock in the title more faster if they can win the rest of the match. Liverpool just needs to win 6 matches to lock that because if Arsenal wins all the exciting matches, they can't surpass the Liverpool point.

The current conditions are uncertain for Liverpoool when talking about the Salah problem because until this season is over it seems that the decision about Salah is a little difficult for us to decide because most of the speculation that occurs for now but there is no clarity whatsoever for the future of Salah and several other players whose contracts are almost complete.

But it cannot be denied that for now Salah's role is still very important for Liverpool's attacking line because after all despite his age, Salah is still very productive as their goal machine.

What is clear in this case for next week Liverpool must again show their impressive level to be better because after all we must be aware that in the end when their performance is the same as against Southampton or PSG in the Champions League then the possibility of them losing points or moments must be very large.

[emrecemsan]

How will anyone even think the match will be difficult for Liverpool? Southampton is a club that can’t avoid relegation this season, how will Southampton be able to defeat Liverpool or even give them difficult time in the match, I expected a win from Liverpool, and I knew it’s going to be a easy win for Liverpool, and they were able to secure a win in the match, Liverpool is so close to winning the trophy this season. Slot won’t do anything stupid right now, he will do everything possible to win all the matches which he is having left.

You got me wrong. I meant I thought like that at halftime. Because we all saw Southampton finishing the half 1-0 ahead. Otherwise before the match of course I didn't expect Liverpool to struggle even a bit. 


It's time to talk about the main event of the day. It ended by 1-1 maybe but we could have watched more goals in the 2nd half actually. What a performance by Raya!    3 critical saves as far as I can remember but the last one in the stoppage time is worth watching over and over again.

Manchester United could have won this match. They wasted important chances while they were 1-0 ahead. That goal was another thing of course.    They didn't do much in the 1st half but a lovely free-kick by Bruno Fernandes changed everything. Amorim must be sad because of missing a big chance to win here.

[Issa56]

It wasn't actually a surprise because Nothingham forest has more form this season than Manchester city though many people think Manchester city will win but I didn't see that as possible because Manchester city has lost the scoring mentality, all they do now is posses and what is possession without scoring goal, it is a total waste of time and energy.They possed Nothingham forest and has more attempt and on target yet they lose the game.

Manchester City performance dropped drastically this season, and Nottingham forest has been playing well this season, before the match started, I knew anything can happen, and I was not sure one particular team will win the match, I know Nottingham forest will want to qualify for the champions league, and they are ready to do anything to achieve that, but if I will be saying the truth, seriously Nottingham forest really deserve to qualify for the champions league, they really played well this season.

Manchester City are always creating chances, but the problem is that they are always missing  most of those chances, and they are always conceding towards ending of the match, it has happened to them repeatedly in different matches this season, they are always conceding at the second half of their matches.

[LGD2Business]

Now we can say Liverpool are champions. Arsenal have lost points again and mathematically Liverpool are very close to becoming champions. Years of longing are coming to an end for them. While Manchester City is absent in the title race, Arsenal couldn't win again. I wonder when this longing will come to an end. It would have been very rare for City to stumble, Arsenal failed to take this opportunity again. Next season City will probably return to their old ways and will be the biggest favorites for the title again. Arsenal missed the opportunity that came after years. They are paying the price for not buying a proper striker.

[red4slash]

Manchester City are always creating chances, but the problem is that they are always missing  most of those chances, and they are always conceding towards ending of the match, it has happened to them repeatedly in different matches this season, they are always conceding at the second half of their matches.

They have tried a lot of schemes for now but Pep is also still quite difficult to make Manchester City's performance return to normal because of several things including in this case the flow of the ball to Haaland, who has always been their targetman, is disrupted because the opponent knows that when Haaland cannot play effectively when guarded, Manchester City's chances of scoring are getting weaker because after all for now there is still no other alternative for goal scorers besides Haaland.

Their dominance in every match is always good because after all we don't need to doubt Manchester City's dominance on the field, it's just that when their goal productivity is poor then it's clear that this is very difficult for them now which makes the dominance they always do have to be lost because of their poor finishing.
Their defense is also very bad for now even if you look at the comparison of their productivity this season and last season is very visible the difference is so jumping.

[BITCOIN4X]

~Snip

This season Nottingham made a big surprise by continuing to maintain their 3rd position in the standings, at the beginning of the season they were not even predicted to enter the top four but until now they have consistently maintained that position. You could say they are a dark horse team and maybe Nottingham will be victorious again because they are a sleeping lion and it's time for the lion to wake up and take control again. Because as far as I know Nottingham used to have a glorious period in the EPL.

When Nottingham beat Man City, their coach Nuno Santo seemed to have read Man City's game under Pep Guardiola. In Pep Gaudiola's philosophy, losing the ball is illegal, playing long balls is illegal and playing by only relying on counterattacks is also an abomination, a coach who is truly one-way. Nuno Espírito Santo understands this so he applies a strategy that only relies on defense and counterattacks which is very effective.

To beat a team with good ball possession skills, you must be able to defend well and have the strength to build quick counterattacks. Nottingham succeeded in doing this in the last match, but such a strategy will not be as useful when the more dominant team is able to take advantage of goal opportunities well. Manchester City's problem in that match was poor finishing, even if there were only a few chances.

For me, Nottingham is just a seasonal team whose performance is only good in one season, while they return to playing inconsistently the following season. Even if next season Nottingham qualifies for the Champions League, then they will only be a team that goes home early or only enters the playoff phase. I'm sure of that, but they've been great this season.

[MK-74]

Chelsea beat Leicester City 1-0 at home.

Tottenham drew 2-2 against Bournemouth after falling behind 2-0.

M.United drew 1-1 with Arsenal at home, I thought Arsenal would win this match.
M.United would have won the match if they could have kept the score but they could not protect their goal against the goal.

[kawetsriyanto]

This season Nottingham made a big surprise by continuing to maintain their 3rd position in the standings, at the beginning of the season they were not even predicted to enter the top four but until now they have consistently maintained that position. You could say they are a dark horse team and maybe Nottingham will be victorious again because they are a sleeping lion and it's time for the lion to wake up and take control again. Because as far as I know Nottingham used to have a glorious period in the EPL.

I'm not following the history of Nottingham but surely no one expects this team to be in the top 3 in the beginning of this season. In the previous season, Nottingham was almost relegated because they were in 17th place. If this season they can be in the top 3, no doubt that everyone must be very surprised with this team. However, we often saw a surprise in EPL but it usually only can't continue for the next season. In the season 2015-2016, Leicester City ever won the EPL title but in the next season 2016-2017, they only finished in the 12th place.

When Nottingham beat Man City, their coach Nuno Santo seemed to have read Man City's game under Pep Guardiola. In Pep Gaudiola's philosophy, losing the ball is illegal, playing long balls is illegal and playing by only relying on counterattacks is also an abomination, a coach who is truly one-way. Nuno Espírito Santo understands this so he applies a strategy that only relies on defense and counterattacks which is very effective.

Nuno Santo must learn the tactics made by Guardiola. But in the match, Man City actually dominated the match. Unfortunately, Man City failed to score goals. Meanwhile Nottingham could score a single goal. Man City may be unlucky, meanwhile Nottingham played with a more effective startegy.

[Akbarkoe]

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

Manchester United could have won this match. They wasted important chances while they were 1-0 ahead. That goal was another thing of course.    They didn't do much in the 1st half but a lovely free-kick by Bruno Fernandes changed everything. Amorim must be sad because of missing a big chance to win here.

Although in this match Manchester United only managed to get one point, but it was better than having to see them swallow the bitter pill of defeat again.

In the match it was quite surprising because under the dominance of the game played by Arsenal, Ruben Amorin's team was able to score a goal over Arsenal, right before the first half really ended, which made Man United take the lead first.

It was indeed quite unfortunate because Ruben Amorin's team was unable to maintain the advantage until the end of the match, but on the other hand Arsenal continued to try to press Man United's defense, until finally Man United had to concede and the score became a draw.

.........................
City are always creating chances, but the problem is that they are always missing  most of those chances, and they are always conceding towards ending of the match, it has happened to them repeatedly in different matches this season, they are always conceding at the second half of their matches.

Yes, lately Manchester City players have not performed optimally and have not been able to maintain their consistency on the field well. So in several matches they had to draw or lose, even though in those matches they were able to outperform the opposing team.

At this time their position is quite depressed, and it is impossible to return to the competition for the championship title. However, Pep has another target, namely how at the end of the season Man City can finish at least in 4th position.

[JeffBrad12]

Now we can say Liverpool are champions. Arsenal have lost points again and mathematically Liverpool are very close to becoming champions. Years of longing are coming to an end for them. While Manchester City is absent in the title race, Arsenal couldn't win again. I wonder when this longing will come to an end. It would have been very rare for City to stumble, Arsenal failed to take this opportunity again. Next season City will probably return to their old ways and will be the biggest favorites for the title again. Arsenal missed the opportunity that came after years. They are paying the price for not buying a proper striker.

Liverpool has already won the league ever since last weeks. This happened when they started to widen their gaps to the Arsenal. This time it's just getting even bigger, and showed how Arsenal has crab mentality when compete for the title.

They forgot how dominant Liverpool when its lead the league before late season. The biggest mistakes being made by so many people were hoping them to get sloppy performance, which never happen.

The gap is too big between them and Arsenal. It's impossible for Arsenal to catch up them. It's impossible to do that now. It's a perfect season for Arne Slot, his first season, his first EPL trophy.

[EL MOHA]

For me, Nottingham is just a seasonal team whose performance is only good in one season, while they return to playing inconsistently the following season. Even if next season Nottingham qualifies for the Champions League, then they will only be a team that goes home early or only enters the playoff phase. I'm sure of that, but they've been great this season.

In as much as that Most of the premier league underdogs who have one season good football and end go playing in the champions league usually get knocked out early and then even miss out from European places in the following season, a typical example is the Newcastle United who got promoted to the champions and lost out in the group stages. But I wouldn’t be throwing away judgement out like that because we have seen clubs go through this same process and they become formidable and unstoppable. Leicester if I could remember didn’t get knocked out of the group stage, same with Aston Villa currently looking like they will make it to the Last eight of the tournament. So we can’t just rule out a team that have the ability to beat any team in the premier league choice

[death69]

I don't really underestimate a team like Nottingham Forest this season to be frank. They have been giving fine football this season but that doesn't mean they haven't suffered huge lost this season against Bournemouth when they lost 5 goals to nil. Football do happen indeed but the lost was still somehow surprising.

Pep Guardiola and his men definitely would be disappointed by the way.

Nottingham really made a big surprise in this game, they managed to beat Man City and maintain the third position. Those who were previously underrated are now able to provide competition for the top four positions, this is where the excitement of the EPL is, there is always a dark horse team every season. After Nottingham have just gained some great momentum, I hope they can maintain this form and continue to compete at the top of the Premier League, it will be more interesting as more clubs compete for the top four.

This season Nottingham made a big surprise by continuing to maintain their 3rd position in the standings, at the beginning of the season they were not even predicted to enter the top four but until now they have consistently maintained that position. You could say they are a dark horse team and maybe Nottingham will be victorious again because they are a sleeping lion and it's time for the lion to wake up and take control again. Because as far as I know Nottingham used to have a glorious period in the EPL.

When Nottingham beat Man City, their coach Nuno Santo seemed to have read Man City's game under Pep Guardiola. In Pep Gaudiola's philosophy, losing the ball is illegal, playing long balls is illegal and playing by only relying on counterattacks is also an abomination, a coach who is truly one-way. Nuno Espírito Santo understands this so he applies a strategy that only relies on defense and counterattacks which is very effective.

Pep Guardiola’s downfall has always been his philosophical arrogance. The idea that football must be played one way, his way. But football is war. Nuno Espírito Santo knew that and schooled him with the simplest formula: defend deep, counter fast, hit where it hurts. Forest had zero first-half threats, then came out and won. Why? Because they forced City into a slow, predictable passing game that kept Haaland irrelevant. And Pep spent £180m in January, yet his best attacking strategy is still Ederson booting it long.

Meanwhile, Forest just did what Atletico Madrid did to City in the past - sit back, absorb, strike. It’s poetic. But staying in the top 3 is different. They need depth, and their last 10 games will define whether this is Leicester 2016 vibes or just a fun detour.

[liuka]

Manchester City performance dropped drastically this season, and Nottingham forest has been playing well this season, before the match started, I knew anything can happen, and I was not sure one particular team will win the match, I know Nottingham forest will want to qualify for the champions league, and they are ready to do anything to achieve that, but if I will be saying the truth, seriously Nottingham forest really deserve to qualify for the champions league, they really played well this season.

Manchester City are always creating chances, but the problem is that they are always missing  most of those chances, and they are always conceding towards ending of the match, it has happened to them repeatedly in different matches this season, they are always conceding at the second half of their matches.

Manchester City has not been able to maintain its consistency well this season because in the first half of the season they played quite well but after entering the second half of the season their game became more chaotic and they could not show their best game at all. I think the top 4 place is now their target until the end of this season.

Well if they fail to close the season in the top 4 I think this season is the worst in their performance in several seasons. Indeed, the competition in the premier league is very tight but with the strength of Manchester City this season of course the depth of their team is still very strong compared to other teams. I think they have to learn to perform better in order to reach the top 4 ranking.

[Issa56]

Now we can say Liverpool are champions. Arsenal have lost points again and mathematically Liverpool are very close to becoming champions. Years of longing are coming to an end for them.

Even before todays match was played, I knew that Liverpool will be winning the premier league title for this season, because Arsenal lost the chance even before today, before todays match, Liverpool was leading Arsenal with 13 points, and the season is already coming to an end, just few matches are left to be played, how will Arsenal recover, and the points difference has increased to 15 already today, so their is nothing left for Arsenal.

I was thinking this season premier league title belongs to Arsenal, since they have been ending the league in second position in the last two seasons, and Manchester City which have been winning the league are not currently in form, I was thinking Arsenal will take advantage of that, but Arsenal still choose to end the season in second position this season again which is a bad one.

Liverpool is the team which I never expected them to perform good this season just because they signed a new coach, and I was thinking it’s going to take time before the coach adapts to the team, but they ended up surprising me, he will be winning the league title the same season he joined Liverpool.