Battle for glory, redemption, European places and surviving relegation — English Premier League returns

After a three-month hiatus the world’s most popular league is finally back. The 2025/26 season kicks off on 15 August, with reigning champions Liverpool clashing with Bournemouth. As far as opening fixtures are concerned, it’s a fair one for the Reds.

Arne Slot’s men are hoping to begin their title defence with the same intensity that marked their march to last season’s crown, when they won three matches on the spin to lay down the gauntlet to rivals.

The team that came closest to even mounting some sort of challenge as Liverpool did their best Eliud Kipchoge impression was Arsenal. The Gunners eventually finished a disappointing 10 points behind the English champions, but even that was due to Liverpool slowing down towards the finish line.

Gunners’ time?

Arsenal’s young but mature team is chasing the club’s first league title in more than two decades. Victory in their opening match – against Manchester United – will send a major message about the progress of the process that Arsenal fans have trusted since Mikel Arteta’s appointment as manager in 2019.

The process has seen the Gunners finish in second place three times in the past three years. The first two times it was said that the team was still young and inexperienced when it came to competing for league honours.

Last season, Arteta’s men would have jumped to the top of a number of people’s lists of league contenders when Manchester City crumbled after dominating the Premier League for four successive seasons. Instead, it was Slot’s Liverpool that raced to a second national title in the Premier League era.

It feels like this season will be extremely important for Arteta’s future. His team has matured, but it still possesses a number of young yet battle-hardened players. Smart acquisitions such as midfielder Martín Zubimendi and Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres have added another dimension to the Gunners. This has piled more pressure on Arteta to finally succeed.   

“Well, it’s certain he’s going to add a different kind of threat and options to score goals from a situation that before we didn’t have the opportunity to do so. So, he’s a real value there for us,” Arteta said of Gyökeres.

Redemption for Red Devils

Of course, they begin their league campaign against a Red Devils team coming off their worst Premier League season in history. United lost 18 of their 38 league matches in 2024/25, eventually ending the campaign three places above the relegation zone with just 42 points.

Redemption is on Ruben Amorim’s mind after his horrific start to life in Manchester. The Portuguese manager replaced Erik ten Hag after the Dutchman was dismissed in October 2024 following a poor start. 

Things did not improve under Amorim, culminating in the aforementioned conclusion to the Red Devils’ campaign.

The United hierarchy – which moved brutally last season, cutting hundreds of jobs as part of a financial restructure – has backed Amorim in the current transfer window.

This is particularly true on the attacking front, where the Manchester club has signed Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo and Brazilian Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Slovenian striker Benjamin Šeško has joined from RB Leipzig. These additions have pleased Amorim as he looks to resurrect a fallen soccer giant.

“[A selection headache] is a good thing. It is supposed to be like that, not like last season that we have to struggle to put 11 players on the pitch. This is the normal thing. So, I need to think and they [the players] need to fight during the week,” Amorim said of the competition for places.

“Things are getting better. But in the end, we need to win games,” the 40-year-old added.

What better platform to announce this serious intent than with a convincing victory over the Gunners on Sunday, 17 August? Especially since all eyes will be on this fixture as the marquee match of round one, season 34.

Frankly spurred on

Despite winning their first trophy in 17 years with a Europa League victory last season, Tottenham Hotspur suffered even more than United in the Premier League. Finishing one place above relegation forced Spurs chairperson Daniel Levy to sack manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou has been replaced by Danish tactician Thomas Frank (51), who transformed Brentford into one of the toughest and most exciting teams in the Premier League during his seven-year tenure. Similar is expected of him at Spurs, in a job that has frustrated some of the best managers in soccer history.   

Teams such as Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest have taken advantage of the slumbering United and Spurs in recent seasons. In 2025/26, they will also again be hungry to prove that their presence in the top six and in European competition is deserved.    

Further down the log table, newly promoted Sunderland, Burnley and Leeds United will be out to halt the recent trend of new arrivals being relegated one season after ascending to the top tier of English soccer.    

Over the past two seasons the newcomers have departed as quickly as they arrived. Last season, Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town could not fend off the dreaded drop. At the end of the 2023/24 campaign Luton Town, Sheffield United and Burnley were sent packing. DM