After Manchester United upset Liverpool and Tottenham fell yet again to Aston Villa, it’s time to take stock of the predicted top five of the 2025/26 Premier League table after another thrilling weekend of action on Matchday 8.
5\. Tottenham
-------------
Bournemouth are so hard to leave off this list, and Tottenham Hotspur are just barely hanging on to the fifth spot. But what helps Spurs is the acknowledgment that they are still growing under Thomas Frank and that they have so many key players out injured.
Randal Kolo Muani, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, and James Maddison would all be starters or important players for Spurs, and the last-minute loss of World Cup hero Cristian Romero vs. Aston Villa has to be acknowledged, too.
4\. Chelsea
-----------
Chelsea have their own injury woes, including a multi-week absence for Cole Palmer. It’s honestly hard to justify ranking Chelsea any higher than this in light of their defensive issues, but with Josh Acheampong showing out against Nottingham Forest, maybe those concerns will be addressed, including in the January transfer window.
As it stands, Chelsea are legitimate title contenders in the Premier League, and honestly any of these four clubs has a fair shot at winning it all this season when it comes down to it.
3\. Manchester City
-------------------
When you have a player like Erling Haaland firing goals at will, it can paper over so many other cracks in ths team, and the Norwegian sensation’s 11 goals are a huge reason why Man City aren’t missing the presence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri as much.
Manchester City have their flaws and are often far from convincing from a defensive standpoint, but they did pretty darn well this weekend when they took Jack Grealish’s Everton down 2-0.
2\. Liverpool
-------------
Liverpool were easily the biggest losers of this weekend, falling 2-1 to Manchester United, and while that could honestly plummet them down further in the power rankings, the Reds are still the biggest title challengers to the Gunners.
The defending champions have so much quality in their squad, and it’s only a matter of time before Arne Slot figures out who the real culprits are – and those culprits, like superstar Mohamed Salah, have plenty of time to turn things around.
1\. Arsenal
-----------
It sure isn’t pretty, but you can’t deny that Mikel Arteta and [Arsenal](https://goonernews.com/) are getting the job done, and they are only going to get stronger with key players like new signing Piero Hincapie coming in from injury.
Bukayo Saka dropped a masterclass on the heads of local rivals Fulham, who are a pretty darn good team in their own right. There’s a lot of star power in this Arsenal squad, and the new double pivot of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi just might be the finest in all of European football.
Joe Soriano is the editor of _The Trivela Effect_ and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like _The Real Champs_ (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage _NFL Spin Zone_ and _Daily DDT,_ covering the NFL and pro wrestling.