The 2025-26 Premier League season is nearly upon us and excitement is building among the 20 teams competing in the 34th edition of arguably the biggest and strongest football league in the world.
Almost 12 weeks have passed since Liverpool lifted their second Premier League title in Arne Slot’s debut campaign as head coach at Anfield, with the Reds finishing 10 points clear of their nearest challengers Arsenal in second.
The defending champions will kick-start the new campaign at home to Bournemouth on August 15 and will hope to make a winning start as they endeavour to fend off stiff competition from several rival clubs bidding to knock the Merseysiders off their perch.
Ahead of the new season, Sports Mole takes a closer look at how many points could be required to win the Premier League title, taking into account data from previous campaigns.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates with the Premier League trophy on May 19, 2024
At least 88 points may be required to win Premier League title
The Premier League was formed in 1992 and a total of 42 matches were played by 22 clubs in each of the first three seasons, before the league was reduced to 20 teams with 38 games played from the 1995-96 season onwards.
Since and including the first Premier League season in 1992-93, the average number of points accumulated by the champions is 87.8 points, but recent history suggests that title contenders will need more than that to come out on top.
Since the arrival of legendary manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in 2016, the average has risen to 93.6 points, with a slight drop to 90 points over the last two seasons.
Guardiola successfully steered Man City to an unprecedented fourth consecutive title in the 2023-24 season - his sixth in total since arriving in England - but he endured a difficult 2024-25 campaign as his Citizens’ side were forced to settle for a third-placed finish, 13 points behind deserved winners Liverpool who notched up 84 points.
Man City may have lost their long-standing label as reigning champions, but they are still the only Premier League club to have ever accumulated 100 points in a single campaign, achieving their historic ‘Centurion’ season in 2017-18 when they won 32, drew four and lost just two games to win the title by a whopping 19 points.
This is the closest that any team has ever come to collecting the maximum of 114 points on offer in a 38-game Premier League season.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah poses with the Premier League trophy on May 25, 2025
Liverpool’s 2019-20 title-winning side managed by Jurgen Klopp almost equalled Man City’s record when they picked up 99 points, while the Reds are also the team to accumulate the most points and fail to win a Premier League title, collecting 97 points and finishing second behind Man City (98) in 2018-19.
The 90-point mark has been reached a total of 12 times by Premier League champions (36.36%). Six of those have been achieved across the last eight seasons, while Manchester United were the first team to notch up more than 90 points back in 1993-94 (42 games).
Between 2009-10 and 2015-16, no Premier League team picked up 90 points or more to win the title. Man City and Man United came closest in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively (89 points each), while Leicester City collected only 81 points to secure their first and only title to date in memorable fashion in the 2015-16 season.
Only three teams in Premier League history have won the title with fewer than 80 points. Man United’s total of 75 in the 1995-96 season in the lowest ever recorded, and that was followed by Arsenal and the Red Devils again winning with 78 and 79 points respectively in the next two seasons.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot celebrates securing the Premier League title on April 27, 2025
Who will challenge for the Premier League title this season?
Defending champions Liverpool head into the new season as favourites to retain their crown as Slot has been backed heavily in the summer transfer window, with over £250m spent on several eye-catching new recruits.
The Reds have broken the British transfer record to sign playmaker Florian Wirtz - and they could do it again to sign Alexander Isak - while Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike have also been added to a star-studded squad including captain colossus Virgil van Dijk, elite shot-stopper Alisson Becker and last season’s Player of the Year and top scorer Mohamed Salah.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal will be viewed as strong challengers after strengthening their squad with goal machine Viktor Gyokeres, midfield maestro Martin Zubimendi and wing wizard Noni Madueke, but questions marks remain over whether they are capable of making the next step and ending their 22-year top-flight drought after three successive second-placed finishes.
Many are backing Man City to bounce back from what was a disappointing 2024-25 season by their extremely high standards. Although Kevin De Bruyne has departed and Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is yet to return to full fitness, Guardiola still has a talented squad at his disposal, including new signings Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and James Trafford.
FIFA Club World Cup champions Chelsea are another team who could be fighting for top spot. The cash has once again been splashed by the Blues this summer, with Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, Jorell Hato, Jamie Gittens and Estevao added to an exciting, youthful squad including star attacker Cole Palmer, who Enzo Maresca will be relying on to deliver the goods once again.
Manchester United have strengthened their frontline with Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, but an immediate challenge for the title after finishing down in 15th spot last season seems a long shot, and the same can be said for Thomas Frank’s Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, who are at risk of losing Isak before the transfer window closes.
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