The 2025/26 Premier League season is under way, and with heavy investments made by the biggest clubs in England, the new campaign is shaping up to be a, hopefully, more competitive one than the 2024/25 season when Liverpool effectively ran away with the league.
Liverpool, of course, got even stronger this summer with the additions of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike to the attack, and not only did both men shine in a gutsy opening win over underdogs Bournemouth, but Liverpool are also eyeing another big splash in Newcastle star Alexander Isak.
But Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, and even Manchester United all made considerable upgrades to their starting XIs last season as they look to push for more in 2025/26.
Even Tottenham could finish the summer window with a strong crew if they are able to sign dream targets Eberechi Eze and Savinho to join forces with new winger Mohammed Kudus.
With one Matchday in the books in the Premier League, let’s begin to set early goals and expectations for each Big Six team in England based on what they should be aiming to accomplish in the coming campaign, both in the Premier League and in the Champions League.
Liverpool
For Liverpool, nothing less than a title triumph will appease the supporters, as the goal for the Reds is to set a new dominant era in which they are THE main force in English football above Manchester City.
Although Liverpool won the Premier League by a comfortable margin last season, they were wise in not remaining complacent and instead signing arguably the two biggest young gems on the summer 2025 transfer market in striker Ekitike and world-class playmaker Wirtz.
That’s in order to keep up with the other Premier League title competitors, but it’s also to push for a Champions League title. Liverpool won the competition in 2018/19 and reached the Final in 2021/22, but their performance at the highest level of European football has been a bit of a letdown since.
Last season, Liverpool had the gut punch of falling to eventual winners PSG on penalties in the quarterfinals, and they are in it to win it all. A treble is a realistic goal for Liverpool, because it’s the accomplishment that just eluded them in 2021/22, and it’s also reflective of both their excellence in the 2024/25 season and their active summer transfer window immediately afterwards.
Arsenal
Nothing less than a major title will satisfy Arsenal supporters. The FA Cup, the League Cup, none of those secondary titles matter to Arsenal supporters more than the Champions League title they’ve never won or the Premier League title they haven’t won in decades.
Arsenal have come agonizingly close to the Premier League crown in two of the last three seasons, and while they were second for a third straight campaign in 2024/25, the reality is that they were nowhere near Liverpool.
The Gunners hope that 38-goal Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres is the No. 9 solution they were sorely missing these last three years, but whether or not the Swede alone is enough of an upgrade on the attack remains to be seen, especially with Liverpool’s league-best offense only getting more dangerous this summer.
Of course, Arsenal didn’t only add Gyokeres this window. Martin Zubimendi is a top-class anchoring midfield to join forces with Declan Rice, Noni Madueke adds depth on the wing, Ethan Nwaneri is going to play a bigger role in 2025/26, and Cristhian Mosquera adds more depth to arguably the league’s best defense.
Arsenal have to win the Premier League title at a minimum this season, because so much money and so many “almosts” are wearing thin on the fans’ patience. Mikel Arteta’s job is safe, even if Arsenal don’t win a major trophy, but failure still wouldn’t feel any less disappointing to everyone involved.
Manchester City
Manchester City fell from nearly perennial champions to a club that barely scratched and clawed its way to a top-five spot, largely because they were not proactive about staying on top and watched as their aging midfield got absolutely ripped to shreds all season long.
The Citizens signed a new left back in Rayan Ait-Nouri to shift Josko Gvardiol back to center back and help the overall machination of the back line, and they also snagged a two-headed monster of playmakers in Tijjani Reijinders and Rayan Cherki to add more firepower for superstar striker Erling Haaland.
In all reality, Man City still don’t have the best squad in the Premier League, and it’s debatable if their pieces are any better than Arsenal’s or even Chelsea’s. The goal for Manchester City every season is to win the Premier League, though, and they do have some of the league’s most elite players in Haaland, Gvardiol, and Rodri, when he comes back from injury.
As for the Champions League, Manchester City are still probably another transfer window away from returning as one of the favorites alongside Barcelona, PSG, Liverpool, and Real Madrid. But they aren’t far off.
Predicting an exact goal for a team in the Champions League is a little bit trickier since there is volatility based on opponent selection. For example, Liverpool would have gone much further in the competition if they didn’t run into the wall that was PSG so early in the knockout stages.
But I think a semifinals appearance is realistic for Manchester City. They need to prove that they are back in the mix among the contenders in European football’s premier competition, even if they, realistically, aren’t as strong as Barcelona and PSG yet with a need to revamp their squad a little bit more.
Chelsea
Chelsea finally reached their minimum goal of achieving Champions League football, but it wasn’t until after the season ended and they won an easy Conference League title that they truly teased their ability to compete for more.
The Blues recovered from a bad loss to Flamengo in the group stages of the Club World Cup, blowing out reigning Champions League winners PSG 3-0 in a Final that made a massive statement to the rest of the powers in European football that London’s posh club are back to compete with the big boys.
Aside from Ballon d’Or candidate Cole Palmer pulling the strings in the attacking midfield, Chelsea have one of the best midfield anchors in Europe behind him – and they got even stronger this summer with Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos coming in.
Chelsea have much better winger options this year with Estevao Willian and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens replacing the far less industrious and consistent (despite their greater experience) duo of Joao Felix and Jadon Sacho.
Better yet, Chelsea vastly upgraded their striker situation by bringing in Joao Pedro from Brighton and Liam Delap from Ipswich Town as two of the best young forwards in the Premier League last season – and they still haven’t gotten rid of Nicolas Jackson yet.
What could ultimately hold Chelsea back, though, is a defense that has some question marks. But if someone like Wesley Fofana or Benoit Badiashile steps up to their full potential, that may prove to be a strength, too.
As much as Chelsea have been mocked and derided over the past few years, the Blues are legitimate Premier League title contenders. Their goal isn’t to win the title just yet, but it is to push the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City very closely by being in the conversation throughout the campaign.
When it comes to the Champions League, Chelsea do have what it takes to make a fairytale, surprise title run like in 2020/21 or even the run in the previous decade. That’s usually how Chelsea win it, and after they won the Club World Cup, nobody should be counting the Blues out. A semifinals appearance is a very realistic target.
Tottenham
Tottenham need to crack the top-five again and maintain Champions League football, because they can’t qualify for the top competition in European football by winning the Europa League this time around.
Spurs have added a couple of useful players in this transfer window, but if they can’t grab a new No. 10 with James Maddison now out with a torn ACL and can’t sign another winger to replace MLS-bound Son Heung-min, then Spurs are in for another long season.
After finishing 17th in the Premier League, Tottenham have a lot to prove, and while the early returns under Thomas Frank indicate he could be an even stronger coach than Ange Postecoglou, the way Spurs threw away their lead to PSG also showed just how much work needs to be done to their squad.
If Tottenham can make the right additions to close the window, a top-five finish is far easier to achieve, but it is the goal regardless. Avoiding embarrassment in the Champions League and at least making it past the first knockout round is a valid goal for the Spurs project.
As much as Tottenham are still lacking in terms of difference makers, the foundations of their defense is incredible, and as their Europa League title run showed the world, this Spurs squad has a lot of character, which can go a long way if the club can inject sufficient star power into it.
Manchester United
Manchester United have similar goals to Tottenham in the Premier League, minus the European football aspect after they also finished comfortably in the bottom half of the league table last season.
As the Europa League Final showed, Man United were not as strong of a team nor as cohesive as Spurs, and although they went ahead and bought an entirely new front line this summer, there are still serious issues at the base of the midfield and even at goalkeeper.
Arsenal exposed Manchester United again, pitching a shutout on the opening weekend in another 1-0 defeat for the Red Devils against a big London club. However, Ruben Amorim’s season won’t be judged on the first month, since there are still so many new faces and so much work to be done after Erik ten Hag set the organization back even further through his Draconian rule.
That said, Manchester United can’t keep using the new personnel excuse year after year when the whole purpose of investing so heavily on the transfer market is to achieve results, preferably sooner rather than later.
Anything less than a top-five finish after their expenditure on Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, and Matheus Cunha would be a failure, and anything less than a Europa League placement is likely a fireable offense for Amorim, who likely has less rope to work with than he would like.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.