Barring Monday’s battle between Everton and Leeds, the first Matchday of the 2025/26 Premier League season is complete, and whether it was Arsenal toasting Manchester United 1-0 or Chelsea falling to a 0-0 draw to local rivals Crystal Palace, there were no shortage of storylines to emerge from a suspense-building opening weekend in English football.
With all the investment that the Big Six clubs, sans Tottenham (though that could change soon), have made this summer transfer window, the 2025/26 Premier League season is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing in years.
Speaking of which, over the past couple of seasons, the Premier League has gotten more unpredictable with mid-table sides like Fulham, Brentford, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, and, of course, Brighton emerging as European contenders, pushing out traditional powers like Manchester United and Tottenham and forcing the two powerhouses to take stock of their transfer strategies and club structure.
As the 2025/26 Premier League season gets under way, let’s take a step back and do our best to predict how the table will ultimately shake out when the season ends, balancing the desire to boost up clubs that were busy this summer and the acknowledgment that, sometimes, building on continuity is the way to go.
20. Burnley
Burnley were left powerless in their Saturday opener against the reigning Europa League champions, as an inspired Richarlison helped Tottenham dust the returning Premier League underdogs 3-0 in a game that was never close.
Last season, all three of the teams to return to the Premier League – Southampton, Ipswich Town, and Leicester City – were immediately relegated, and none of them were able to put up much a fight; there wasn’t any sort of an actual relegation battle in the Premier League last season.
Leeds and Sunderland have invested enough to make me think that things will be different this year, but like Ipswich last season, Burnley simply look too overmatched and devoid of talent to inspire confidence in their ability to survive the 2025/26 Premier League season.
It’s a similar situation to where Burnley have been in the past, as the Clarets have been relegated twice since 2021. They’ve made a couple of decent signings this summer, but other than Marcus Edwards, it’s hard to see any of them having the upside to suddenly be even average Premier League starters immediately this season – and even Edwards is probably stretching it a little bit.
Burnley have historically built themselves on having a steady defense, but even that is hard to see being the case in 2025/26, judging by how easily Tottenham tore them apart on Matchday 1.
19. West Ham
The time may be coming for one of the Premier League’s richest clubs to fall, as West Ham probably would have been relegated last season if it weren’t for the sheer incompetence of the three teams that came up last season.
Leeds and Sunderland are no sure-fire things, but their squads actually look more balanced than West Ham’s, and the Hammers sold their second-biggest difference-maker, Mohammed Kudus, to rivals Tottenham and may have to worry about where Lucas Paqueta is going, too.
West Ham have so little star power in their squad. Aside from Jarrod Bowen, who has been one of the Premier League’s most reliable wingers over the past few seasons, it’s hard to get excited about any of the attacking options the Hammers have, regardless of how much your Uncle Davey tries to gas up Niclas Fullkrug because he looks like a Lumberjack.
The Hammers are beyond woeful in midfield, entirely reliant on Bowen in the attack, and they aren’t even all that good defensively with a well below-average goalkeeping situation and a whole lot riding on how well Jean-Clair Todibo performs alongside Max Kilman. The jury is also out on how good of a coach Graham Potter is in the Premier League.
West Ham are a revolving door of issues that they never definitively fix year after year, and the 2025/26 season might be the time we are all finally spared from having to watch this toothless disaster of a team “compete” in the Premier League. David Moyes was fired for this, by the way.
15. Wolves
Wolves are another team that could easily be relegated this season, and after losing Matheus Cunha, who pretty much carried them to safety last season, it’s easy to see why so many are predicting them to go down.
But Wolves have a good defensive structure and quality in their midfield, particularly on the defensive side. Joao Gomes and Andre are an excellent midfield pivot, and I think Jose Sa can make enough saves to keep Wolves in more games than they should.
The Cunha loss is massive, and when you look at the business they made this summer, you really have to say that Wolves have not reinvested well enough, nor are they remotely prepared for the loss of a player who was legitimately one of the Premier League’s best last season.
Because Wolves have enough talent defensively and a good goalkeeper, they can avoid a more embarrassing season than the talent in their squad would otherwise reflect, but it’s still so hard to predict against Wolves being relegated in the 2025/26 campaign. They simply are not good enough.
Wolves being blown out 4-0 by Manchester City in the opener is hardly a harbinger of doom, but when you watch just how easily they were picked apart and how little of a goal threat they carry, you can’t help but feel even more down about their chances of making it.
17. Leeds
Leeds is going to be in a razor-thin relegation fight, and you can honestly make the case for any of these five teams being relegated. Regardless of the smart summer moves Sunderland and Leeds have made, the step up from the Championship to the Premier League is so tough that they still may not survive it.
But I think Leeds will ultimately scratch out another season in the Premier League. Some of the signings they made this summer are legitimate game-changers for a team fighting for survival, and my favorite of them just might be Anton Stach.
The former Mainz and Hoffenheim star has been one of the best No. 6’s in a Bundesliga that is quietly stacking up solid defensive midfield talent. He once had six assists in a campaign as a deep-lying playmaker while he is so good defensively that he had 3.7 tackles and interceptions per game last season with just 0.5 dribbles completed allowed on an otherwise incredibly disappointing Hoffenheim team last season.
Stach, Jaka Bijol, and Luca Perri are the kind of low-cost, high-upside defensive signings that can make the difference in the margins in a relegation fight, and the same can be said for a healthy Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who was a better free agent pickup than Callum Wilson over at West Ham.
16. Sunderland
Sunderland had one of the most active transfer windows of any club in the Premier League, and they really set the tone for how a team from the Championship needs to behave in the market if they want to give themselves a real shot at survival.
Most of the attention is going to be fixated on former Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka, who comes back to the Premier League after an even better run in his return to the Bundesliga, going undefeated in the 2023/24 season with Bayer Leverkusen as one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe.
Alongside him, Xhaka comes to Sunderland with Simon Adingra on the wing from Brighton, and Adingra can be the kind of spark and difference-maker that the other teams in the relegation fight don’t really have.
Habib Diarra, Enzo Le Fee, and Xhaka form a high-upside midfield with the right balance and intensity that any lower-level Premier League team would kill for, and the new defenders Omar Alderete and Nordi Mukiele are criminally underrated.
It’s harder to say where the goals will come from, but between Adingra and Marc Guiu coming in from Chelsea on loan, Sunderland did more than Leeds to inject potential firepower into their offense.
15. Everton
Whereas West Ham arguably had the least active summer transfer window of any Premier League club with no legitimate new starters coming on board, Everton quietly had one of the most active transfer windows of the summer.
A prediction of 15th seems harsh for David Moyes and Co., but the reality is that Everton have been toeing the line of relegation for a long time now and surely would have been sent packing years ago if it weren’t for the heroics of a certain Liverpool bus driver named Richard Arlison.
As much as I’d like to believe in the fairytale of new striker Thierno Barry coming in and firing Everton and Moyes away to relevancy, the Toffees have a thin defense, a terrible midfield that has not recovered from the sale of Amadou Onana to Aston Villa, and an attack that looks significantly better on paper than will likely be the case on Saturdays and Sundays on the actual pitch.
Everton are better than West Ham and have been better than the Hammers over the years, but the difference is only marginal. Jack Grealish is the only new signing who look like an above-average Premier League starter, and while Barry was good for Villarreal last season, he wasn’t great either.
So the Toffees just have Jarrad Branthwaite, Jordan Pickford, and Grealish as even average starters at this level. It’s not good enough, and Everton have to realize that years of signing the wrong players on the market and not properly developing their own attacking talents is going to continue to bite them hard.
14. Brentford
Brentford are another team that can be considered at threat of relegation, and if they lose Yoane Wissa to Newcastle, that will be 39 goals, key midfield leader Christian Norgaard, and top-class manager Thomas Frank gone with no real adequate replacements coming back in.
As brilliant as Bryan Mbeumo was last season as one of the best overall players in the Premier League and as many goals as Wissa scored alongside him, the biggest loss is obviously going to be Frank, whose supreme tactical knowledge has already been on display with Tottenham.
Brentford can’t replace someone who has meant that much to the club, but it’s been just as frustrating to see them barely reinvest the millions they were handed by Manchester United for their main star man, Mbeumo.
The Bees have recruited well enough over the years with players like Kevin Schade and Mikel Damsgaard still in the attack that I don’t think they will ultimately be relegated, but when your only big new addition is Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth, I just don’t see many reasons for optimism here.
Brentford certainly didn’t help matters either by getting absolutely rinsed by Nottingham Forest 3-1 in the opener, and it truly feels like the days of the Bees being European contenders are over.
13. Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace weathered the loss of superstar right winger Michael Olise well, because even though Olise went on to arguably outshine Harry Kane with Bayern Munich returning as champions of German football, the Eagles had an even better year by winning the FA Cup with Eberechi Eze as the main star.
Even if Eze leaves for local rivals Tottenham Hotspur this summer transfer window, Palace shouldn’t be in any danger of relegation, and unlike Brentford, they managed to keep their excellent young manager, Oliver Glasner, around.
Crystal Palace will definitely suffer the Eze loss in the Europa League if the attacking midfield star leaves, and Marc Guehi going to, say, Liverpool, would be just as devastating of a loss for a defense that shut Chelsea out 0-0 in the opener.
But Palace do have a worthy squad, relative to the teams below them in this predicted Premier League table, and they aren’t going to bleed all of their talents since players like Maxence Lacroix and Adam Wharton will stay.
It could get ugly without players as important as Guehi and Eze, but there’s also no guarantee they will leave just yet. Given Palace only signed Borna Sosa and Walter Benitez – two cheap, proven talents from other European leagues worth rolling the dice on for a comeback season – Eze and Guehi sales would at least give them room for a “real” signing to close the window.
12. Fulham
Fulham are just a solid, well-run organization, and Marco Silva’s men are pretty much regulars in the mid-table who have had a significantly higher chance of stumbling into European football than stumbling down the table anywhere near the relegation zone.
To be honest, it’s hard to envision the Cottagers competing in the top half of the table – let alone for a Conference League spot in 2026/27 – with how little attacking talent they have.
Alex Iwobi is probably going to slide a bit in output this season, Raul Jimenez is decent but on his last legs, and Fulham literally didn’t sign anyone notable to change their fortunes from that standpoint.
Basically, in the Premier League today with how much money flows and how much talent comes in from other leagues, if you aren’t getting significantly better, you are getting significantly worse.
While that is the boat Fulham seems to be in right now, there are enough other teams, like Brentford, getting even more worse and enough talent existing in Fulham (like Bernd Leno and Joachim Andersen) that I don’t see them finishing lower than 12th.
11. Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest made a strong statement with a 3-1 win over Brentford, and you could argue, in some ways, that they may be even stronger this season with Dan Ndoye joining Chris Wood and playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White in the attack.
But Forest did lose their best wide man, Anthony Elanga, to Newcastle, and I think that loss is going to be a lot bigger for Forest than they’d like to admit. I also think, in general, Forest are due for a slip this season, and they already could not sustain their apparent top-four pace in the 2024/24 campaign, eventually sliding in the end.
Still, Forest enjoyed a great 2024/25 campaign and finished seventh, and there’s actually a lot to like about this crew defensively and even offensively. But there’s a big gulf in quality between the top half of the table and the rest, and Forest are just on that bubble of teams in the top half. They are much better than Fulham and Brentford, but they are clearly not better than Tottenham or Newcastle, for example.
10. Bournemouth
Bournemouth had a strong 2024/25 campaign and were able to hold onto their best player, Antoine Semenyo, despite interest from clubs as big as Tottenham and Liverpool this summer.
Semenyo already made a big impact on Matchday 1 against Liverpool, and if it weren’t for the heroics of Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah (an unlikely and a likely source), the Cherries may have kicked off the entire Premier League season with a major upset of the reigning champions.
Bournemouth are so good at punching above their weight, including the weight of their own squad’s value. They admittedly have very little star power besides Semenyo and potentially Evanilson, but it’s the way all the pieces fit together that makes it work.
The Cherries have a squad of decent, athletic footballers who gel well together, and they keep making very astute signings on the transfer market, including bargain left back Adrien Truffert, who has the potential to become an all-time cult hero in the Premier League with the deft weight of his crosses.
Realistically, I can’t rank Bournemouth any higher than this, because they don’t have the quality or investment of a Manchester United, Tottenham, or Newcastle. But I do think they will maintain a spot in the top half of the Premier League.
9. Tottenham
Tottenham have arguably the most ranking to gain of any team in this predicted Premier League table, because while their squad looks a little bit underwhelming in an attacking sense right now, that could easily change with the additions of Eberechi Eze and Savinho.
If Spurs can manage to sign both established Premier League players, their ranking on this list will shoot up accordingly into the top five, because the rest of their squad is fairly strong, especially if someone like Pape Sarr or even Archie Gray can have a 2025/26 breakout in the middle of the park.
But as it stands with the way the squad looks right now, regardless how well they played against Burnley or for most of the match against Champions League winners PSG, it’s hard to rank Spurs any higher than 10th after they finished 17th in the Premier League last season and only got marginally better on the transfer market.
The James Maddison injury looms large, for example, as does the departure of Son Heung-min, so without adequate replacements (upgrades?) for both, Spurs are too hard to trust in a Premier League that keeps getting more and more competitive.
But Spurs will improve just by hiring Thomas Frank and signing Mohammed Kudus alone. Players like Richarlison will be in better shape with Frank this season than last. Spurs are tending in the right direction and won the Europa League even at their worst, so, again, they have the most ground to gain with the right moves to close the summer transfer window.
8. Manchester United
Manchester United suffered another humbling, falling 1-0 to Arsenal on opening day in a match that, once again, showed the significant gulf in class between a Premier League title contender and where Manchester United are currently out.
Digging out of the bottom half of the Premier League table doesn’t happen in a day, a matchweek, or even a month. But Ruben Amorim hasn’t fully shown that he has a process that works, utilizing tactics that have rarely ever been successful at the highest level of the Premier League – and certainly not in the last five to seven years.
Manchester United have reasons to be optimistic and even excited. After years of mucking about on the transfer market with substandard options in the hopes of a miracle breakout on the basis of the p-word “potential”, Man United actually went out and signed two proven Premier League supplementary goal-scorers in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo while also bagging a top young striker in Benjamin Sesko.
But while Sesko has more goal-scoring upside than either Rasmus Hojlund or Joshua Zirkzee, Manchester United are still paying with a capital P for a player with a lower case p of potential.
There are also holes in the squad in midfield and at goalkeeper that cannot be papered over and seem unlikely to be considerably upgraded before the window ends. Manchester United will be an improved package this season by virtue of the money injected, though, as history tells us, money isn’t everything – and it generally takes longer to dig out of a bottom half finish and into a top five one.
7. Newcastle
Newcastle could fall off this placement if they were to lose Alexander Isak without an adequate replacement, and although Yoane Wissa scored 19 goals at the Premier League level last season, I doubt even his relatives would argue that he’s close to the same striker that Isak is.
Isak was the best striker in the Premier League last season, and Newcastle were able to buoy that success to finishing fifth in the Premier League despite a host of down years from key players, namely fellow forward Anthony Gordon.
As Newcastle’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa showed us, the Magpies carry precisely half the threat they do with Isak in the lineup, and losing him would be devastating. Because even assuming Newcastle keep defending at a very high level, they have no way of making up the goals or the sense of danger.
There’s nobody else in the side – not even Elanga or Gordon – who can offer that same sense of ever-present danger or the ability to create magic out of thin air. Newcastle can’t expect to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal without that caliber of player, and even if they keep ahold of Isak, an unmotivated Isak, as Real Sociedad can attest, is clearly not the same player in part or parcel.
6. Aston Villa
Aston Villa survived a red card to scrounge out a point against a club they will fighting hard with for a top-five spot, Newcastle, though the result was also a reminder that Villa still don’t have enough star power in their squad.
They are going to be reliant on Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers cooking up another big season as a tandem, and there should be legitimate concerns about the state of their attack and goal threat outside of Watkins; Villa can ill afford to lose either player before the window ends.
As far as incoming transfers for Unai Emery, Villa have been quieter than in the past, which should be a bit concerning to their fans. The Lions did land one potential star for the attack in Evann Guessand, who was a breakout star in Ligue 1 last season, but with limited time, the Frenchman is a bit of a wild card.
Now, Guessand was a wild card signing worth making, and if he pans out, Villa could have one of the better tandems in the league between him and Watkins. But without any other notable additions, including to a defense that still starts Matty Cash at right back in 2025, it’s difficult to think of Aston Villa as anything more than a side destined for another Europa League type of finish in the 2025/26 season.
5. Brighton
After the departure of star man Joao Pedro to Chelsea, Matt O’Riley is going to play an important role in Brighton’s hopes next season, though that may change if Juventus can get their hands on the Seagulls sole goal-scorer of their 1-1 weekend draw with Fulham.
Brighton lost some quality footballers this window between Joao Pedro, Simon Adingra, and star left back Pervis Estupinan. But you could also argue that they made two significant incomings with underrated defenders Olivier Boscagli and Diego Coppola coming in at bargain prices.
So while Brighton will suffer offensively, particularly at striker, they will be better equipped defensively. Brighton have one of the best and most innovative young coaches in European football in Fabian Hurzeler, and the club was able to retain its main star, Carlos Baleba, despite significant interest from Manchester United.
Brighton may have lost Pedro without bringing anyone else big in at striker, but they already made some smart gambles on the transfer market last season that should pay off in a big way.
Georginio Rutter, Brajan Gruda, and Yankuba Minteh all have start potential in an attack led by left winger Kaoru Mitoma, who is one of the best in the Premier League in his position.
Brighton, given who is coaching them, have as much upside as any of the clubs in the mid-table battle, and with a steadier defense and the right attackers to break out and make good on their talent, the Seagulls could be such a surprise packge in the Premier League that they steal the fifth and final Champions League slot.
4. Chelsea
Chelsea only slightly improve in the Premier League table, but out of all the clubs behind Liverpool seeking to steal away the Premier League title, you could argue that the Blues have the most significant upside by virtue of the kinds of players they gamble on.
If any two of the new additions of Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, Andrey Santos, Estevao Willian, or Jamie Bynoe-Gittens blows up and becomes a huge Premier League star in the 2025/26 season immediately upon arrival at Stamford Bridge, then the sky is the limit for the Blues.
But as the sobering reality of a 0-0 opener against Crystal Palace sets in, there’s a reminder to the optimists that Chelsea’s climb back to the Champions League in the Todd Boehly reign took some time, too.
Chelsea are on the up and up and bounced back harder than arguably any other club in European football last season, and they had arguably their shrewdest transfer window yet – though the comparison points are hardly all that compelling.
The question marks in defense linger, especially after a significant injury to star man Levi Colwill, but, overall, there’s more to love than hate about Chelsea. And seriously, who can hate Cole Palmer being the face of your franchise?
3. Arsenal
Arsenal made two big splashes in the summer transfer window, finally bagging a goal-scorer and clinical profile at striker in Viktor Gyokeres, who smashed home 38 goals in the Primeira Liga last season.
Before that, Arsenal had already won the signature of Real Sociedad defensive midfielder Martin Zubimendi, who was convinced by the approach of another former La Real star midfielder in Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal beating Manchester United and Ruben Amorim to Gyokeres, as well as other Premier League suitors, was massive, and the same can be said for bagging Zubimendi ahead of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, and virtually everyone else.
But it just feels like Arsenal are still a cut below the usual Premier League title contenders and that Arteta will find some way to botch it with an uninspired style of football that is the antithesis of the historically great Arsenal sides.
Arsenal still don’t have a superstar on the left wing, and a lot is essentially riding on Gyokeres’s transition to the Premier League and Ethan Nwaneri being an immediate contributor. The Gunners are so close, but it still feels like, even with Gyokeres, they are a year away and a new left winger from winning it all.
2. Manchester City
Manchester City scored two of the most underrated transfers of the summer window between Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders. Already, Rejinders looks every bit the game-changer he was in Serie A as the only real bright spot from AC Milan’s 2024/25 season.
Cherki offers even more upside, so even if Man City lose Savinho to Tottenham, they will be well-equipped to withstand that departure and may even have more creative juice with Cherki in the wings.
Ultimately, Man City’s hopes and dreams of a better 2025/26 season may rest on the shoulders of one man, as the Ballon d’Or justification for Rodri was simply the difference in the club going from one of the best in Europe to one of the most disappointing after his ACL tear.
Manchester City are going to need to do more to service Erling Haaland up top this season, and you can argue that the secondary pieces still aren’t in place for them, especially in midfield.
However, the Manchester Blue are tried and true in the Premier League, and even though they aren’t quite up to the current standard of excellence of annual title rivals Liverpool, it feels like with Cherki and Reijnders – and a rebounding Phil Foden – they have that extra bit of flair and spark that Arsenal still don’t quite have.
1. Liverpool
Liverpool were such clear wins last season, and the fact that they went ahead and made themselves even better this summer is a testament to their mentality as an organization. The Reds were several cuts above the rest in England last season, and internationally, only the eventual Champions League winners could knock them out – and it was by far their toughest matchup of the campaign.
The early dividends on Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike after the preseason and opener against Bournemouth are highly positive, but more would you expect from a three-time Bundesliga Player of the Season winner at the humble age of 22.
Wirtz is beyond special, and as wild as it sounds, the record-breaking fee Liverpool paid to Bayer Leverkusen of 116 million pounds may prove to be a bargain, because players who have gone for a similar amount of money are both worse and older than the German international.
That Liverpool already had Cody Gakpo and the best player in the league, Mohamed Salah, even before adding Ekitike and Wirtz to the attack is one thing, and the notion that they could add Alexander Isak – and not just upgrade Darwin Nunez with Ekitike, which was already a nifty move for the champions – is an entirely different proposition.
Even in midfield and defense, Liverpool are strong and were well-prepared for the Trent Alexander-Arnold departure while reacting appropriately to Andrew Robertson’s decline. Liverpool are a machine and in their era now.
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.