ThePremier League is underway, but there’s still enough time to interrogate the league’s top teams. Here is one question for each Big 6 club that could decide their seasons.
Manchester United: Who plays in midfield?
Ruben Amorim’s first half-season atManchester United was plagued by every problem imaginable. AsDavid Moyes once said, Man Utd “must improve in a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending.”
The Red Devils addressed some of those issues in attack by spending €225m to sign Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, and Matheus Cunha. The defense was already in decent shape and should remain so this season (provided key players stay healthy). Goalkeeper is another issue, but Andre Onana is at least serviceable. That just leaves the midfield.
So far, Amorim has opted to go with Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro as his midfield duo. The former would rather play higher up the pitch, and the latter doesn’t have the legs to be a top-level player anymore. Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte are their potential replacements, neither of whom have proven to be consistent enough to count on regularly. Mainoo, specifically, seems more limited than he first appeared when he burst onto the scene in 2023.
It’s clear that Amorim and INEOS feel the same way about Man Utd’s midfield options. The club tried to sign Carlos Baleba fromBrighton and were unsurprisingly turned away by the Seagulls. There’s still time in the window to bring in alternatives, like Adam Wharton or Morten Hjulmand. As things stand now, though, Man Utd’s midfield is a problem.
Tottenham: What’s their ceiling?
Tottenham finished 17th in the Premier League last season. This was mostly due to injuries and Ange Postecoglou’s bold decision to focus on the Europa League. With that in mind, it’s a safe bet that Spurs will finish higher than 17th this year, but how much higher?
Thomas Frank’s tactics should stop Tottenham from conceding as many goals as they did under Ange Postecoglou. That’s worth a few spots alone. On the other hand, Spurs’ squad is a bit of a mystery at the moment.
This season is the first one in over a decade without either Harry Kane or Heung-min Son in Tottenham’s squad. They were bedrocks who consistently delivered a baseline level of quality each year. I’m not sure you can say the same about anyone at Spurs right now.
Dominic Solanke had a big price tag, but scored just 16 goals last year. Cristian Romero just signed a new contract, but there are times when he looks like a liability in Tottenham’s back line. James Maddison is already set to miss most of the season, and Dejan Kulusevski might not play until December. Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray, meanwhile, are unproven with a lot of weight on their shoulders.
Tottenham fans might disagree, but barring some massive leap forward from players like Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, and Brennan Johnson, it’s hard to expect more than mid-table for this Spurs side.
Chelsea: Has BlueCo finally bought enough players?
Chelsea get a lot of stick for how many players they’ve bought since BlueCo’s takeover in 2022. When you look at the numbers, it’s easy to see why. The Blues have spent more than €2 billion on over 50 players in just three seasons.
As chaotic as this strategy seems from the outside, it might actually be working.Chelsea were cruising toward a top-four finish last season before a mid-season slump threatened to derail them, but they finished strong. Enzo Maresca’s side won eight of their final 12 Premier League matches and dominated the Conference League, ending with a win over Real Betis in the final. They then went on to win the Club World Cup in the summer.
With all this success, you have to ask whether Todd Boehly and BlueCo have finally gotten it right. Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, and Enzo Fernandez have really come into their own after struggling initially. Cole Palmer has consistently delivered, and now Joao Pedro looks like he could be the missing piece to a title-challenging side.
They still have some issues in defense, particularly at center-back, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Chelsea qualified for the Champions League comfortably this season.
Arsenal: What if Gyokeres isn’t enough?
Arsenal have finished runners-up in the Premier League three seasons in a row. Each time there were clear reasons why they fell short. They mostly boil down to injuries and inexperience, but ask any Arsenal fan and they’ll give you another major excuse: the lack of a consistent goal-scorer.
While Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have each scored 25+ goals a year for Man City and Liverpool, Arsenal’s attack has struggled to keep pace. The Gunners have had just one 20-goal scorer in the last five seasons. Kai Havertz was the club’s top scorer last year. He scored just nine league goals.
So, it’s clear that Arsenal fans are right about not having a goal-scorer. After spending €66m on Viktor Gyokeres, the Gunners won’t have that excuse to fall back. That’s if Gyokeres actually delivers. If he doesn’t, Arsenal will be in the same position this year as they were in the last three.
The real question is what if Gyokeres performs well and Arsenal still fail to get it over the line. Do they go again with Mikel Arteta and reinforce once more in the summer? Or do the owners replace Areta with a proven winner?
It might seem too early to be asking these questions, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Josh Kroenke is already thinking about it.
Manchester City: Was last season a fluke?
Everyone knows that last year was not good enough forManchester City. The Sky Blues finished outside the top two for the first time since 2017. It was Pep Guardiola’s worst-ever season as a manager, both in terms of points per match and Champions League performance.
Early on, City’s regression was blamed on the absence of Rodri, but as the season went on, more cracks emerged. Reliable midfielders like Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, and Bernardo Silva started to show their age, while the defense proved to be more limited than any of us previously thought—especially the full-backs Matheus Nunes and Josko Gvardiol. Meanwhile, stars like Jack Grealish and Phil Foden took massive steps back, which limited service to Erling Haaland.
Man City have made moves to address some of these problems. Tijjani Reijnders has been brought in to refresh the midfield, while Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki should add creativity out wide.
Rodri’s return and these new players will help City this season, but as good as those players are, they might not be enough to overcome the issues we saw last year.
If you’re a City fan, you should hope that last year was just a fluke. Personally, I’m not convinced it wasn’t the first signs of Guardiola’s City losing its grip on English football.
Liverpool: Do they have enough defensively?
Liverpool are striking while the iron is hot this summer. Arne Slot’s side won the Premier League by a solid 10 points last season and have now spent over €300m on players to ensure they win it again this year. However, even with all these signings, there are still a lot of questions about the Reds’ defense.
Jeremie Frimpong has been brought in to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, but like Trent, he’s not the strongest defender. On the left side, Milos Kerkez had a solid breakout season at Bournemouth in 2024-25, but is still unproven at the top level. Andy Robertson can step in for Kerkez if the Hungarian doesn’t pan out, but he’s not getting any younger and struggled at times last year.
Slot’s center-back depth isn’t much better, with Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, and Joe Gomez as the only real options. The club has been linked to Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi. That would be a huge signing, but it wouldn’t completely erase the doubts surrounding the Reds’ defense.
Liverpool have enough talent to win the Premier League again. But if the defense takes too long to gel, they could leave the door open for someone to take their title.
Cody Aceveda
Cody Aceveda is a freelance writer based in Porto, Portugal. He has written for The Trivela Effect since February 2023. Cody is a fan of the Brighton, Portland Timbers, Portland Thorns, and Rayo Vallecano. He is also an experienced iGaming writer with over two years experience writing about sports betting and the sports betting industry for a variety of outlets.