Top Four
- Arsenal
- Chelsea
- Manchester City
- Liverpool
The 2026 Premier League season is underway. Arsenal won last year’s title on the back of their depth and defensive solidity. They’ve spent this summer’s transfer window building on that strength, improving all three levels of the squad with the signings of Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimarães, Aston Villa centerback Ezri Konsa, and Club Brugge winger Christos Tzolis.
The champions also have the advantage of continuity: while Chelsea, City, and Liverpool have new managers to start the season, and Tottenham and Manchester United have managers they appointed in the latter half of last season, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta will be head coach for his eighth straight season at the club. It will take a mammoth effort for anyone to dethrone the champs.
Chelsea’s summer transfer window and appointment of former Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso are the final pieces of a half-decade rebuild to title contention, one that seems likely to come to fruition this season. Their $160 million move for Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers will get the headlines, but moves for his club teammate Emiliano Martinez and Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix shore up defensive frailties that have derailed title charges in years past.
Chelsea will hope Martinez’s shot-stopping ability and Lacroix’s experience in a back three at Crystal Palace can stabilize the back line enough to support their dynamic attack, but they will have to be near-perfect to beat the champs. In their first season under a new coach, that is too much to ask.
The most contentious race in the entire table may be for the four (or five) Champions League qualification spots. Liverpool and Man United both qualified last season and strengthened their squads in the summer, but their depth will be tested with the extra strain of Champions League matches.
Both clubs also have weaknesses that could come back to haunt them: Liverpool’s fullbacks and defensive midfield deficiencies leave them vulnerable to counterattacks, and United lacks centerback depth and places the creative burden on their central creators. With their late-window signing of electric winger Bradley Barcola confirmed this week, Liverpool’s attacking options are too exciting not to believe they can fill in the gaps behind them. If they figure out their midfield conundrum, Liverpool will secure a top-four position in the table.
Tottenham and Aston Villa are both outside contenders for the top four. Spurs will strive for a top-five finish after a $350 million transfer window, but the time they’ll need to integrate new signings and the absence of a reliable goal threat may be their downfall. Only one team in Premier League history has gone from 17th to top four in one season (Everton in 2003-2004), and it doesn’t seem likely Spurs will make it two.
Villa will face a similar problem, having to contend with losing their starting goalkeeper, striker, left back, center back, and three of their midfield core. Manager Unai Emery is one of the best managers in all of Europe, but his coaching alone likely won’t be enough to effectively replace as much of the squad as they have lost this summer.
2026 Premier League Golden Boot
Erling Haaland (Striker, Manchester City)
Haaland has won the Golden Boot in three out of the four seasons he has played in the Premier League, denied only in 2024-25 by a historic Mohammed Salah season. The Egyptian has since left the Premier League, and with him leaves Haaland’s only true goal-scoring contemporary.
Gone are the days when clubs built their attacks around a central finisher; the Norwegian is the last of a dying breed. Without a prolific goal-scoring counterpart to dethrone him, injury will be the only obstacle between Haaland and a fourth Premier League Golden Boot.
PFA Young Player of the Season
Kobbie Mainoo (Midfielder, Manchester United)
Mainoo has found his prospects with United make a complete 180-degree turn in 2026, from an outsider in the squad under Ruben Amorim to a regular starter under current manager Michael Carrick. His proficiency on the ball and tendency to contribute with timely (if not regular) goal involvements are exactly the kind of contributions that win awards like YPOS.
Other contenders for the award are Liverpool winger Rio Ngumoha and Arsenal midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly. After affirming his commitment to Arsenal following Manchester United’s inquiry into his transfer, Lewis-Skelly seems primed to have a larger role in the reigning champion’s title defense. His positional versatility will help him receive game time in a stacked Arsenal squad, but it may not be enough to contend with players who will have a clearer path to starts and statistical output.
One such player is Ngumoha, who flashed electric dribbling last season in a few starts for the Reds. With more workload on his preferred left wing, Ngumoha could begin turning his mesmerising skill moves into consistent statistical output.
Surprise Team of the Season
Newcastle United
Newcastle has been a team on the rise since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchased a majority stake in the club in October 2021, but a disappointing 2025-26 campaign and subsequent resignation of manager Eddie Howe in the summer have tempered hype around the club considerably. The Magpies also lost their midfield engines in Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães to Tottenham and Arsenal, as well as winger Anthony Gordon to Barcelona.
Newcastle’s core identity has not changed, however, and it perhaps better suits them as underdogs. Their intensity in defense and lethal counterattacks made them a headache to play against under Eddie Howe. While they struggled to maintain that level of intensity last season with extra Champions League matches to play, in this campaign Newcastle will only have their domestic fixtures to focus on.
Their aforementioned summer sales have funded a youth movement to build around new manager Matthias Jaissle: Newcastle signed three midfielders in the summer transfer window, in addition to a starting right-back and left winger. There may be some growing pains to begin the season, but once they figure it out, the new-look Magpies could make a push for Champions League qualification.
