Will Liverpool repeat or is this finally Arsenal’s year?

The 2025-26 Premier League season is almost upon us and there is so much intrigue as teams look to close the gap with reigning champions Liverpool and finish in the Champions League spots.

With a record number of teams in European competitions, the strength of the Premier League is perhaps at its peak, and the promoted teams all look strong and prepared for the nine-month gauntlet that awaits from August until May.

Let’s take a look at the key storylines heading into the new season.

Can new-look Liverpool get the balance right?

After spending big on four new key signings this summer (and possibly adding striker Alexander Isak in the coming weeks for a British record transfer fee of over $150 million), reigning Premier League champions Liverpool have not stood still. But their expensive rebuild has shown signs of early growing pains.

German playmaker Florian Wirtz is a generational talent and looks like a bargain, even for $133 million. Forward Hugo Ekitike is still raw but will score plenty. New full backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are exciting and energetic. Yet the balance has been off in preseason and manager Arne Slot knows it.

Liverpool will score in bunches but it’s all about getting the balance right, especially in defense and out wide. With Trent Alexander-Arnold sold to Real Madrid and Andy Robertson now a backup, Liverpool’s strength for so long has been out wide defensively. This season they’ll have a new-look attacking line and be susceptible on the counter as new players figure out how to get the all-important balance right. That is the job for Slot and experienced leaders like Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah to sort out.

Liverpool’s title bid may get off to a slightly shaky start as they try to figure it all out. Add in the absolutely tragic loss of forward Diogo Jota this summer after he was killed in a car crash and Liverpool have been working through a lot. But they will get there and the talent they have is undoubted. The big question: can all of their new attacking players play together from the start? Liverpool are still the favorites to win the title again, but there are plenty more questions than answers heading into the opening game.

Gyokeres could be the final piece in Arsenal’s trophy-hungry jigsaw

For so long Arsenal have wanted, and needed, a proper center forward to finish goal-scoring chances. Now they have it in Viktor Gyokeres. The Swedish striker buried a header in their final preseason game and you could see the cogs swirling around inside the heads of Arsenal fans. “Hang on, is this it!?”

The comparisons to when Erling Haaland arrived at Manchester City are plentiful and although Gyokeres still has a long way to go to reach those levels, on a simplistic level this should work. Arsenal create so many chances, whip in so many crosses and they drew 14 games in the Premier League last season. Gyokeres’ arrival will surely help them win more of those tight games and that will close the gap to Liverpool as the Gunners aim to avoid a fourth-straight second-place finish and finally win a trophy.

At this point they will take the League Cup, FA Cup and of course a first-ever Champions League title. But after a strong summer of early spending in the transfer market, Arsenal have perhaps never been closer to winning the Premier League for the first time since 2004. It all hinges on Gyokeres finishing off the chances Bukayo Saka and Co. will put on a plate for him.

Change of culture, new forward line has Manchester United looking up

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim hit the reset button hard after a tough first eight months in charge. Last season was a disaster in the Premier League but United showed they could still rise to the occasion as they made it to the Europa League final where they lost to Tottenham. That probably did them a favor as they have no European action to worry about this season and Amorim can work longer and harder on the training ground with his squad.

In preseason all the talk has been about a change in culture at United. They have moved on Marcus Rashford, while Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund are next, and a line has been drawn in the sand. This underachievement can’t go on. United have added real quality and experience in attack with Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko coming in.

Over the last 12 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, there have been so many false dawns about United rekindling their glory days. Amorim knows a top-six finish and a strong cup run is the very least United need to achieve this season if they’re going to show people they’re back on the right path. United have been going through this rebuild for most of the last decade but it still feels very similar to the New England Patriots’ current painful rebuild after the glory days of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. But there’s hope that United can be competitive and if they can stay solid defensively they now have the right combination of players, and characters, in attack to win games.

The culture is changing and Amorim’s side have had a brilliant preseason. Can they keep it going amid a tough start to the season as they face all of Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea in their first five games?

After Club World Cup glory, Chelsea can challenge for the title

Chelsea have some serious momentum heading into the new season as Enzo Maresca’s young side won the Club World Cup, unexpectedly, this summer and that has seen them grow massively in confidence. Cole Palmer is their star but new recruits Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens will give them an extra cutting edge and decisiveness in the final third.

That’s the thing Chelsea missed last season as Maresca’s side dominated games but couldn’t put teams away. They have the Champions League to look forward to too and there is no slowing down in signing new players as Xavi Simons, Alejandro Garnacho and others are linked with moves to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s huge squad was the main reason they could win the Club World Cup. If Maresca can balance and rotate well, watch out.

Other storylines to keep an eye on…

Record nine Premier League teams will play in Europe

Get used to plenty of Premier League teams rotating their lineups as a record nine teams will compete in European competitions this season. Six teams are in the Champions League with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle joined by Tottenham Hotspur courtesy of the latter winning the Europa League last season. Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest will be in the Europa League and Crystal Palace are in the Conference League. Having this many teams in Europe will be intriguing as squads will be stretched to their limits, especially in the autumn and winter months.

Americans own 11 teams

There are now 11 teams out of the 20 in the Premier League that are either fully or part-owned by Americans. Two newly-promoted teams in Leeds United and Burnley are owned by U.S. based groups and with the duo of Birmingham City (Tom Brady is involved) and Wrexham (Ryan Reynolds and Co.) in the second-tier also owned by Americans and pushing hard for promotion to the Premier League this season, we could soon see close to 66 percent of the Premier League owned by U.S. investors.

Manchester City continues to wait for a verdict

After winning four-straight titles, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City rallied to finish third place last season as new signings in January kicked them on. City have added the likes of Ait-Nouri, Cherki and Reijnders in the summer, and even if they aren’t favorites for the title, they will be up there. But there is still plenty of doubt about their future as the verdict regarding the 115 charges from the Premier League against them (the charges are for a period from 2009 until 2018) still loom.

Nobody knows exactly what will happen, and when, as City are steadfast in their claim that they are innocent. On the pitch City will look to get back to being title contenders and they should be up there. Off the pitch, after many years of uncertainty, it’s still a mystery what will happen next.

Promoted clubs can buck instant relegation trend

Leeds have spent a lot, and well, while Burnley have also been impressive with the transfers they’ve made. But Sunderland have perhaps surprised everyone the most. They’ve been able to sign important players like Granit Xhaka and Simon Adingra and the three new teams look set to try and stop the rot for newly-promoted clubs.

In each of the last two years, all three promoted clubs have been instantly relegated and it hasn’t been particularly competitive as the gap between the Premier League and second-tier grows bigger. But there is a real hope that these three have learned from the mistakes of others, while the likes of Brentford, Bournemouth and Wolves have lost some of their best players this summer and the relegation scrap should be a lot closer.