2026-27 Premier League Season Preview and Predictions

The start of a new football season is up there with the best feelings as a fan. Supporters of every club still have our hopes and dreams alive, for at least a week or two anyway, and last season is just a memory. The same applies on Superbru, where a fresh battle for Predictor glory is about to begin.

After an excellent World Cup, we're excited to get back into club football predictions and it really does feel like a fresh chapter in the Premier League.

9 of the 20 clubs will have a brand new coach for 2026-27. The Pep Guardiola era is over, with other fairly long-serving managers such as Eddie Howe, Kieran McKenna and Marco Silva also moving on, so we have plenty of unknowns as we approach the opening round.



Here, as has become routine over recent years, I'll be giving a big overview of how each club is shaping up for 2026-27. I'll even throw in a predicted finish just to look back and laugh at in May.

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Let's get into it...

Arsenal

Manager: Mikel Arteta | Last season: Champions (85 points)
Six and a half years of gradual progression under Mikel Arteta culminated in a first Premier League title since 2003-04 for Arsenal last season, so the challenge has now become defence of the crown. Victorious coaches of years gone by, such as Sir Alex Ferguson, have spoken of how tough a title defence can be. Arne Slot gave us quite a good example of that last season. Yet with all other potential title challengers going through a period of change, I think you have to consider the Gunners as favourites.

From a Premier League perspective, I don't think any criticism of Arteta last season is valid when he won the title, but much has been made of their Champions League final performance where we saw both a very negative approach and perhaps fatigue catching up with key players. I think we will see attempts to address both of those this season.

With a title now in the bag, I expect to see a slightly more front foot approach from Arsenal this season and the signing of Bruno Guimaraes will surely lead to Mikel Arteta rotating Declan Rice more frequently. The lack of rotation was quite surprising at times last season, but Guimaraes will likely be trusted in a way that Christian Norgaard simply wasn't in 2025-26 and Arsenal are now absolutely stacked in that area of the pitch with Martin Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Mikel Merino the other available options.



An ambitious but unsuccessful pursuit of Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr suggests we'll see an elite forward arrive at Arsenal before the window shuts, while Greek winger Christos Tzolis has already arrived as a replacement for Leandro Trossard who has joined Besiktas.

What could stop Arsenal going back-to-back? In my opinion, there are two potential factors. William Saliba's injury is undoubtedly one of them because he's their best centre back and could be out for quite a while according to reports. The second is a potential prioritising of the Champions League. Becoming the team to finally win that trophy for Arsenal would instantly give Arteta and his squad legendary status, but they're likely to face a more challenging route to the final than they did last season.

Undoubtedly the team to beat, though. 1st

Aston Villa

Manager: Unai Emery | Last season: 4th (65 points)
In charge since 2022, Emery is now 2nd only to Arteta in terms of the current longest-serving Premier League managers, and he's done an absolutely sensational job with Aston Villa. The club are yet to finish outside of the top 7 under his stewardship, with 4th, 6th and 4th place finishes in his 3 full seasons in charge. Most notably of all, Villa lifted the Europa League last season, with Emery winning that competition for a remarkable 5th time.

There have been two significant departures this summer with Morgan Rogers signing for Chelsea for a massive fee of more than £100m and midfielder Youri Tielemans joining Manchester United. In response, I think the arrival of Joao Gomes from Wolves is a really shrew replacement for Tielemans, while versatile midfielder Johan Manzambi looks like the player that might be given the Rogers role having arrived from Freiburg after an impressive World Cup with Switzerland.

Villa had a really poor start to last season and I'm not sure we'll see them fly out of the blocks in this campaign either given their fixtures, but under Emery you can almost bank on them being around about the European places by May.

Will they finish in the top six again? I have my doubts simply because the Champions League schedule will make things challenging, especially since top six rivals Chelsea and Tottenham are going to be playing one game a week. I'm also interested to see how much of an effect the construction work on their stadium has on the atmosphere and results at Villa Park. They're re-doing the North Stand throughout this season ahead of Euro 2028 meaning only three of the four stands will be open, reducing capacity for the entirety of the 2026-27 campaign. 7th

Bournemouth

Manager: Marco Rose | Last season: 6th (57 points)
Having enjoyed 3 excellent seasons under Andoni Iraola who oversaw gradual improvement across 12th, 9th and 6th placed finishes, Bournemouth now enter a first ever season in the Europa League under new head coach Marco Rose. It'll be fascinating to see what happens as Rose works outside of Germany for the first time since leaving RB Salzburg and Austria back in 2019.

As a club, there's no doubt Bournemouth are punching above their weight. Significant upgrades are being carried out at the Vitality Stadium just to ensure they meet UEFA requirements ahead of their Europa League participation. Handling such a busy schedule with a squad that contains many players who aren't used to European participation is a big test for Rose. That said, Bournemouth's recent recruitment of both players and coaches has been fantastic and they quickly identified Rose as the ideal replacement for Andoni Iraola, so much so that Iraola even spent some time with Rose to hand knowledge and ideas over.



As you'd expect having come through the Red Bull school and coached both Salzburg and Leipzig, Rose won't be veering too far away from the intense pressing style of play that Iraola has integrated so well on the South coast. Two new signings from LaLiga may well have been identified during Iraola's reign - striker Alvaro Rodriguez from Elche and wing-back Juanlu Sanchez from Sevila - while Benfica and Portugal centre back Antonio Silva is a real big-name signing for the Cherries to replace Marcos Senesi.

You'd think a few more players will come in to improve depth before the end of the window, while keeping hold of midfielder Alex Scott is vital. After a tough opener at Manchester City, Bournemouth have some relatively favourable games early on where Rose will want points on the board before the schedule gets busy. A drop-off compared to last season is almost inevitable but I feel reasonably confident predicting a lower mid-table finish for Bournemouth, but as with all of the new managers, there's a slightly increased chance that things go wrong. This appointment doesn't carry quite as much risk as others though in my opinion. 14th

Brentford

Manager: Keith Andrews | Last season: 9th (53 points)
Looking back at last season's preview, I didn't go as far as many and outright claim that Brentford would be relegated, but I implied that they might have a fight on their hands. Keith Andrews proved a lot of us wrong, securing a top half finish. After a window where there haven't been too many ins or outs thus far, it's fair to assume it will be another solid enough season for the Bees.

The big arrival that there has been is 24-year old Mali international Mamadou Sangare who will start in Brentford's midfield after an impressive season with Lens in Ligue 1. Striker Callum Wilson has also arrived to act as a deputy for Igor Thiago and to perhaps replace some of the Premier League experience that Jordan Henderson provided last season now that he's moved on to Chelsea.

Sangare is a very good ball winner who is also capable of then carrying the ball forward at pace, so fits in well with a Brentford side that tend to be excellent physically. At times, they were arguably too set-piece dependent last season, but with that being one of Andrews' clear strengths and the whole of the Premier League looking to exploit dead ball situations more than ever, you'd expect Brentford to continue evolving with new innovation in that area.

League position wise, I'm predicting a slight drop into the bottom half, but Brentford will be very tough to beat at home and have a solid spine to their team which they'll hope Sangare can elevate further. 12th

Brighton

Manager: Fabian Hurzeler | Last season: 8th (53 points)
Like most English teams that enter the UEFA Conference League, Brighton will really fancy their chances of a major European trophy this season so that competition could hinder their Premier League position in a similar way to what we saw with Palace last season, but the Seagulls appear slightly better equipped to cope in my opinion.

There have been some typically exciting signings from the Seagulls, with young winger Zadok Yohanna arriving from AIK and 19-year old centre back Luka Vuskovic coming in from Tottenham for a fee close to £50m after a good season on loan with Hamburger SV last year. Tottenham had of course just taken Jan Paul van Hecke away from Brighton, so Vuskovic is an option to go straight into his place in the team, though Pascal Struijk has also arrived as more experienced alternative from Leeds and they'll each provide competition for Lewis Dunk and Olivier Boscagli.

The sale of Danny Welbeck to Chelsea is an interesting one, but suggests Brighton were happy to open up the starting minutes for the likes of Georgino Rutter and Charalampos Koustoulas. The only place I feel the Seagulls really lack depth ahead of their busy fixture schedule is in midfield. Granted, they'll be far stronger than most teams in the Conference League and will be able to play even very inexperienced young players in some cases, but Carlos Baleba will miss the start of the season with injury and Pascal Gross turned 35 this summer.

Nevertheless, this is a Brighton squad packed with young talent and given the versatility of players like Mats Wieffer, Diego Gomez, Ferdi Kadioglu and Maxim de Cuyper, Hurzeler will almost always have options. This could well be a big season for Brighton as I think they should go a long way in the Conference League, potentially at the expense of a top half finish in the league. 11th

Chelsea

Manager: Xabi Alonso | Last season: 10th (52 points)
Chelsea were dreadful last season. Admittedly, Enzo Maresca's secret mission to position himself as Pep Guardiola's successor didn't make things easy for the Chelsea hierarchy, but they made a real mess of reacting to that, limping through the remainder of the season under Liam Rosenior and then Calum McFarlane.

However, nowadays it seems like if you're going to have a bad season, you may as well have a properly bad one, because without Europa League or even Europa Conference League football in 2026-27, I think Chelsea are very well placed to have a strong Premier League campaign this year.



There finally seems to be an acceptance from Chelsea's owners that they've been part of the problem up to now. Xabi Alonso is one of the most sought-after coaches in world football so they've done very well to get him to agree to come to Stamford Bridge, and his demands for players with more experience to be signed have been granted, albeit rather extremely in the cases of Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson.

Still, only having one game a week at the sharp end of the season is a huge advantage for Chelsea. Though we've seen a real lack of game management from the Blues' young squad in recent seasons, there's a lot of talent, particularly in attack.

I think we'll see Chelsea match what Manchester United did last season at the very least in this campaign, and if Alonso hits the ground running, I think they're much more likely to challenge Arsenal for the title this season than the likes of United or Liverpool are. Signings with good PL experience approaching their prime - Morgan Rogers and Maxence Lacroix - should help with that.

The schedule and the likely switch to a back three formation all feels quite similar to the 2026-17 season under Antonio Conte, and we all know what happened there. Xabi Alonso has proven in the Bundesliga that he can turn a team into title contenders very quickly and Chelsea obviously have a trophy winning culture, but the reservation I still have about the feasibility of a genuine title challenge is the goalkeeper. 2nd

*a note in the Manchester City section makes it clear that this bold prediction could yet change to 3rd.

Coventry City

Manager: Frank Lampard | Last season: Championship winners (95 points)
Back in the Premier League for the first time since 2001, it'll be very interesting to see how Coventry City get on this year under Frank Lampard who has proven a lot of people wrong since taking this job. Putting the finishing touches to a platform that was built over several seasons by Mark Robins, Lampard has lost just 20 of his 82 matches in charge of Coventry, winning 46.

Having already had spells with Everton and of course Chelsea, Lampard will be fully aware of how tough this challenge is going to be for Coventry, and they couldn't have a more difficult opener away at the defending champions. So far, transfer activity has been steady rather than Sunderland-esque following promotion, with goalkeeper Carl Rushworth and midfielder Frank Onyeka made permanent after strong loan spells, but I'm very intrigued by the arrival of Caleb Yirenkyi.

A standout performer in Ghana's World Cup campaign this summer, midfielder Yirenkyi has naturally been compared with Ghanaian legend Michael Essien and he's been working with the man himself at Nordsjælland in Denmark. Considering Lampard's links with Essien too, this is an exciting transfer with plenty of narrative so I'd love to see Yirenkyi thrive in his debut PL campaign.

Coventry are going to need more signings in the coming weeks, but after what we saw in last season's Premier League, it no longer feels impossible to stay up. You'd still have to say that the Sky Blues are more likely to be relegated than not, but goals are often the issue for the teams at the bottom and I actually think Coventry might be OK in that department given the ability of Jack Rudoni, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Haji Wright. I have them down as the most likely to stay up of the newly promoted clubs. 17th

Crystal Palace

Manager: Pierre Sage | Last season: 15th (45 points)
I'm really unsure about Crystal Palace this season. This is a completely fresh chapter for the Eagles after a very successful era under Oliver Glasner finished with the Europa Conference League trophy being added to the FA Cup he won the season before. That European title means Palace will be playing Europa League football this season despite finishing 15th in the Premier League, something that no doubt helped them attract Pierre Sage to the club after he was recognised as the Ligue 1 Manager of the Season last year.

My doubts about Palace this year aren't really anything against Sage who did an unbelievable job with Lens last season, winning the Coupe de France and pushing PSG for the title for a fair chunk of the campaign, but I think this is a tough job. Without any experience of coaching in the Premier League, Sage will need to balance getting used to things in England with a Europa League schedule as well. In the last two seasons, the Cup competitions have been incredible for Palace and their route into Europe. With that in mind, why not give the Europa League a go? But Glasner clearly found things tough with a thin squad even in the Europa Conference League.



This summer, Palace have lost Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea and even when bringing in Dwight McNeil from Everton it was as a swap for Brennan Johnson (a better deal for Everton imo), so squad depth isn't hugely improving with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oscar Mingueza the only other arrivals thus far. I quite like Mingueza as a very versatile player, but the rumoured pursuit of Anan Khalaili as another full back option would suggest there's truth in the rumours of Daniel Munoz leaving which would make zero sense to me (if it isn't to a huge club).

Palace's first-choice XI is easily strong enough for a mid-table finish but how often will we see it? As it stands, I think there's reason for concern about their depth, particularly within their back three after the departure of Lacroix as two of their better remaining centre backs, Chadi Riad and Chris Richards, are quite injury prone. 16th

Everton

Manager: David Moyes | Last season: 13th (49 points)
You can pretty much count on Everton being solid under David Moyes, and after a respectable campaign last season despite taking a bit of time to get to grips with their new stadium, I think they'll be top half this year. Having always been so strong at Goodison, Everton lost 8 home games at the Hill Dickinson stadium last season; that will surely improve.

Transfers wise, I've just mentioned I think they got the better of their swap deal with Palace for Brennan Johnson, certainly transfer value wise, and then their midfield is looking strong. James Garner and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were great last season and they'll now be joined by Hayden Hackney and Christian Norgaard. There's probably still some work to do - a striker and a full back probably wouldn't go amiss - but I think the Toffees are in a pretty good place.

There's not too much more to say. I have Everton top half, and they could push for Europe if they really attack these final weeks of the window but I'm not sure what their budget situation is in regards to financial regulations etc. 9th

Fulham

Manager: Alvaro Arbeloa | Last season: 11th (52 points)
After four solid seasons in mid-table under Marco Silva, you can argue it's the right time for Fulham to take a gamble on a head coach after Silva decided to leave for Benfica, but Alvaro Arbeloa feels like a slightly unnecessary level of risk to me. Don't get me wrong, this could go very well and it's not impossible that Arbeloa and striker Gonzalo Garcia (who he's brought with him from Madrid) take Fulham to new heights, but I'm a little worried that the squad lacks the backbone and necessary physicality to grind out results if things don't go as planned.

Having been working with Real Madrid's youth teams for several years, reportedly very effectively, Arbeloa was essentially hired to try and calm everything down in the senior squad following Xabi Alonso's departure midway through last season. Something I'm not sure anyone can argue he achieved. Still, this is a *totally* different job which may suit him much better and we'll learn a lot more about him tactically, but the fact we're all going to be learning means there isn't yet a large body of work behind Arbeloa to convince us all that things will progress smoothly.



Fulham seem to always move very late in the transfer market so it's encouraging that they have at least already brought in three players ahead of the season kick-off. Young midfielder Cesar Palacios is likely to be brought in gradually, but it's Garcia who is the really exciting arrival as a result of Arbeloa's Real Madrid links. I thought he looked really good for Madrid at times last season, but like Arbeloa, he's going to have to settle in the Premier League very quickly and he's no longer part of a club that will dominate the ball almost every week.

Shea Charles from Southampton is a good signing and a move towards that physicality that I've said Fulham might lack, but my feeling remains that the Cottagers could fall straight back to where they were prior to Marco Silva. The defence is far from rock solid and they're relying on new players like Oscar Bobb and Gonzalo Garcia for goals now that Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson have both moved on. 18th

Hull City

Manager: Sergej Jakirovic | Last season: 6th in the Championship (73 points)
It still feels like a huge surprise that Hull City are back in the Premier League. The Tigers' last stay in the top flight back in 2016-17 was a short one where they failed to survive after coming up the season before, and having been down to League One since then, it's very impressive to see them back. Sergej Jakirovic worked wonders last year, turning a 21st-place Championship finish in 2024-25 into a play-off spot last season which they obviously went on to win.

It shows how fine margins in football can be. If a certain German manager hadn't sent a scout to spy on Middlesbrough, there's every chance Hull wouldn't be in this position, but as it is they're very busy in the transfer market trying to build a squad that can compete in the richest league in the world. Of the many players they've brought in so far, I like Hidemasa Morita. They're going to need a lot more though. Sunderland proved last season that survival is possible following a busy summer of transfers after a play-off win, and though Morita brings Champions League level quality in the middle of the park, he's not quite Granit Xhaka which is the kind of level you need from a marquee player to stand much of a chance.

Like most people, I see Hull as the weakest team in the division. Hopefully they can compete, but the level is so high in the PL nowadays and considering I've just placed a team with a squad as good as Fulham's in the bottom three, Hull look way beneath that. 20th

Ipswich Town

Manager: Gary O'Neil | Last season: 2nd in the Championship (84 points)
Just as it was in 2024-25, another season back in the Premier League was always going to be both exciting and a massive challenge for Ipswich Town, but that challenge has been made all the more difficult by the departure of Kieran McKenna who has stepped away for a break after 5 years in charge. Gary O'Neil has replaced him.



Bouncing straight back to the Premier League following a failed attempt to stay up 2 years ago means this Ipswich squad does now have more Premier League experience, but as you might expect, there are still lots of new faces and plenty of squad turnover from last season's promotion winners. Issa Diop looks like a great pick up for central defence and there's been plenty of midfield tenacity added through the signings of Sasa Lukic from Fulham and Florentino Luis from Burnley.

The Tractor Boys have also decided to bring in a fresh goalkeeper again following promotion, so they'll hope Kjell Scherpen has a better impact than Arijanet Muric did when signed in 2024. As things look at the moment, goals are probably the concern. Wingers Jaden Philogene-Bidace (12 goals) and Jack Clarke (16) topped their scoring chart in the Championship last season, but Ipswich lack a striker that looks capable of the goals Liam Delap provided in 2024-25 and even they weren't enough for survival. Brazilian striker Emersonn has come in from Toulouse after scoring 6 goals in Ligue 1 last season.

I think Daizen Maeda is a good signing from Celtic and he'll no doubt improve the off-the-ball quality of Ipswich's front line because he's a pressing machine, but you're probably going to need others to help in terms of goals/assists numbers. The midfield recruitment has me thinking Ipswich will be reasonably competitive most weeks, but finishing above a Fulham/Palace/Sunderland still looks a tough ask. 19th

Leeds United

Manager: Daniel Farke | Last season: 14th (47 points)
In last season's preview, like others, I wrote Leeds United off on the basis that Daniel Farke had struggled in previous Premier League seasons and that they would lack goals. They proved me wrong. I thought Leeds were playing some really good stuff in the second half of the campaign and Dominic Calvert-Lewin was the man that stood up as the goalscorer, scoring more goals than he had in the past 3 seasons combined.

Following some exciting incomings in the transfer window too, I have a bit more confidence in Leeds this season. James Trafford has arrived to become their first-choice keeper after a bizarre year back at Manchester City where he returned only to find that Gianluigi Donnarumma was on his way too, Tarik Muharemovic is a highly regarded young defender who has come in from Sassuolo, and landing Harry Wilson feels like a great signing considering some of his performances for Fulham last year.

Since Pascal Struijk is the only particularly significant outgoing, Leeds look stronger this year, and they've had some good pre-season results which should set them up nicely to attack an early fixture list that doesn't look particularly scary.

I have Farke's side down to sneak into the top half, narrowly above teams that will be playing far more fixtures than they are this season. 10th

Liverpool

Manager: Andoni Iraola | Last season: 5th (60 points)
Liverpool, in contrast, fell well short of expectations last season. Arne Slot looked to defend the title he won in his first season in charge by spending over £200m in the market, but the Reds finished with 24 fewer points than they managed in their title winning campaign, only just scraping Champions League qualification. Liverpool have responded by replacing Slot with Andoni Iraola.



I'm not sure I can add too much of a fresh perspective on Iraola and Liverpool than what's already out there, because the potential issues are obvious. Iraola has never coached a team with a schedule this busy, nor has he managed a club close to the size of Liverpool, so there has to be doubts over whether or not his intense style of play is transferrable. However, he's clearly an elite coach that has worked wonders with Rayo Vallecano and Bournemouth, and there have been signs in pre-season that expensive signings from last summer such as Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak are finally finding their feet.

It's remarkable after such expenditure that Liverpool look to have holes in their squad, but the most glaring is that the Reds don't appear to have a player that can fill Mohamed Salah's position on the pitch let alone provide even half of his attacking output. Defence is also a problem, with genuine defensive quality lacking in the full back areas in my opinion. Meanwhile, the attempted fix for a lack of depth at centre back due to injury concerns over Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet has been to sign injury prone Barcelona defender, Ronald Araujo.

The sheer quality of the likes of Isak, Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk should be enough in the majority of Liverpool's games, but Iraola's comments during pre-season have implied he's wary that it might take some time for his new team to hit their stride. Time isn't something that these mega-rich super clubs tend to be able to afford, however. I'm expecting some unconvincing and high-scoring games in the opening weeks, but assuming a right winger and/or right back arrive before September, Iraola should figure it out and manage a top 5 finish. 4th

Manchester City

Manager: Enzo Maresca | Last season: 2nd (78 points)
We've all wondered what will happen to Manchester City once Pep Guardiola moves on. We're about to find out. City have opted for as smooth a transition as they can realistically achieve, with one of Guardiola's former staff members taking charge. This remains an almighty challenge for Enzo Maresca though, particularly with senior players John Stones and Bernardo Silva both moving on.

The potential departure of Rodri would obviously also be a huge blow, but City have prepared for it and I'm not going to feel too much sympathy for Maresca because their squad remains truly elite. Erling Haaland will almost certainly win another Golden Boot, you've got three of the best centre backs in the league, Elliot Anderson has arrived for a fee of over £100m and is about to be joined by Ayyoub Bouaddi, and behind Haaland you've got a choice of Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden or both.



Even with the manager change in mind, you'd say a top 3 finish is a must, and top 2 should probably be the aim, but I expect City to persevere with Maresca all while Champions League qualification remains on course. The Italian's time at Chelsea should stand him in good stead and I think Maresca is a very good coach tactically, but the challenge may well be more about man management and convincing the dressing room that the ability to continue winning league titles remains post-Guardiola.

I have them down as 3rd for the moment, but if I'm wrong I can only imagine them finishing higher rather than lower than that. If they take Enzo Fernandez off Chelsea before the window ends, I'd probably switch my predictions for those two teams around given the net impact on each club. 3rd

Manchester United

Manager: Michael Carrick | Last season: 3rd (71 points)
A hugely impressive upturn in form under Michael Carrick last season saw Manchester United comfortably qualify for Champions League football. While it's easy to point to the circumstances of this appointment and suggest Carrick's tenure will be a case of Solskjaer 2.0, you can see why it was almost impossible not to appoint him considering he lost 2 of 17 games in charge, and Solskjaer did very well for a couple of seasons anyway to be fair.

However, this season is a completely different kettle of fish for Carrick. Remarkably, United played literally the fewest number of fixtures that it was possible for them to play last season because of no Europe and suffering defeats in their opening round of each Cup competition. This year, they'll have at least 8 Champions League fixtures and you'd think they might do at least slightly better in the Cups as well.

Casemiro has departed upon the expiry of his contract, but in his place, United have made what I consider to be two excellent signings. Andrey Santos is a great young player who could well be Brazil's (and now United's) next Casemiro, while Youri Tielemans is an established, experienced operator who was instrumental for Aston Villa both in the league and in Europe over the past couple of seasons.

I think United will do OK this season, but due to their schedule, I feel they're more likely to be facing more of a battle for their top 5 place this season rather than kicking on and challenging for the title. In certain areas of the pitch (largely in defence), they're arguably still too reliant on players who have had injury issues, but they're going to score goals consistently with the quality of Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko. I'm also very intrigued to see Marcus Rashford's return as it looks like he's staying after a very respectable loan spell at Barcelona last season.

The Manchester derby in Round 4 will be a fascinating indicator of where both United and City are at. 5th

Newcastle United

Manager: Matthias Jaissle | Last season: 12th (49 points)
After the highs of 2025, let's just say 2026 isn't going well for Newcastle. It feels like last summer's ugly, drawn out exit for Alexander Isak was the trigger of a downturn in form and, ultimately, a lot more departures. Anthony Gordon, Kieran Trippier, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes have all left Newcastle this summer, and so far they've done little to replace such quality. Oh, Eddie Howe's gone too.

Squad wise, the departures of Tonali and Guimaraes are the biggest problem in my opinion. Newcastle have gone from their midfield being a huge strength, to it now looking like a real area of concern. Aladji Bamba has come in from AS Monaco as a real prospect who looks a very talented defensive midfielder, but he's ultimately only played 25 senior professional football matches in his life.

In Matthias Jaissle, Newcastle now have a German coach from the Red Bull school so we know what to expect playing style wise after strong spells at RB Salzburg and then more recently with Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia. With few reports of any big signings on the way, it looks as if Jaissle is going to be tasked with improving players that haven't yet set the world alight while playing in black and white, such as Yoane Wissa, Anthony Elanga, Jacob Ramsey, William Osula and Nick Woltemade.



You'd think there'll be some new recruits before the end of the window to add to new goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek, but as things stand right now based on their current squad, I can't see them getting near the European spots. 13th

Nottingham Forest

Manager: Oliver Glasner | Last season: 16th (44 points)
When drafting out a little predicted table ahead of writing this piece, I started with Nottingham Forest lower mid-table, but the more I think about it, they could be quite strong? After last season's circus with managers coming in and out of the door almost constantly, Forest have now thrown a lot of money at Oliver Glasner to come and join them (much to the dismay of Palace fans following the recent rivalry these two clubs have had over UEFA rulings) and I think this is a squad that looks well suited to him. With no European distractions this year, I think Forest will do well, provided there aren't any further high profile departures.

Forest got a really good fee for Elliot Anderson and though they appear to be having some trouble landing a replacement, the intent is clearly there. Glasner probably needs an extra right wing-back for his 3-back formation as well, but what a group of centre backs he has for that system, especially now that Ousmane Diomande has come in from Sporting.



With Gibbs-White seemingly staying, three good centre forward options and players like Omari Hutchinson and Dan Ndoye who I think Glasner could work really well with for those inverted forward spots, I don't think Forest will be anywhere near the relegation battle this season. Top half, for me. 8th

Sunderland

Manager: Regis Le Bris | Last season: 7th (54 points)
I obviously wrote about it plenty throughout last season, but having had a summer away from club football, when you get back to looking at Sunderland ahead of writing this preview it really is wild how well Regis Le Bris has done with the Black Cats. From a 16th-place finish in the Championship in 2024, Sunderland will be playing Europa League football next month in 2026.

Having had such a busy window following their promotion, this summer has been far quieter for Sunderland as you might expect. Experienced right back Thomas Meunier is the only arrival thus far. There will need to be more incomings given how many matches Sunderland will be playing this season, and I think they'll need to be in midfield and defence just to ensure there's adequate cover to rest their better players like Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki who they are going to need at their best for key games.

Sunderland's best XI is strong. I don't think they'll finish anywhere near as high as last season now that they're going to have so many fixtures, but in the second half the season, I'd assume they'll prioritise Premier League points over a knockout Europa League fixture if required and on that basis, they should be fine for survival in my opinion. 15th

Tottenham

Manager: Roberto De Zerbi | Last season: 17th (41 points)
An embarrassing 2025-26 season for Tottenham saw them only very narrowly avoid relegation on the final day, yet funnily enough, they actually improved by 3 points when compared to the season before. That's now two league campaigns that have been nowhere near good enough, but you'd think this is the one where they at least avoid a relegation scrap since they're playing one game a week.

An overhaul was always going to be needed and Tottenham have made some good signings so far this summer, though they've eased off a bit having looked like window winners at the start of July. Squad planning wise, Spurs look to be completing deals from the back of the pitch to the front, as defenders Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke were signed before midfielders Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes each came in for massive money, but there's nothing in terms of forwards yet which is a little puzzling when the forward line was a big problem last season.



If they can bring in an exciting forward or two to build on the promise of their other transfers, I can picture Spurs starting quite well, but their business looks like getting them back to being a solid side in an around the Europa League and Europa Conference League places rather than anything bigger. That's probably a sensible target at this stage, given how bad the last couple of years have been.

If Micky van de Ven and James Maddison stay fit, added to those signings Spurs have quite a good best XI, but with so many injury issues in recent years I wouldn't count on it and they still have Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski sidelined with fitness problems. An elite forward is needed before you can start talking about Spurs being back in the mix for a top 4 finish, I think. 6th

So there you have it, an overview of each team which could well be slightly outdated by kick-off given how fast the transfer market moves.

Whatever happens, we have a very entertaining looking opening round. Premier League champions meet Championship winners in the opener, Newcastle vs. Liverpool should be very interesting, and then Fulham will likely begin proving my predictions for the South West London clubs completely wrong on the Monday night by beating Chelsea at Craven Cottage again.

Superbru Premium match previews for Round 1 will begin to appear on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

In the meantime, make sure you've got your private score prediction leagues created on the Superbru Football app! 🫡