TEN things we've learned from 2025/26 so far

Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from the 2025/26 Premier League season so far:

- Liverpool’s transitional season has them on the back foot
- Arsenal showing the qualities Liverpool are lacking
- Spurs looking robust under Frank
- Bournemouth and Palace emerge as Champions League outsiders
- Sunderland leading away among promoted sides
- Grealish has helped Everton settle into their new home
- Chelsea and Man Utd haven’t improved as much as predicted
- Newcastle and Villa starting to find their feet again
- Forest the biggest underachievers of the season so far
- Brighton and Fulham have familiar problems to solve

Liverpool’s transitional season has them on the back foot

It has come a year later than we expected, but it looks as though the quiet summer of 2024 delayed the onset of the transitional problems that tend to afflict clubs when a long-serving manager moves on.

So far, none of Liverpool’s new signings have performed to expectations, while Arne Slot’s side have looked vulnerable defending counter-attacks, particularly those filtered down the wings. Add Ibrahima Konate’s indifferent form and a misfiring Mohamed Salah, and Liverpool simply look out of sorts.

This is no crisis, of course, and the late winners that defined their first four matches of the Premier League season mean Liverpool are only two points off the top of the table.

Nobody doubts the quality of Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez or Alexander Isak; when things click, Liverpool will be a serious force this season.

Nevertheless Slot’s reinvention of the team is not going smoothly and they are, for now, on the back foot.

Arsenal showing the qualities Liverpool are lacking

The early league leaders Arsenal are more or less everything Liverpool are not; controlled, pragmatic, and emotionless.

At points this season Mikel Arteta’s side have drawn criticism for gripping tight to the handbrake, but that no longer looks like such a bad thing.

In contrast to Liverpool’s sometimes chaotic performances, the Gunners have a quiet consistency, and with a calendar more congested than ever, Arsenal’s focus on set-pieces and on stoicism looks like the right strategy.

Manchester City, too, are attempting to reassert possession-orientated control, although what has marked them out in contrast to Liverpool so far this season is individual performances. Where Liverpool’s are falling short for now, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku, and Phil Foden have starred for City.

Haaland has scored nine goals in seven Premier League matches, Doku looks to have added an end product to his game, and Foden seems reborn in a more central role.

Both Arsenal and Man City look like they have the qualities of title challengers. A three-horse race beckons.

Spurs looking robust under Frank

Thomas Frank’s impact at Tottenham Hotspur has been so good, yet so efficient, that their strong start to the season perhaps hasn’t got the credit it deserves.

Spurs are on 14 points from seven Premier League matches, averaging two points per game, and in all competitions have only lost one of their 11 fixtures under the new management (excluding a penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain).

More impressive still has been Frank’s ability to adapt to different challenges, the polar opposite of his predecessor Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs have won games when dominating possession and territory (3-0 at West Ham United), when sitting deep and counter-attacking (2-0 at Man City), and when needing to front up to a physical challenge (2-1 at Leeds United).

Mohammed Kudus has been the star player so far, although it really has been a team effort, with plenty of rotation to juggle multiple competitions. It’s hard to recall a Spurs team that ever looked quite so robust.

Bournemouth and Palace emerge as Champions League outsiders

In the last three Premier League seasons we have had two surprise qualifiers for European competition via the league: Aston Villa finishing seventh in 2022/23 and Nottingham Forest finishing seventh in 2024/25.

The way the table is shaping up so far, we could have another outsider sneak into the top seven.

Antoine Semenyo’s brilliant form (nine goal involvements already) has propelled AFC Bournemouth into fourth, with Andoni Iraola somehow masterminding an upturn in form despite the departures of Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi, and Milos Kerkez.

It is a victory for the system over the individual, and the same can be said of Oliver Glasner’s work at Crystal Palace. Their 19-game unbeaten run in all competitions finally came to an end last weekend but Palace are still in the top six, improving their performances even after losing Eberechi Eze to Arsenal.

A UEFA Europa Conference League campaign might ultimately slow Palace down domestically, whereas the Cherries have every reason to assume they can go the distance.

They have the tactical dexterity, and the individual quality in Semenyo, to be the surprise package of the season.

Sunderland leading away among promoted sides

Fears that the promoted clubs would all go back down for the third straight season have diminished, thanks mostly to the competitive performances of Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland.

Led by Granit Xhaka, who has helped make Sunderland look like an experienced side with Premier League pedigree, they are already on 11 points from seven matches and have made the Stadium of Light a tough place to go.

Burnley and Leeds United have also put up a much better fight than last year’s promoted clubs.

Combined, this season’s three have 23 points, which is more than double the 11 that the promoted teams had at this stage in 2024/25.

Things aren’t looking quite as rosy for West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford, who at this moment in time look like the three clubs who could be embroiled in a relegation battle alongside Leeds and Burnley.

West Ham have already changed head coach and Nuno Espirito Santo will be hoping to reset things over the international break, as will Wolves, who are yet to win a Premier League match.

Brentford have beaten Villa and Manchester United at home, but their backs-to-the-wall performances in most matches suggest it could be a challenging season for Keith Andrews.

Grealish has helped Everton settle into their new home

When your old ground was as historic and atmospheric as Goodison Park, many Premier League clubs would have found it difficult moving stadiums.

So it is to Everton’s great credit – and to the architects behind the Hill Dickinson Stadium – that the new ground already feels like home.

Jack Grealish has played a big hand in that. He looks just like the player we once knew at Villa, playing with complete freedom on the left wing and already assisting four Premier League goals for his new club.

His late winner against Palace last weekend, though fortunate, summed up the season so far for Everton; it was a brilliant moment that got the Hill Dickinson up on its feet and ensured that David Moyes’s side will be looking up the table this season, not down.

Chelsea and Man Utd haven’t improved as much as predicted

Arguably the best player in the Premier League this season has been Moises Caicedo, who according to Gary Neville, is now the best midfielder in the country.

But even with an elite No 6, Chelsea don’t quite look ready to challenge for the title. Beating Liverpool was a big step forward, as we saw from Enzo Maresca’s delighted sprint down the touchline, and yet Chelsea remain five points off the top following defeats to Man Utd and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Injuries in central defence have clearly taken their toll, but beyond that Chelsea seem to lack the experience required to put winning streaks together.

Man Utd are another team who have improved less than expected. A simple 2-0 win against Sunderland has relieved some of the pressure, although United are still yet to win back-to-back Premier League matches under Ruben Amorim – and have Liverpool at Anfield next.

There are certainly some green shoots – Mason Mount among them – but United do not yet look better than the team we saw in 2024/25.

Newcastle and Villa starting to find their feet again

They endured difficult starts to the season that made fans of both clubs worry about the future, but as the second international break begins both Newcastle United and Villa are back on track.

Both were victims of a small sample size getting overblown – and it now seems inevitable that both will challenge for UEFA Champions League football again.

Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade has led the revival for Eddie Howe’s side, and with performances improving even before Yoane Wissa comes into the team, it increasingly look like it was just the Isak transfer saga that disrupted their August.

Villa moved late in the transfer window, but finally some of their newer additions are blowing the cobwebs away as Unai Emery’s side find their feet.

Donyell Malen’s brace against Burnley, as well as Ollie Watkins’ goal against Fulham, have fixed an emerging goalscoring issue, while the return of Pau Torres to the side is improving Villa’s build-up play.

Villa fans are looking forward to matches again, not least in the Europa League, where a perfect start has proved why they are tournament favourites.

Forest the biggest underachievers of the season so far

There is no doubting which club have disappointed the most so far this season. Nottingham Forest were hoping to build on their seventh-place finish and so, having spent well in the summer, everyone was caught by surprise when Nuno left the club.

Forest’s attempts to play more progressive football have led them to Ange Postecoglou, who has failed to win any of his first seven games in charge. It leaves the Champions League hopefuls just a single point above the relegation zone.

However, the international break gives Postecoglou time to get his ideas across, and time is something he was always going to need given the sharp turn from Nuno’s reactive football to Ange’s expansive approach.

There is still a very long way to go. Forest are only six points off seventh. But the next few rounds will be crucial.

Brighton and Fulham have familiar problems to solve

Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton and Marco Silva’s Fulham seem stuck, in different ways.

Like last season, Brighton play well when there is room for them to engage in fast breaks but struggle to create clear-cut chances when they are expected to dominate possession.

They have won two points from four matches (0.5 per game) when holding more than 50 per cent possession and seven points from three matches when holding less than 50 per cent (2.3 per game).

It was the same story in 2024/25.

How Brighton fare with/without possession 24/25

Fulham’s issue is a little more existential and a little harder to pin down. Silva’s side floated harmlessly in mid-table last season and already appear to have fallen into the same pattern.

Again, they are scoring late goals via substitutes (two so far, keeping them near the top of the charts since 2024/25), again they are confident dispatching teams who sit below them in the table, but again they have not had enough defensively when facing those chasing Europe.

The club-record signing Kevin has looked impressive in bursts, while 18-year-old Josh King has been a revelation.

But despite attacking upgrades, Fulham remain frustrated in the limbo between relegation-threatened and European contention.