Whale.io 🐳 | ⚽ English Premier League Season: 2025/2026

[tokeweed]

So the results last weekend were some of the weirdest I've seen lately.  After some of the best clubs in the EPL lost vs these small clubs that they weren't supposed to lose against, the league table is looking funny. 

It can be weirder if you follow the Bundesliga too much. That's why PL is the most demanding league, because the 10th team can make you suffer a lot, even though you're a title contender.
Liverpool destroyed a UCL team, only to be completely outplayed by an "average" PL team a few days later. Plus, the "smaller" clubs have an additional motivation to play their best against the big names. It's not like BL, where they go all out against Bayern, intending to concede as few goals as possible.

Sadly I don't follow the Bundesliga anymore.  I used to during the Jupp Heynckes and Jurgen Klopp era when they were managing Bayern Munich and Dortmund respectively.  That was really a great rivalry between those two.

That's why I was so excited when I heard that Klopp was gonna be at Liverpool a few years back as I already knew he was a very good manager.  If Jupp Heynckes was a few years younger, would've been awesome to see him manage Man United and continue the rivalry. 

[JollyGood]

These are the next games taking place in the Premier League on Saturday 1st November:

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Leeds United
Burnley vs Arsenal
Crystal Palace vs Brentford
Fulham vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea
Liverpool vs Aston Villa

Anfield will be the place to be because Liverpool have lost the last four Premier League games but Aston Villa have won their last four Premier League games. I think Aston Villa will go there and win the game because Liverpool are in trouble. The other games to watch have to be Tottenham vs Chelsea and also Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United.

[igebotz]

Bournemouth takes the second spot and Sunderland of all clubs takes fourth.  Lolol. 

Nobody would've guessed that Bournemouth could improve after Eddie Howe left.  I guess their current manager could go places.  Just don't go to either Man United or Chelsea.  Lmao.

Not only Eddie but the owner also sold almost half of the starting lineup last season after they missed out on European football, good thing they were able to keep Semenyo from the big guns. Now they're performing like nobody left, that's how to build a team. That's exactly what my Chelsea should be doing not chasing shadows with money.

Liverpool lost another game, it is a difficult time for Slot. Manchester City lost a game they should have maybe drawn. Arsenal won again and are looking comfortable at the moment. Manchester United finally have found some momentum. At this stage, it seems as though Wolves, West ham United and Nottingham Forest are going to be relegated.

Do you still want Amorim to be sacked ? 

Arne Slot is being exposed for who he truly is, after spending nearly €400m last summer - the media is quiet; if it was Chelsea or Manchester United, we wouldn't hear the end of it.

[JollyGood]

Do you still want Amorim to be sacked ? 

Well, momentum is with him therefore sacking him now would defeat the objective. If Manchester United win away at Nottingham Forest, Amorim will win manager of the month 

Arne Slot is being exposed for who he truly is, after spending nearly €400m last summer - the media is quiet; if it was Chelsea or Manchester United, we wouldn't hear the end of it.

This is the part that I find strange. He came to Liverpool as a relatively unknown name, then did not make any transfers in his first window and took Liverpool to the Premier League title. Now he and his Liverpool team are in trouble. If he continues the losing streak he will be sacked but how does it makes sense that he won the Premier League in his first season playing fantastic football with basically the same team he inherited from Klopp yet in his second season they spent a lot of money on players that should not be there, are losing too many games and not even playing as a cohesive unit.

Look at this list of 2025/26 Liverpool transfers. It seems as though apart from Ekitike, the other players were not necessary with the biggest unnecessary purchases being Isak and Wirtz for a combined £236 million:

Players purchased:

Alexander Isak – Newcastle – £125m
Florian Wirtz – Bayer Leverkusen – £116m
Hugo Ekitike – Frankfurt – £79m
Milos Kerkez – Bournemouth – £40m
Jeremie Frimpong – Bayer Leverkusen – £29.5m
Giorgi Mamardashvili – Valencia – £29m
Giovanni Leoni – Parma – £26m
Armin Pecsi – Puskas Akademia – £1.5m
Freddie Woodman – Preston – Free Transfer
Will Wright – Salford City – £200,000

Total: £446.2 million

==============

Players sold:

Luis Diaz – Bayern Munich – £65.6m
Darwin Nunez – Al-Hilal – £46m
Ben Doak – Bournemouth – £25m
Tyler Morton – Lyon – £15m
Caoimhin Kelleher – Brentford – £18m
Trent Alexander-Arnold – Real Madrid – £8.4m
Nat Phillips – West Brom – £3m
Jarell Quansah – Bayer Leverkusen – £35m

Total: £216 million

[igebotz]

Do you still want Amorim to be sacked ? 

Well, momentum is with him therefore sacking him now would defeat the objective. If Manchester United win away at Nottingham Forest, Amorim will win manager of the month 

That would make 4/4 in October and well deserved MOTM award tbh. The best decision he ever made was removing Onana from the team, that alone solved 70% of their problems this season. That dude singlehandedly ruined many games for them last season. The guys he brought him are doing exceptionally well and building confidence at the back. They haven't gone 4/4 since he took over so it's a good sign of faith.

This is the part that I find strange. He came to Liverpool as a relatively unknown name, then did not make any transfers in his first window and took Liverpool to the Premier League title. Now he and his Liverpool team are in trouble. If he continues the losing streak he will be sacked but how does it makes sense that he won the Premier League in his first season playing fantastic football with basically the same team he inherited from Klopp yet in his second season they spent a lot of money on players that should not be there, are losing too many games and not even playing as a cohesive unit.

This simply exposes the claims that he won the Premier League with an already prepared Klopp team without doing much work. luck was on his side; the same season, Pep had the worst season of his career, and Arsenal, the sole contender, were dealing with an injury problem, so he was really fortunate.  Now that some portion of Klopp's team has moved out, the players he brought in to fill those gaps are all underperforming and failing to meet expectations, and he is running out of ideas.

Spent so much on few players, didn't put the team in balanced and now he's complaining of not having enough squad depth

[tokeweed]

These are the next games taking place in the Premier League on Saturday 1st November:

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Leeds United
Burnley vs Arsenal
Crystal Palace vs Brentford
Fulham vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea
Liverpool vs Aston Villa

Anfield will be the place to be because Liverpool have lost the last four Premier League games but Aston Villa have won their last four Premier League games. I think Aston Villa will go there and win the game because Liverpool are in trouble. The other games to watch have to be Tottenham vs Chelsea and also Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United.

I think Tottenham vs Chelsea is gonna be interesting..  Will Thomas Frank's boys get another three points at home and take the second spot in the league?

What makes it also interesting is Bournemouth's match is against Manchester City...  Will they get no points this weekend and let Tottenham take their spot? 

[examplens]

Do you still want Amorim to be sacked ? 

Well, momentum is with him therefore sacking him now would defeat the objective. If Manchester United win away at Nottingham Forest, Amorim will win manager of the month 

Looking at how the games looked and not just the result, everything seems to be different. They lost the game against Arsenal, where they looked like the better team on the field. Bruno missed two penalties, one for the win and some more points.
I think I saw the statistics somewhere, only Man United and Arsenal won the maximum 9 points in October. So it could be manager of the month.

Look at this list of 2025/26 Liverpool transfers. It seems as though apart from Ekitike, the other players were not necessary with the biggest unnecessary purchases being Isak and Wirtz for a combined £236 million:

...

No manager will throw out 4-5 key players, bring in 6 new ones, and fit it all in right away. Not even Klopp would have been able to do that, not even the great SAF.
Add the desperate form of VVD and the desperate Salah, and it's really strange to expect some significant results. Otherwise, Salah without TAA is quite inconsistent, or maybe it's just me who got that impression.

[JollyGood]

This simply exposes the claims that he won the Premier League with an already prepared Klopp team without doing much work. luck was on his side; the same season, Pep had the worst season of his career, and Arsenal, the sole contender, were dealing with an injury problem, so he was really fortunate.  Now that some portion of Klopp's team has moved out, the players he brought in to fill those gaps are all underperforming and failing to meet expectations, and he is running out of ideas.

Spent so much on few players, didn't put the team in balanced and now he's complaining of not having enough squad depth

I look at Ekitike, he seems to be an exciting player. I like the fact he runs at defenders and is willing to cut in or run down the wings in order to again cut in or cross the ball. At £79 million he could prove to be a long term success for Liverpool. I think the long saga over Isak and the way he forced his move from Newcastle United did not help Liverpool or Isak and that for the time being at least is proving to be an expensive mistake.

I have no idea why Slot purchased most of the players but the balance of the team has gone. Something needs to change fast as they could be in for a very bad season. I am confident Aston Villa will go there and win today because Liverpool seem to be playing without a plan.

I think Tottenham vs Chelsea is gonna be interesting..  Will Thomas Frank's boys get another three points at home and take the second spot in the league?

What makes it also interesting is Bournemouth's match is against Manchester City...  Will they get no points this weekend and let Tottenham take their spot?  

The London derby between Tottenham and Chelsea is going to be a fantastic game. I have a feeling Tottenham will win the game even though Chelsea will have plenty of chances throughout. As for Bournemouth, I remember the opening game of the season against Liverpool at Anfield. They lost the game but played extremely well. If Bournemouth take that attitude to Manchester City, they can get a result.

Looking at how the games looked and not just the result, everything seems to be different. They lost the game against Arsenal, where they looked like the better team on the field. Bruno missed two penalties, one for the win and some more points.
I think I saw the statistics somewhere, only Man United and Arsenal won the maximum 9 points in October. So it could be manager of the month.

Fernandes has not been at his best this season. When he finds form, he will only add to what Cunha and Mbuemo are bringing to the team and with that Manchester United might be looking an unbeaten run for a several games.

No manager will throw out 4-5 key players, bring in 6 new ones, and fit it all in right away. Not even Klopp would have been able to do that, not even the great SAF.
Add the desperate form of VVD and the desperate Salah, and it's really strange to expect some significant results. Otherwise, Salah without TAA is quite inconsistent, or maybe it's just me who got that impression.

From the group Slot sold, I would assume only three were probably key players. He had enough time and money to bring in adequate replacements but for one reason or another it has not worked for Liverpool.

Regarding Ferguson, he sold Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis in 1995 but did not buy players to replace them. Instead, he brought through academy kids Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and David Beckham to the first team. No manager has ever been that fortunate to have academy youth players progress to the first team with at least three world players in Beckham, Scholes and Gary Neville and two brilliant utility players in Phil Neville and Nicky Butt.

Manchester United went on to win the Premier League the same season Ferguson sold three star players in order to bring in the kids as a central part of their team.

[tokeweed]

^  Yup, def Tottenham deserves to be the favorite in this spot.  They got the home crowd behind them and Thomas Frank ain't no slouch.  He was winning more than his fair share of matches with an inferior squad at home matches when he was at Brentford, what more with commanding a better squad in Tottenham. 

I think the double chance for Tottenham and BTTS combo at 2.32 would be a decent bet here.  NFA tho.  I bet small in these EPL matches.  I haven't been serious in sports betting for a little while now.

[JollyGood]

Chelsea should have been challenging for the top spot. For me, they were one of the favourites to win the Premier League when looking at their fantastic pre-season. Could all of this be down to Palmer being out of the team for a long time because of injury? Tottenham certainly seem to have the upper hand.

As for Frank, I think he will be fine at Tottenham. They will win a trophy or qualify for the Europa League within two seasons and will probably qualify for the Champions League within four seasons. They will probably go to at least the quarter-final stage of the Champions League this season. Frank and Tottenham seem to be a good fit for each other.

^  Yup, def Tottenham deserves to be the favorite in this spot.  They got the home crowd behind them and Thomas Frank ain't no slouch.  He was winning more than his fair share of matches with an inferior squad at home matches when he was at Brentford, what more with commanding a better squad in Tottenham.  

I think the double chance for Tottenham and BTTS combo at 2.32 would be a decent bet here.  NFA tho.  I bet small in these EPL matches.  I haven't been serious in sports betting for a little while now.

[tokeweed]

^  Wups...  Tottenham double chance and BTTS combo felt so right until the first half ended.  Lmao.  But yeah, it is what it is.  It's like lighting money up on fire. 

Anyway, the top 4 in the league are Arsenal followed by Man City, Liverpool then Bournemouth.  Looks like it's another surprise just like last year.  But this year's Nottingham Forest moment is Bournemouth.  Love to see it. 

[igebotz]

Chelsea should have been challenging for top spot. For me, they were one of the favourites to win the Premier League when taking looking at their fantastic pre-season. Could all of this be down to Palmer being out of the team for a long time because of injury? Tottenham certainly seem to have the upper hand.

Yes, Palmer's injury has changed our season; he is our best creator, and when he is not on the pitch, our attackers struggle to create space.  We're not used to not having him for so long - the season is still early; if he returns and stays fit, we might be able to compete, but not right now.

 I wasn't happy with our attackers yesterday; they had every opportunity to finish the game early, but we're not clinical enough and are also pushing games until the last minute.  A good a win, but we could have done more.

[JollyGood]

Anyway, the top 4 in the league are Arsenal followed by Man City, Liverpool then Bournemouth.  Looks like it's another surprise just like last year.  But this year's Nottingham Forest moment is Bournemouth.  Love to see it. 

As much as we would love to see an outsider break in to the Champions League spot, what are the chances Bournemouth will end the season in 4th place? Nottingham Forest were unfortunate last season because they had a run of very band results towards the end and that cost them a Champions League position.

In your opinion, which four teams will occupy the Champions League spots?

Yes, Palmer's injury has changed our season; he is our best creator, and when he is not on the pitch, our attackers struggle to create space.  We're not used to not having him for so long - the season is still early; if he returns and stays fit, we might be able to compete, but not right now.

 I wasn't happy with our attackers yesterday; they had every opportunity to finish the game early, but we're not clinical enough and are also pushing games until the last minute.  A good a win, but we could have done more.

I think the win against Tottenham was one of those that the result and three points were far more important than the way the team performed. I was certain Tottenham would win the game but Chelsea went there with their own game plan and were successful. I doubt this will affect Frank as he manages a Tottenham club that are desperate for success but I do think it was disrespectful and completely unacceptable for some of his own players refusing to shake his hand at the end of the game.

As for Chelsea, they have to learn to play without key players if they are suspended or injured. It seems as though they have accepted the long term injury to Palmer and that is a good thing. Palmer is an exceptional talent, Chelsea miss definitely miss him.

[tokeweed]

Anyway, the top 4 in the league are Arsenal followed by Man City, Liverpool then Bournemouth.  Looks like it's another surprise just like last year.  But this year's Nottingham Forest moment is Bournemouth.  Love to see it.  

As much as we would love to see an outsider break in to the Champions League spot, what are the chances Bournemouth will end the season in 4th place? Nottingham Forest were unfortunate last season because they had a run of very band results towards the end and that cost them a Champions League position.

In your opinion, which four teams will occupy the Champions League spots?

Low chance as of right now.  And it's actually now Sunderland, of all clubs lmao, resting on that last UCL spot.  The points are so close together from 4th to 11th spot.  So it's open season on who gets it.  

I think this is starting to be a very exciting season we've had in a while.  Arsenal is leading the league with 6 points ahead of Man City tho.  Let's see how they do after Boxing Day when player fatigue starts setting in at winter.

Anyway, some nice matches this weekend just because the points are so close together.

[igebotz]

As for Chelsea, they have to learn to play without key players if they are suspended or injured. It seems as though they have accepted the long term injury to Palmer and that is a good thing. Palmer is an exceptional talent, Chelsea miss definitely miss him.

The team is trying to play without him and we're getting some nice results but Enzo Mascara rotations for each game isn't helping - how many times he we seen Arteta rotates his back lines?  Absolutely zero occasions if they're all fit to play, regardless of the competition, he goes in with the same back four - I don't like Enzo Mascara rotations; they cost us a lot of points.

We may struggle to challenge for the top 4 if nothing changes - our defence is a disaster.

How are Sunderland still in Top 4 after 10 games - I have them to be relegated on my nice outright betslips.

[JollyGood]

Anyway, some nice matches this weekend just because the points are so close together.

Tight games and tight points 

How are Sunderland still in Top 4 after 10 games - I have them to be relegated on my nice outright betslips.

Sunderland with that determined 2-2 draw at home against Arsenal are trying to show the Premier League they are going to stay up. The way they are playing it seems as though Sunderland should avoid a relegation battle. As the games are played over December and January, they will suffer with dropped points if they do not have a good quality squad that can play in the Premier League.

Here are the results of the games played this weekend:

Saturday 8th November
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Manchester United
Everton 2-0 Fulham
West Ham United 3-2 Burnley
Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal
Chelsea 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Sunday 9th November
Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth
Brentford 3-1 Newcastle United
Crystal Palace 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds United
Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool

[tokeweed]

^  Man City won a very important match this weekend.  A match that could help them get stapled at the second spot in the league. 

The funny thing to see in the league table now is Sunderland.  Lolol.  Who would've thunk they'll be sitting at one of the UCL spots. 

And nice to see Ige's Chelsea is racking up the points.

[igebotz]

Sunderland with that determined 2-2 draw at home against Arsenal are trying to show the Premier League they are going to stay up. The way they are playing it seems as though Sunderland should avoid a relegation battle. As the games are played over December and January, they will suffer with dropped points if they do not have a good quality squad that can play in the Premier League.

I'm surprised how good they have been tactically and how well they approach each game - they may not have the squad depth to secure an European football but they have a good manager that can secure them top 10 - they're half way in.

What could be going on with Liverpool - has Arne Slot lost the dressing room?

And nice to see Ige's Chelsea is racking up the points.

We're racking up important points but inconsistent performance - win today, lose tomorrow is not good enough.

[JollyGood]

^  Man City won a very important match this weekend.  A match that could help them get stapled at the second spot in the league.  

The funny thing to see in the league table now is Sunderland.  Lolol.  Who would've thunk they'll be sitting at one of the UCL spots.  

Liverpool took steps in the right direction, then they were confronted with an excellent Manchester City team. After Haaland saw his penalty saved, I was sure Liverpool would win the game but Manchester City played very well.

What could be going on with Liverpool - has Arne Slot lost the dressing room?

When things go wrong after a huge amount money was spent, everybody speculates on the reasons. Slot probablky has not lost the dressing room yet. He has the time and the players to turn things around.

I think Liverpool fans are probably happy with Slot because they over performed in his first season at Anfield. This could be the standard Liverpool will play at for the remainder of the season, they will have some big wins but will lose to the other big clubs.

[tokeweed]

^  Whatever it is that's going on in the dressing room, I think the Liverpool brass should just let Slot finish his contract.  He'll just be with the club for just a year after this season.  So in 2027 he could leave if the club doesn't extend his contract.

I think for this year, it'd be good enough if they finish at the top 4 and get that UCL spot for next season.  Then let 2026 - 2027 season be like a test run for him to decide if he's good enough for a contract extension.

And isn't he really there as a placeholder after Klopp?