⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Luzin]

The EPL website displays the results of the vote for the best player in the first week. The result is that Richarlison is the best player with 27%. Perhaps this vote is not entirely accurate because it is possible that the votes were not evenly distributed and were not objective. But what do you think? Of all the players, they were indeed key players in the first match with the team.

Source: https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/4380618/vote-who-was-the-best-player-of-matchweek-1

[Helena Yu]

The EPL website displays the results of the vote for the best player in the first week. The result is that Richarlison is the best player with 27%. Perhaps this vote is not entirely accurate because it is possible that the votes were not evenly distributed and were not objective. But what do you think? Of all the players, they were indeed key players in the first match with the team.

I agree with the votes.

Richarlison was the key player, very popular because people mock him, and two goals he scored are sensational.

Other players not having three thing I mentioned above.

But, I like how people are voting for Ballard, he indeed man of the match against West Ham and contributed very well, even he's not popular, people votes fairly.

[Princess Leah]

If you're in charge of Manchester City would you trust Trafford to be the number goalkeeper of your team when you're fully aware that his never been the first choice keeper of any top team? Right from when he was signed, I knew he was not going to be the first choice keeper and I wasn't also surprised that Manchester City started pushing for the signature of Donnarumma because I knew Trafford was never going to be the first goalkeeper at least not this season.

Pep know what is best for him Ederson is a good goalkeeper i don't know why pep what to replace him this reasons are best known to him he might have seen the future of man city in Donnarumma pep never like going unprepared Trafford could still be there but as a second choice goalkeeper or make them available during caraboa cup tournaments or FA cup.

So you don't know why pep guardiola want to replace him? Let me update you, ederson wanted to move to Saudi Arabia last season because he was entice by the Saudi big money, but pep guardiola block the move and made him stay back just like the way he did to Kevin de bruyne, but that decision doesn't seat well will ederson, so he wasn't that committed in front of goal throughout the season which pep guardiola got a noticed of, so he has already been told to move away from the club since his heart is no longer with the club, where the challenge is, is that the big offer from Saudi Arabia is no longer there, it's only Galatasaray that are eying his signature if am not mistaken, so it's a valid reason to me why pep guardiola is letting him go, you don't keep an unhappy player at the club, that's one thing most clubs shouldn't joke with.

When a player is no longer committed to a club, the best thing to do is to allow him leave, else it would affect the clubs performance, his individual performance could ruin games for them and with Ederson playing in a strategic position it's best to replace him now that a better option is available and even cheaper, Pep made the right decision of that may be the case, it's better to let Ederson leave than trying to force him to stay.

 That's one mistake Newcastle is making with Isak, if they had initially allowed him knave it won't had cause a scandal in the team currently, moreover they'll receive a huge offer for Isak so I wonder why they're still allowing it cause an issue for them. Anyways it seen Galatasaray are really pushing hard to sign Ederson which means Donnarumma would be City's player soon.

[Ahli38]

The Premier League continues to be filled with rumors and confirmed signings in this transfer window, with activity from various clubs remaining.

The latest update comes from Nottingham Forest, who have reached an agreement to sign Douglas Luiz. They have agreed to sign the Juventus central midfielder for a fee of €30 million.

So far, they have also successfully signed two AMFs from Manchester City and Ipswich Town, and now, again, Luiz holds the AMF position, or can also be a DMF.

Source: 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐆𝐎! Nottingham Forest agree deal to sign Douglas Luiz

Football is the best when it comes to transfers. I've no hand in this coming up football transfer news, we know how alot of people will stay already and it doesn't affect two couples because they know themselves, agreed and move on. I'm surprised to see the wonderful touches from these teams and how they're able to bringing in top players. This is exactly how we watch the big players in the English Premier League, there are more trophies and winnings becomes very essential.

The reality is that Nottingham Forest looks like a very serious football club, when it comes to Transfer Window they are always outstanding, they knows how to sign players and sometimes I begin to imagine where are all the players they are signing going to play, for the past 3 transfer window since making their debut and coming to the premier league they’ve been signing players, most likely a full complete starting lineup every season and now I begin to imagine where they are getting all this money to sign players and PSR isn’t against them, then I’ve come to understand that Maniakis the chief Executive owner of Nothingham Forest is very ambitious and he is desperate to get into the Champions League spot that eluded him last season, Douglas Luiz is a very good midfielder back then in Aston Villa, I believe things didn’t work very well for him at Juventus, well goodluck to him at Nothingham Forest.

It seems that Nottingham Forest is serious about building a team that can compete in the long term. This is demonstrated by significant investments and ambitious goals for the team, as well as strong support between the coach and the club's board. It was recently reported that Nottingham was targeting Manchester City's talented young midfielder James McAtee, and now we can see that this has been realized with the successful agreement of a contract between the two parties. There is a high likelihood that McAtee will have a significant impact on the Nottingham Forest team, much like Cole Palmer has had on Chelsea, and this further underscores Nottingham's seriousness in building its team strength. There are also others like Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye, Arnaud Kalimuendo, and others. Even the last few matches have proven the growing strength of the Nottingham Forest team. The three points earned when Forest faced Brentford are a good start for the team to be optimistic about the next matches. If Nottingham can maintain their good rhythm and teamwork, there is a high likelihood that Forest will navigate this season with surprises, making it one of the most intriguing matches in the Premier League through the performances they deliver. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season unfolds, with Nottingham Forest potentially finishing in about the top seven.

[Velvet78]

The opening game is going to be West Ham - Chelsea. When it comes to the odds:

- West Ham: 4.80
- Draw: 4.00
- Chelsea: 1.71

Chelsea had a bad start. Such a boring effort against Crystal Palace...    But I hope to see better performances tomorrow. West Ham are a mess. We saw them against Sunderland. Chelsea shouldn't have big problems.

The EPL website displays the results of the vote for the best player in the first week. The result is that Richarlison is the best player with 27%. Perhaps this vote is not entirely accurate because it is possible that the votes were not evenly distributed and were not objective. But what do you think? Of all the players, they were indeed key players in the first match with the team.

Source: https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/4380618/vote-who-was-the-best-player-of-matchweek-1

People must be out of their mind to give such low number of votes for Haaland there.    He started the season with 2 goals man. Or are people just doing that because of getting used to his performances?

I agree about Richarlison though. Especially one of his goals was incredible. He was horrible last season. I hope he makes a real improvement this time. For now I have doubts about his consistency...

[Adbitco]

The opening game is going to be West Ham - Chelsea. When it comes to the odds:

- West Ham: 4.80
- Draw: 4.00
- Chelsea: 1.71

Chelsea had a bad start. Such a boring effort against Crystal Palace...    But I hope to see better performances tomorrow. West Ham are a mess. We saw them against Sunderland. Chelsea shouldn't have big problems.

The EPL website displays the results of the vote for the best player in the first week. The result is that Richarlison is the best player with 27%. Perhaps this vote is not entirely accurate because it is possible that the votes were not evenly distributed and were not objective. But what do you think? Of all the players, they were indeed key players in the first match with the team.

Source: https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/4380618/vote-who-was-the-best-player-of-matchweek-1

People must be out of their mind to give such low number of votes for Haaland there.    He started the season with 2 goals man. Or are people just doing that because of getting used to his performances?

I agree about Richarlison though. Especially one of his goals was incredible. He was horrible last season. I hope he makes a real improvement this time. For now I have doubts about his consistency...

Looking at the performance for last weekend game, I personally think that Semenyo is really underrated here to be given mere 9% considering the performance he put through, scoring twice in the process. Need I still remind you the team he played against. Playing the defending champions Liverpool and not just that, Liverpool is one of the most sophisticated teams in the league. I think Semenyo needs to be up there.

[Plaguedeath]

Looking at the performance for last weekend game, I personally think that Semenyo is really underrated here to be given mere 9% considering the performance he put through, scoring twice in the process. Need I still remind you the team he played against. Playing the defending champions Liverpool and not just that, Liverpool is one of the most sophisticated teams in the league. I think Semenyo needs to be up there.

I agree Semenyo is underrated, but he not deserved to be the best player in this week. Yeah he scored 2 goals against strong team, but in the end they lost, what's the point to have a good performance if he can't brought the team to win? if he scored 3-4 goals and Bournemouth win the match, you can argue it.

The Premier League continues to be filled with rumors and confirmed signings in this transfer window, with activity from various clubs remaining.

The latest update comes from Nottingham Forest, who have reached an agreement to sign Douglas Luiz. They have agreed to sign the Juventus central midfielder for a fee of €30 million.

So far, they have also successfully signed two AMFs from Manchester City and Ipswich Town, and now, again, Luiz holds the AMF position, or can also be a DMF.

Well I didn't know if they've sign McAtee and Hutchinson, signing Luiz is a bad decision, why they need to sign a mediocre player with injury prone and expensive salary? Italian league is easier than Premier League, but Luiz not even perform in Juventus.

[Bobrox]

When a player is no longer committed to a club, the best thing to do is to allow him leave, else it would affect the clubs performance, his individual performance could ruin games for them and with Ederson playing in a strategic position it's best to replace him now that a better option is available and even cheaper, Pep made the right decision of that may be the case, it's better to let Ederson leave than trying to force him to stay.

Pep Guardiola and Ederson relationship seems over after his name not entering at squad list against Wolves and rumor talk him will move to Galatasaray. However Ederson's performance not really bad for awhile and have chance to play well for this season but Manchester City have signed new goal keeper make him loss regular position.

That's one mistake Newcastle is making with Isak, if they had initially allowed him knave it won't had cause a scandal in the team currently, moreover they'll receive a huge offer for Isak so I wonder why they're still allowing it cause an issue for them. Anyways it seen Galatasaray are really pushing hard to sign Ederson which means Donnarumma would be City's player soon.

Can't predicting internal conflict between Newcastle United and Alexander Isak will have sad or happy ending, they player have decision for leaving Newcastle but the management won't him leave the team for this season. Liverpool still patience waiting for negotiation agreement deal but Newcastle still waiting his player change decision want to stay with club.

[Obari]

People must be out of their mind to give such low number of votes for Haaland there.    He started the season with 2 goals man. Or are people just doing that because of getting used to his performances?

I agree about Richarlison though. Especially one of his goals was incredible. He was horrible last season. I hope he makes a real improvement this time. For now I have doubts about his consistency...

Everyone have a whole different perspective when it comes to choosing their favorite players. We know the level of hardwork Erling Haaland puts to the game and how consistent he's been since joining Manchester City from Borrusia Dortmund. The Norwegian is the type of attacker Every potential manager would wished for. There's every productive players out there trying so hard to impress his club and the supporters.

Mentioning quite some good players here, I think more players will step up as the time goes by afterall they're doing training and getting back in shape. We don't just conclude matters and stats in the opening EPL games, there are more games to watch these players.

[JeffBrad12]

The opening game is going to be West Ham - Chelsea. When it comes to the odds:

- West Ham: 4.80
- Draw: 4.00
- Chelsea: 1.71

Chelsea had a bad start. Such a boring effort against Crystal Palace...    But I hope to see better performances tomorrow. West Ham are a mess. We saw them against Sunderland. Chelsea shouldn't have big problems.

Chelsea gets 1.71. That odds almost the same like the odds before the game against Palace was started. Yet it doesn't give me confidence to believe they will win it without putting so much effort. Although their opponent thrashed by promoted team last week, they shall have to be careful. I expect their opponent to play low block against them. It makes me to lower my expectation to believe they will win it with narrow score.

[m4r1o]

I understand him, but he is just missing a point. They are letting Ortega go, that is already done, Ortega has been told to find a team already. They planned on having Trafford and Ederson at goal, changing based on the game, Trafford is younger, Ederson is older, and they hoped to have Trafford be great as much as he can with time. Like at least make it so that they can do better job, so that would be important thing for the future, growing their own talent for a while.

Donnaruma is a weird situation, that was something nobody expected, city couldn't have known that would happen, so they were caught off-guard like all of us and now they are realizing there is a chance they can get him, and that is definitely a huge plus.

Donnarutmma surprised everyone, including the teams that wanted to take him, including Manchester City. Surely, many teams are also interested, and it's no coincidence that the player decided to leave now. According to him, he did it to put the club in difficulty.

[hyudien]

The opening game is going to be West Ham - Chelsea. When it comes to the odds:

- West Ham: 4.80
- Draw: 4.00
- Chelsea: 1.71

Chelsea had a bad start. Such a boring effort against Crystal Palace...    But I hope to see better performances tomorrow. West Ham are a mess. We saw them against Sunderland. Chelsea shouldn't have big problems.

Chelsea gets 1.71. That odds almost the same like the odds before the game against Palace was started. Yet it doesn't give me confidence to believe they will win it without putting so much effort. Although their opponent thrashed by promoted team last week, they shall have to be careful. I expect their opponent to play low block against them. It makes me to lower my expectation to believe they will win it with narrow score.

Even though they were held to a draw by CP in their previous match, it doesn't mean the result will be the same in this match, because this is a must win match for Chelsea and I'm confident they can achieve that result. Chelsea just need to capitalize on every opportunity, which was their only weakness last week. Furthermore Chelsea are quite fortunate in this match because West Ham have a weakness in defense that they may not be able to overcome yet, end Chelsea can exploit.

[SuperBitMan]

The opening game is going to be West Ham - Chelsea. When it comes to the odds:

- West Ham: 4.80
- Draw: 4.00
- Chelsea: 1.71

Chelsea had a bad start. Such a boring effort against Crystal Palace...    But I hope to see better performances tomorrow. West Ham are a mess. We saw them against Sunderland. Chelsea shouldn't have big problems.

Chelsea gets 1.71. That odds almost the same like the odds before the game against Palace was started. Yet it doesn't give me confidence to believe they will win it without putting so much effort. Although their opponent thrashed by promoted team last week, they shall have to be careful. I expect their opponent to play low block against them. It makes me to lower my expectation to believe they will win it with narrow score.

When predicting game it is better you remove the odds from your mind, those odds are there to deceive people one cannot use because of odd to determine who will win a particular match in this case Chelsea will do everything possible to make sure they win the match however I still cannot trust Chelsea because of the way the performance with Crystal Palace I was hoping they will win the match but they did not which made a lot of people to lose their prediction or bet, so I cannot trust Chelsea on this one I know that Chelsea is more informed than wast ham but to be on a safe side predicting Chelsea win or draw is the best decision to make.
If Chelsea draw this match again then it is very clear that they are not ready to lift the premier League title this season however if they win the match very well then i will agree that the last match with Crystal Palace was a mistake on their side and that was why they draw the match, I'm still hoping that Chelsea will do the needful by winning West Ham.

[Oluwa-btc]

I also don't understand the greed by Manchester City... They've already signed James Trafford for 30m euros. They have a backup goalkeeper who is Ortega also.

Then why are they going for Donnarumma too?    I don't think Trafford would be happy about giving his starting eleven place to him.

I'd rather see Manchester United going for the Italian goalkeeper as they need the most now.

How is this greed? It is all about adding quality players to your side. Trafford has quality and it is the reason why he made that call. If he knew it was going to end like this, then he should've just had talks with Pep Guardiola and made that move to Newcastle who also wanted him before he moved to Manchester City. Anyways, he is a player I like,  I wish him all the best.

[Volgastallion]

West Ham is a team like Everton they have some good history and a big fans behind them but every single season you start to think they are gonna make something big they do nothing and make one of the worst season ever.

You cant start losing that bad against Sunderland for example.

[knowngunman]

The opening game is going to be West Ham - Chelsea. When it comes to the odds:

- West Ham: 4.80
- Draw: 4.00
- Chelsea: 1.71

Chelsea had a bad start. Such a boring effort against Crystal Palace...    But I hope to see better performances tomorrow. West Ham are a mess. We saw them against Sunderland. Chelsea shouldn't have big problems.

The fact that Westham performed very poorly in their opening game against a newly promoted team (Sunderland) would make things a little bit difficult for Chelsea. Quite alright, Chelsea seems to be the favourite team to win here but they shouldn't underrate their opponent because Hammers will come with a full spirit determine to prove a point.

Although, Chelsea dominates the head to head record between the two teams and also win five out of the seven matches against West Ham in the Premier league but unfortunately it doesn't always turn out as expected. I still bet on Chelsea to win but it won't be an easy ride for them against the Hammers. 

[Platinumys]

I also don't understand the greed by Manchester City... They've already signed James Trafford for 30m euros. They have a backup goalkeeper who is Ortega also.

Then why are they going for Donnarumma too?    I don't think Trafford would be happy about giving his starting eleven place to him.

I'd rather see Manchester United going for the Italian goalkeeper as they need the most now.

Greedy? What greedy are you referring to here, a team is trying to sign players in sensitive areas and you're saying they are greedy, no they are not. Manchester City or should I say Pep is no longer comfortable with Ederson in front of goal and wants a chance that's why they are pushing hard to get Donnarumma from PSG before the window closes. Ortega is not even in City's plans and their new goalkeeper can't start handling first team matches yet that's why they are going for Donnarumma.

I won’t say adding Donnarumma to the city squad is Greed, for all we know Ederson is either leaving this summer or won’t be the first Choice for Manchester city this season. For sure trafford was bought this summer but with you can’t expect him to be in charge for the premier league, champions league and even the FA Cup for Manchester city, maybe that was the plan for him to be in charge but if there is an opportunity to sign a good and experience goal Kepler then why not.

We all know how competitive the league will be this season, with pep going trophyless last season I don’t think he would want to take chances again. He needs to win something this season and a good and experience goal keeper will be a good place to start.

The club may not have much confidence in Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, and the goalkeeper they brought to their club last season is not able to perform the role of the main goalkeeper well, which is why Manchester City is thinking of bringing Donnarumma to the club. I don't know if this deal will be successful, but if Donnarumma comes to Manchester City, then Manchester City will not have to worry too much about Manchester City's goalposts.

Now, after having good players in every position of the team, if there is no good goalkeeper in the goalkeeper position, then no matter how well the players perform, success will never come as a team. Now, if Manchester City offers Donnarumma, how much interest Donnarumma will show in coming to Manchester City is also a big issue because Donnarumma won the Champions League trophy with PSG last season, so PSG will try to keep him at the club even if they increase his salary.

[AYOBA]

If Chelsea draw this match again then it is very clear that they are not ready to lift the premier League title this season however if they win the match very well then i will agree that the last match with Crystal Palace was a mistake on their side and that was why they draw the match, I'm still hoping that Chelsea will do the needful by winning West Ham.

Chelsea always starts a season with power performances, which is just that because of the lack of inconsistency; their performances are ending badly, but since a lot of people were saying that their performances have little improved, that means that they're ready to do well this season. Their last game was against Crystal Palace, which ended in a draw, but in the statistics their performance was very good since they were able to dominate the ball possession.

We can wait and see what their outcome against West Ham will be; after that match, we can determine whether they will do well this season since their performance in their last game shows that they’ve been slowly improving. We will see how the whole season goes for them because it’s not by starting the season with a great performance how the season will end is the matters.

[Nightwalker(NW)]

It seems that Nottingham Forest is serious about building a team that can compete in the long term. This is demonstrated by significant investments and ambitious goals for the team, as well as strong support between the coach and the club's board. It was recently reported that Nottingham was targeting Manchester City's talented young midfielder James McAtee, and now we can see that this has been realized with the successful agreement of a contract between the two parties. There is a high likelihood that McAtee will have a significant impact on the Nottingham Forest team, much like Cole Palmer has had on Chelsea, and this further underscores Nottingham's seriousness in building its team strength. There are also others like Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye, Arnaud Kalimuendo, and others. Even the last few matches have proven the growing strength of the Nottingham Forest team. The three points earned when Forest faced Brentford are a good start for the team to be optimistic about the next matches. If Nottingham can maintain their good rhythm and teamwork, there is a high likelihood that Forest will navigate this season with surprises, making it one of the most intriguing matches in the Premier League through the performances they deliver. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season unfolds, with Nottingham Forest potentially finishing in about the top seven.

When Nottingham Forest gained promotion into the Premiership that season, lots of people thought they will not make it pass the next season, they thought they will be relegated again as they will not be able to stand the heat of Premiership. Nottingham Forest has surprised a lot of people by not only staying in the league but they are doing extremely well.

[silpersurfer]

................

Yeah, City will get Donnaruma and I am not expecting United to get him. Even if they are willing pay it all, like whatever PSG wants and whatever Donnaruma wants then there won't be really that much of a great addition. There aren't really anything that can make this be a lot more possible for them, as long as City wants him, Donnaruma will prefer the team that is more successful of course. Right now, United sucks and that is why people are aware that they should not join them.

Plus, no player got better thanks to United neither, they just buy players and become more like a player cemetery so it's easier to just say no to them. Even if you go to Brentford or whatever, you have a chance to be better and you can get a lot better result and shouldn't be a problem.

When players compete in the Premier League, everyone hopes they will continue to develop, but in reality, after joining Manchester United, they often experience setbacks. We have seen this in recent seasons, particularly under the guidance of ETH.

This season, under Ruben Amorin's leadership, he has tried to reignite the spirit of the Red Devils squad by making some changes. Although not significant, we have seen some small improvements that give hope for the team to bounce back.

In this transfer window, they have successfully signed Unha, Mbeumo, and Sesko, proving that they are still capable of competing in the summer transfer market. However, if their competitors are Manchester City, it is clearly quite challenging, as both teams are currently at different levels, even though both play in the top tier of the English league.