⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[topbitcoin]

I just had a feeling that Arsenal were treading on thin ice when they were only up by one goal for so long. I actually felt they should have taking their chances to increase the lead which would give them more comfort but the certainly did not do that and ended up paying the costly price when Brighton equalised the game.
This draw is not actually good for Arsenal title race as they should not be dropping points knowing how clinical Liverpool can be. The title is becoming rather too easy for Liverpool as many teams this season that were meant to be contenders are really not being consistent enough to worry Liverpool.

The results are not too good experienced by Arsenal this week even though they appeared solid from the start of the match but in the end it didn't seem enough to make them secure the 3 points they had even though this is still quite important especially for those who are still possible to catch up or keep the points gap from Liverpool. But when the situation is not optimal as in this match, Liverpool automatically benefits greatly, especially with those who still have 2 matches but the points with the club below are getting farther and farther away, making Liverpool currently have the upper hand.

The scheme pattern that Arteta built in this match was not very good and even a lot of momentum that in the end could be broken by Brighton, which even in my opinion in terms of Brighton's attack scheme was better in this case. With this result apart from those who are still possible to be overtaken by Nottingham Forrest, this also makes Arsenal lose momentum to maintain their balance in terms of performance even though they can still get 1 point.

[Issa56]

If Chelsea fails to bounce back, then I am sure that Chelsea will also fail to finish in the top four. Because after all, if I consider Chelsea's last four matches, at least Chelsea only played against mediocre teams that on paper Chelsea has a good chance of maintaining its winning streak.

Chelsea's performance has dropped in their last few matches, they are beginning to lose and draw against teams that are not even supposed to be difficult for them. I am just surprised to see Chelsea's performance drop, Chelsea will have to do everything to improve their performance, if they don't, then they won't be able to end the season in the top 4, because Manchester City is already bouncing back, and if they can't win the Premier League title this season, then they will do everything possible to qualify for the Champions League. Chelsea will have to work on their defense, and they need another striker, a club like Chelsea shouldn't rely on a striker like Jackson.

[aylabadia05]

I just had a feeling that Arsenal were treading on thin ice when they were only up by one goal for so long. I actually felt they should have taking their chances to increase the lead which would give them more comfort but the certainly did not do that and ended up paying the costly price when Brighton equalised the game.
This draw is not actually good for Arsenal title race as they should not be dropping points knowing how clinical Liverpool can be. The title is becoming rather too easy for Liverpool as many teams this season that were meant to be contenders are really not being consistent enough to worry Liverpool.

Of course, because Arsenal are drawing, Liverpool will automatically get lots of opportunities to widen the points gap because they have two games in hand. Arsenal are not the best contenders for the Premier League title in my opinion, even if Arteta really tries to win it. In fact, Arsenal always fail and they are not a team with a winning mentality as their fans want.

Arteta has to think hard about winning his first title with Arsenal. He not only has to make Arsenal a good playing team, but his main goal must be achieved. Arsenal need a title that they haven't won for too long, but of course this is not an easy thing for them to get if they don't have a good mentality.

[Slow death]

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal again have failed to win a game they first took the lead and now very unlikely to catch up with Liverpool if the Reds succeeds to beat Manchester United tomorrow. I think Mikel Arteta got it all wrong when he played Thomas Partey in the right-back position and started Martin Odegaard on bench because of Odegaard had started he would've created more scoring opportunities before the end of the first half. Do you think Arsenal can finish the season as group winners? Let me read your thoughts

Let's just all agree that the Premier league is one tough competition and results are unpredictable!!

And in the form Arsenal are in, who saw these guys dropping points today   Definitely not me.
It's back on the drawing board for Mikel Arteta has he plots his next move ,while Nottingham Forest plays catch up and hopefully challenge the big boys for the top spot.

It's weird that when Manchester City is winning these are teams like Chelsea and Arsenal are now dropping points what's happening...

Arsenal have been a team that has been doing well in the first few games and when they reach the middle of the league they drop in performance and then recover, but when they are close to the end of the league, in the last few games they drop in performance again, this inconsistency of theirs will not make them win the title any time soon in my opinion. The strangest thing about all this is that they have a very good squad and they have been with it for years, so they were supposed to be more consistent, maybe the problem is with the coach who is not managing to do a good psychological job with the players.

[pawel7777]

It looks like Man City is back and hopefully the worst is behind them. A convincing 4-1 win over West Ham although I'm slightly concerned about West Ham having more shots on goal.
Unfortunately it's too late for the Citizens to hope for defending their Premier League title, but at least they should be able to put up a good fight for the top 4.

Their next 2 league games against Brentford and Ipswich shouldn't be that hard, but they will have a streak of very challenging games starting from the end of Jan:
Chelsea (H)
Arsenal (A)
Newcastle (H)
Liverpool (H)
Tottenham (A) - Man City got humiliated in their last game losing to Tottenham 0-4 at home
Nottm Forest (A)

That 1.5 months will be a true test for Guardiola's team.

[ingiltere]

It looks like Man City is back and hopefully the worst is behind them. A convincing 4-1 win over West Ham although I'm slightly concerned about West Ham having more shots on goal.
Unfortunately it's too late for the Citizens to hope for defending their Premier League title, but at least they should be able to put up a good fight for the top 4.

After all, Manchester City's bad run was not going to last forever. They are going back to factory settings. Even if the title seems impossible this season, they have the Champions League and other competitions at their disposal. They'll also try to finish in the best position in the league. Haaland is scoring goals again. Foden has also been quiet for a long time, he should continue to contribute goals.
Arsenal and Chelsea had to settle for 1 point in games they could have won. Liverpool are now very comfortable. They won't be stressed for tomorrow's game. Even if they lose, they still have a serious point difference.

[TEBTC]

It looks like Man City is back and hopefully the worst is behind them. A convincing 4-1 win over West Ham although I'm slightly concerned about West Ham having more shots on goal.
Unfortunately it's too late for the Citizens to hope for defending their Premier League title, but at least they should be able to put up a good fight for the top 4.

After all, Manchester City's bad run was not going to last forever. They are going back to factory settings. Even if the title seems impossible this season, they have the Champions League and other competitions at their disposal. They'll also try to finish in the best position in the league. Haaland is scoring goals again. Foden has also been quiet for a long time, he should continue to contribute goals.
Arsenal and Chelsea had to settle for 1 point in games they could have won. Liverpool are now very comfortable. They won't be stressed for tomorrow's game. Even if they lose, they still have a serious point difference.

congrats to Manchester City for coming back to winning ways with a resounding 4:1 win against Westham looking at the game you can tell that Manchester City has gotten what they where lacking between the midfield and the attack because the link between the midfield and the attack was really lacking in some of those games that they lost city bouncing back to winning ways is a good one because currently there's no team that is really challenging Liverpool as both Chelsea and arsenal dropped points

[blue Snow]

After all, Manchester City's bad run was not going to last forever. They are going back to factory settings. Even if the title seems impossible this season, they have the Champions League and other competitions at their disposal. They'll also try to finish in the best position in the league. Haaland is scoring goals again. Foden has also been quiet for a long time, he should continue to contribute goals.

Yes, it looks like they've found their best performance, De Bruyne has show his quality play maker at this time, Foden also back like before, he know how to take advantage of the situation and place his position to get ball, and for sure Haaland was the star player again last night, he found his confidence again, his instincts are back to sharp after create the 2nd ball. I think Pep is quite happy with the squad. he began to restore fighting spirit the squad. This is what the fans have been waiting for, because they lose too often, so it is difficult to achieve victory if without a win in last night.

[MainIbem]

Do you agree with former Chelsea player (Mikel Obi's) thought concerning Manchester United's situation? I know some player supporting fans would want to blame the new coach just to stan their favourites but I agree with Mikel cause I think several good coaches have been blamed enough in the past due to the poor individual efforts of most of Manchester United's players, it think it's high time some fans stop blaming this coaches and instead channel their energies to players that are underperforming regularly and ruining the gameplay of the team, these players need to sit up, they have to start fighting for the badge and play the United way instead of underperforming and earning fat salaries weekly. Anyways news have it that the match against Liverpool tomorrow could be channelled due to a heavy snow yesterday and this morning but if It holds I just hope Manchester United players would manage to put smiles on the face of their supporters, I know it's going to be a difficult task cause Liverpool are in their best form currently but a draw won't be bad if they still can't find their form and win the match.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Great to see Haaland getting more than one goal and most importantly team Manchester City winning another one...but their defense needs some work because better teams than Westham will easily get goals over them.

The game between Chelsea vs Palace is hard to predict. I know Chelsea is being favored, but seeing how weak their mentality after they suffered the lose. It's questioning me whether they can win the game. Seeing how big Chelsea's odds makes me lose my confidence to bet on them. I'd pick double chance Chelsea or draw.

Wish I saw this comment before  watching the game, I would have less expectations from Chelsea winning...because just like the previous game they have thrown away another 3points which looked like they secured this one, but to my disappointment another mental breakdown by the blues.

It seems City is bouncing back, and that's good. I liked it. However, they can't finish the game with clean sheet, but win is a win. They feel regain their confidence again.

As for Chelsea, seeing how big their odds, more than 2 before the game was quite strange. That's why i avoid only betting on Chelsea win the game coz draw potentially happened too. Like i said they totally lose their confidence after their winning streak broken. 

It feels like Chelsea may be out from the top 4 soon.

[joniboini]

It seems City is bouncing back, and that's good. I liked it. However, they can't finish the game with clean sheet, but win is a win. They feel regain their confidence again.

I guess it's true that their underlying attack numbers are good, which is why scoring goals shouldn't be a problem if their attackers are on form. The defense problem is still there though, so they need to fix that asap. I doubt they won't buy any new player this window unless they want to make Guardiola rage quit.

That's why i avoid only betting on Chelsea win the game coz draw potentially happened too. Like i said they totally lose their confidence after their winning streak broken. 

Some pundits said that Maresca made some mistakes by relying on Cole Palmer too much, even not subbing him when he was not bringing anything to the table. But that is an easy argument to make, especially when you don't know how those players perform on the training ground. I saw so many people calling Jackson out for yesterday's match too. He needs to be more clinical to stay as the first choice. CMIIW.

[TastyChillySauce00]

It seems City is bouncing back, and that's good. I liked it. However, they can't finish the game with clean sheet, but win is a win. They feel regain their confidence again.

I guess it's true that their underlying attack numbers are good, which is why scoring goals shouldn't be a problem if their attackers are on form. The defense problem is still there though, so they need to fix that asap. I doubt they won't buy any new player this window unless they want to make Guardiola rage quit.

Hopefully, a late season comeback from Manchester City.

That's why i avoid only betting on Chelsea win the game coz draw potentially happened too. Like i said they totally lose their confidence after their winning streak broken. 

Some pundits said that Maresca made some mistakes by relying on Cole Palmer too much, even not subbing him when he was not bringing anything to the table. But that is an easy argument to make, especially when you don't know how those players perform on the training ground. I saw so many people calling Jackson out for yesterday's match too. He needs to be more clinical to stay as the first choice. CMIIW.

When Palmer was flop, Maresca scared to replace him. It's happened a few times, and no doubt pundits said that. As for Jackson, he's liability to his club, he missed so many big chances, though i has to admitted how he's quite good in positioning, but awful in finishing.

[Velvet78]

It looks like Man City is back and hopefully the worst is behind them. A convincing 4-1 win over West Ham although I'm slightly concerned about West Ham having more shots on goal.
Unfortunately it's too late for the Citizens to hope for defending their Premier League title, but at least they should be able to put up a good fight for the top 4.

Their next 2 league games against Brentford and Ipswich shouldn't be that hard, but they will have a streak of very challenging games starting from the end of Jan:
Chelsea (H)
Arsenal (A)
Newcastle (H)
Liverpool (H)
Tottenham (A) - Man City got humiliated in their last game losing to Tottenham 0-4 at home
Nottm Forest (A)

That 1.5 months will be a true test for Guardiola's team.

I'm not sure about Brentford honestly. They can really be full of surprises.    But Arsenal just beat them nicely. For Ipswich I think the same. Chelsea lost to them maybe but I don't think the same thing to happen for Manchester City as well.

Their calendar is really horrifying though.    All of those games you mentioned are challenging ones. I think they will beat Chelsea, have revenge on Tottenham and beat Nottingham Forest once again. However for the other games, I can't be that confident. Seeing Arsenal beating them wouldn't be any surprise. Newcastle are on the rise these days you know. Even though it is at Etihad, it is a tough one. And of course, Liverpool are currently the king of the Premier League. It can be another point loss for Guardiola. Let's see...

[SatoPrincess]

Arsenal conceded a penalty yesterday and Arsenal fans immediately began to spread their conspiracy theories again. Arsenal fans are crying foul play at the referee’s call. Mikel Arteta was also very furious about the penalty yesterday. Let’s discuss the head clash between William Saliba and João Pedro, was it a penalty or not?

[Roseline492]

Do you agree with former Chelsea player (Mikel Obi's) thought concerning Manchester United's situation? I know some player supporting fans would want to blame the new coach just to stan their favourites but I agree with Mikel cause I think several good coaches have been blamed enough in the past due to the poor individual efforts of most of Manchester United's players,

I also agree with Mikel Obi's because his thoughts about Manchester United was not like somebody who dislike the club or prefer other club but his opinion is something Manchester United management needs to take note of because he has placed the problem of the club to everybody and if we think about it is true because a lot of players in Manchester United is not worthy to be there and some got to be there due to one circumstance to another, actually when I listing to him I thought to myself that Mikel Obi's will make a good coach if decides to pick the career, however to balance Manchester United as he described that means Manchester United will need to sell a lot of players to buy the standard.

[SmartCharpa]

When Ruben Amorim was appointed the manager of Manchester United, I wasn't expecting him to perform magic by immediately making them a big contender for major trophies and that's because the club was performing below average before the former Sporting CP Manager arrived. Though I expected better results than what I'm currently seeing in the club but I think Amorim will definitely improve the club and make them a strong force in English football again.

We can't expect Manchester United to recover instantly under the new manager because previous managers worsened the situation before leaving the club. I wasn't expecting an improved result from Manchester United with their present squad, if they win against any opponent, they'll be lucky unless they play against an average team like them since Manchester United's defense can't handle the pressure of any opponent attackers. I don't believe anyone expected much from Manchester United under Amorim, given that Ten Hags changed the team into a squad that struggles to avoid the relegation zone every season.

However, this is a January transfer and we haven't heard anything from the Manchester United boards regarding whether they plan to add players to improve their performance, I expect the team to sell some players because we're sick of seeing some of the current players, who aren't contributing to the team. I would want to see Manchester United return to the days when they had a strong finisher to break through an opponent, unlike Rashford and Garnacho.

[mamesso]

I just had a feeling that Arsenal were treading on thin ice when they were only up by one goal for so long. I actually felt they should have taking their chances to increase the lead which would give them more comfort but the certainly did not do that and ended up paying the costly price when Brighton equalised the game.
This draw is not actually good for Arsenal title race as they should not be dropping points knowing how clinical Liverpool can be. The title is becoming rather too easy for Liverpool as many teams this season that were meant to be contenders are really not being consistent enough to worry Liverpool.

In fact, Arsenal failed to add a goal and failed to secure the lead, they had to be satisfied with a draw at Brighton headquarters and lost important points when they were trying to provide competition to Liverpool. In my previous comment, I also predicted that this would happen, Arsenal always had difficulty maintaining the winning streak that had been built up in several previous matches.
Now we can only wait for the final result between Liverpool vs Man United, if Liverpool succeeds in adding to Man United's suffering, then Arsenal will have more difficulty catching up with Liverpool.

[Pokapoka124]

I don't understand what happened to Tottenham. They are falling like an elevator with a broken brake. They also lost 1-2 to Newcastle today. OK, Newcastle is a very fit team, but losing the match in which Tottenham took the lead also shows the decline in the team. After City, there is a very interesting decline in Tottenham. If it continues like this, Angelos Postecoglou will have to resign. They are very good as a team squad, but they have a very fragile structure. They urgently need to recover. Their next match is against Arsenal, and if they get points in that match, the team will be positively affected mentally. Otherwise, the course is not good at all.

It seems that Ange Postecoglou has lost tactical ideas because why on earth will he decide not to field his strongest eleven when he knows that they are playing Newcastle. I don't know why he decided to drop his captain Son Heung Min, James Madison, and Yves Bissoumma from the starting eleven, or is it a tactical idea? I do not think so. The blame should be on the manager, he brought the defeat to his team.

[jaberwock]

Arsenal have been a team that has been doing well in the first few games and when they reach the middle of the league they drop in performance and then recover, but when they are close to the end of the league, in the last few games they drop in performance again, this inconsistency of theirs will not make them win the title any time soon in my opinion. The strangest thing about all this is that they have a very good squad and they have been with it for years, so they were supposed to be more consistent, maybe the problem is with the coach who is not managing to do a good psychological job with the players.

I agree about how they have some fatigue issue or just consistency issue. They have been doing the same thing for years now, they do alright for a while and then after January or so (this year even earlier) they start to do even worse.

Injuries are of course a big part of it, but if injuries are a huge problem for your club, then you go take a look at your staff and equipment, you need to figure out what's wrong that other teams have less injuries then you, you must be doing something, and change whatever needed to keep players healthier. In the end, if we are looking at in more detail, we need to consider how things could be even bigger deal, and that won't be just injuries, because we see literally players not playing with their 100% after a while too, they lose morale and confidence.

[Spaceman1000$]

Do you agree with former Chelsea player (Mikel Obi's) thought concerning Manchester United's situation? I know some player supporting fans would want to blame the new coach just to stan their favourites but I agree with Mikel cause I think several good coaches have been blamed enough in the past due to the poor individual efforts of most of Manchester United's players, it think it's high time some fans stop blaming this coaches and instead channel their energies to players that are underperforming regularly and ruining the gameplay of the team, these players need to sit up, they have to start fighting for the badge and play the United way instead of underperforming and earning fat salaries weekly. Anyways news have it that the match against Liverpool tomorrow could be channelled due to a heavy snow yesterday and this morning but if It holds I just hope Manchester United players would manage to put smiles on the face of their supporters, I know it's going to be a difficult task cause Liverpool are in their best form currently but a draw won't be bad if they still can't find their form and win the match.

I agree with what John obi Mikel is saying concerning Manchester United coach, looking at the kind of players they have, it is best we allow Amorim so at least he can bring in some new players this January,  he came in the middle of the season to manage players he is not used to, at first you will notice that he's trying to form a first 11 that he will be using regularly but the unfortunately thing is the inconsistency of this players.

Manchester United board should not always manage a bad situation, they should open their purse and allow Amorim to get new players, else the coach can only do his tactics as a coach but the players are the ones to execute it, if they are not meeting up, then there is nothing the coach can do.