⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Adams0001]

Manchester City have finally started to win in the league. Together with the impressive win against West Ham the win streak is 2 matches now. By the way I liked their game in the last match. There was some good progress. Guardiola was complaining about injuries and underlining the need of signing new players. But clearly they can actually win under the circumstances. I think there was some psychological issues among the players before and we will see if it is really solved on the upcoming days.

By the way Nottingham Forest really impress me this season. I wonder what they will do against Liverpool next week.

But I think it is still too early to call out that Manchester City is back in the game. The game against West Ham was a major change of their situation into a positive direction, but it was still not the strong old Manchester City that everyone knows. West Ham had almost twice as many shots and quite high ball possession. Now this doesn't matter too much as Guardiola wants the results to be good rather than any other statistics like ball possession, but in the long run it does have an impact in my opinion as Manchester City's indistinguishable strength came from overwhelming dominance and high efficiency. They are still not there yet again.

In the next three weeks they can confirm the positive development if they beat or at least don't lose against PSG, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Exactly, you can say Manchester City are back in form, but with how they play their two league matches against Leicester and West Ham, you will definitely feel that Guadiola are getting back to there best form because their performance was very good on the pitch, and if they can continue performing like this, I am sure they can get trophy before this season ends, and the league has not turned Liverpool on yet, so if Liverpool can probably deform in the competition Manchester City can probably come back to the top, but that will be a difficult moment because Liverpool still have one upstanding games and if they on it that league will be Liverpool on.

With how Liverpool is playing this season, I don't believe they will lose any games; they are in consistent form, and any club they meet can only draw, not defeat. And they play Tottenham tonight in the cup, but I am confident that Liverpool will win easily because Tottenham is no longer in top form and is playing poorly. I am confident that Liverpool will win both the first and second legs. Let's see who will play in the final; since Arsenal lost to Newcastle in the first leg yesterday, let's see how Liverpool and Tottenham perform tonight and who will have the potential to win EFL Cup today.

[Pokapoka124]

To be honest, United doesn't go too low, but they do not get better neither, they end up losing and then winning and keeping their position at the moment. They are still 13th and they were at that level for a while, so I am not really expecting them to be all that different. My best guess would be 10th, and worst would be 15th, that's where they will finish, I bet that they won't finish 9th, and I bet that they won't finish 16th, that much is obvious from how they are playing.

Obviously not everyone thinks the same and I am sure that there are a lot of people who think differently, but I am pretty sure that we are going to end up like this without a doubt. Everyone talks about how bad they are, but nobody realizes Spurs are just one point and place above, they are not doing that good neither, this season has been a bit different for that reason.

In as much as Manchester United performance this season so far has been mixed performance and have seen their position remain stagnant for some period of time, that doesn't mean they will not have progress in the league.  Manchester United still remains a top club in England and it would be foolish for people to undermine their ability to finish in a more safer zone that might see them qualify for an European football next season.

I think with Ruben Amorim at the helm of affairs at Manchester United, they will able to finish in a more better position and am sure that they will play champions League football next season.

[TastyChillySauce00]

The Belgian midfielder played an important role in the last match Manchester City played and Manchester City won by a big margin. His injury problems as well as his lack of form combined have led Manchester City to underperform in several matches. With this same team and if De Bruyne's performance remains unchanged, they will do well in the upcoming matches. Manchester City will continue to do well as long as De Bruyne and the rest of the 10 players play, but when the players try to play other strategies without this player, their chances of doing well will decrease.

Kelvin Debruyne's injury problems is not responsible for Manchester City's poor run of form because last season when he was injured, he missed many games and they did well without him. Manchester City poor performance is mainly due to the absence of Rodri and also because they've been selling key players without any replacement. KD has been crucial in city's success but I think his days at the club is coming to an end. His reoccurring injuries is a major concern and City may decide to path ways with him this season or next.

De Bruyne's injury still impacting club's performance. He often contributed a lot when he's fit. The club being so clueless when he was not playing as they have no good break line passer other than him. Despite often missed the games, but he still contributes to the club.

Missing important pivot between him and Rodri gave City lots of impact, yet they won't stuck in the same place forever. I believe Pep has found solution over this.

This is also De Bruyne's last season in City.

[hahay]

But I am one of the bettors who do not believe in Liverpool's victory when facing Man United. And in the previous thread I expressed my doubts and concerns about the match. Because my thinking says a draw can happen when both teams know each other's weaknesses. So a draw should not be a painful surprise for bettors. Everyone must have the same hope to see MU return to its glory days. But unfortunately all of that requires a very long process and requires several seasons depending on how Amorim manages the Man United squad.

While you are not far from the truth, it didn't occur in the same vein with me. Haven't seen the level at which Liverpool have performed strongly this season, I didn't see it coming for Manchester United to draw with them. I believe that every match comes with its uniqueness based on the performance level of the team at a given time. So, I saw a better performance opportunity for Liverpool to win over Manchester United in the last match but that didn't not happen, couples with the fact that Liverpool was playing home at the Anfield stadium, I saw that as another hedge over the Red Devils. Well, for both teams, I will say well done. They both did well in their individual capacities as clubs.

Honestly, I personally am not surprised by that draw result because I also always consider about failure. But yes, because I also bet on Liverpool, at least there will be a sense of disappointment because I lost the bet, but even so I still accept the results and even, in another post I also really appreciate Manchester United and I also said that Manchester United deserves points. Because indeed, even though the team has good dominance by being strong at the top of the standings, it will not make the team always win every match it plays, so this draw is certainly a common result.

[Abu-Naim]

De Bruyne's injury still impacting club's performance. He often contributed a lot when he's fit. The club being so clueless when he was not playing as they have no good break line passer other than him. Despite often missed the games, but he still contributes to the club.

De Bruyne has been an important player for Manchester City for long, he is among the key players Manchester City depends on whenever they are in need of goals, and his contribution when he is fit is even more better than any other player playing in his position in the whole Premier League; that is why even if Pep Guardiola is saying that they can do without him, I do believe some times, but when they face big opponents, they struggle to create chances.

Missing important pivot between him and Rodri gave City lots of impact, yet they won't stuck in the same place forever. I believe Pep has found solution over this.

This is also De Bruyne's last season in City.

No permanent solution yet, they are just trying to recover from their poor performance as Pep has realized that he has to improvise if he really want his job.
With Rodri and De Bruyne all fit, Manchester City can never be in this current position, which simply means that the team depend on them. If City can sign some good players in their positions, they can do well again and fight for the title.

[ILuckyGuyI]

It is surprising that you are amazed with Amorim's game. 
Have you checked his stats since he managed Man United? I personally assume he isn't better that Ten Hag.

I didn't say anything like I like him generally. I only talked about his work against Liverpool. I guess nobody can be against that otherwise we watched different games. 

Aside from that I agree, he isn't more successful than Erik ten Hag at the moment. But I would really like to see what he does after reshaping the squad a little in transfer windows.

The fact that they have no money anymore. 

I don't know, the owners are really rich. As long as they don't break the FFP rules I think they will give Amorim also a good budget.    Erik ten Hag wasted hundreds of millions so I hope Amorim won't do the same thing.

[Baki202]

While you are not far from the truth, it didn't occur in the same vein with me. Haven't seen the level at which Liverpool have performed strongly this season, I didn't see it coming for Manchester United to draw with them. I believe that every match comes with its uniqueness based on the performance level of the team at a given time. So, I saw a better performance opportunity for Liverpool to win over Manchester United in the last match but that didn't not happen, couples with the fact that Liverpool was playing home at the Anfield stadium, I saw that as another hedge over the Red Devils. Well, for both teams, I will say well done. They both did well in their individual capacities as clubs.

Liverpool was the least expected club to be on fire but they are gradually becoming weak and there consistency seems to have been affected, but they are the one to hopefully win the premier league because we the city are still at the point of recovery and am not bothered about what Manchester City is playing because it started when the season started so am not even surprised with what ever  performance they will display and I don't even think there hope of winning but I think things will still get better eventually, and what transpired between Liverpool and Manchester United is not somthing that is expected but football it sometimes happens the way things changed so fast in that game how the United were able to equalize was an impressive game coming from
Them and a lot of people would have lost bet because of how the game changed so fast.

[Issa56]

But I think it is still too early to call out that Manchester City is back in the game. The game against West Ham was a major change of their situation into a positive direction, but it was still not the strong old Manchester City that everyone knows.

Winning against West Ham was a nice one for Manchester City, which we can see that Manchester City’s performance has improved, but just as you said, we can’t just conclude that they are back to form. Manchester City has been able to get a win in their last two matches, but they played against weak teams. Let’s see how their subsequent matches will be, and let’s see how they are going to perform when they play against top teams before we can conclude that they are back to form or not, but I can see improvement in their performance, because they do lose and draw against even weak teams before, but now they are beginning to win.

[ingiltere]

Bournemouth have lost their reserve striker. Enes Ünal was injured in training, tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament. He will need surgery and is likely to miss the season. He didn't get many chances in the starting 11 at Bournemouth, but he was coming on later and scored 2 goals last month. He couldn't show his La Liga performance here. I'm not sure if he will be able to stay in the Premier League next season after this injury. He's also an important player for the Turkish national team. We didn't see enough of him in the Premier League but hopefully he can come back strong.

[Pokapoka124]

Nottingham Forest and EPL

We actually need no more evidence to understand that Nottingham Forest did not come to joke this season. Most times I asked myself question to why small teams like Nottingham Forest will be getting it right this season while big teams like Manchester United will be struggling. I personally believe that this is about building for the future. When Nottingham Forest gained promotion to the English Premier League, the match 23 signings and we laughed at them because the assignments were not popular kind of superstars. Little did we know that they were building a formidable team, and today I can tell you that with the rate Nottingham Forest is playing, they will definitely make top four this season because they are not in any European competition that will give them much distraction. They are exerting same energy Leicester city exerted years back.

Is there any team that doesn’t crave for success at the highest level? Now you know why the Premier League is regarded as the most competitive league in the world. Nottingham Forest performance so far in the epl has been outstanding where they have managed to gather over 40 points in 20 games which some big teams cannot be able to achieve. I think their aim is to finish strongly on the standings that will automatically see them play Champions League football, to me I see it as a reality if they keep on this good form till the end.

[ginsan]

While you are not far from the truth, it didn't occur in the same vein with me. Haven't seen the level at which Liverpool have performed strongly this season, I didn't see it coming for Manchester United to draw with them. I believe that every match comes with its uniqueness based on the performance level of the team at a given time. So, I saw a better performance opportunity for Liverpool to win over Manchester United in the last match but that didn't not happen, couples with the fact that Liverpool was playing home at the Anfield stadium, I saw that as another hedge over the Red Devils. Well, for both teams, I will say well done. They both did well in their individual capacities as clubs.

Both teams played relatively balanced in that match, I saw Manchester united performance was very good in defense and attack therefore they were able to balance their strength with Liverpool. If you look at the pace of both of them of course Liverpool is in its best form but unfortunately they were unable to beat Manchester United.

Manchester United has not found a good strategy from their new coach, but with the game they showed against Liverpool of course it was getting better compared to previous matches. Manchester united needs a more productive striker in scoring goals, so they must be able to take advantage of the January transfer market to find a new striker.

[Juse14]

Nottingham Forest and EPL

We actually need no more evidence to understand that Nottingham Forest did not come to joke this season. Most times I asked myself question to why small teams like Nottingham Forest will be getting it right this season while big teams like Manchester United will be struggling. I personally believe that this is about building for the future. When Nottingham Forest gained promotion to the English Premier League, the match 23 signings and we laughed at them because the assignments were not popular kind of superstars. Little did we know that they were building a formidable team, and today I can tell you that with the rate Nottingham Forest is playing, they will definitely make top four this season because they are not in any European competition that will give them much distraction. They are exerting same energy Leicester city exerted years back.

Is there any team that doesn’t crave for success at the highest level? Now you know why the Premier League is regarded as the most competitive league in the world. Nottingham Forest performance so far in the epl has been outstanding where they have managed to gather over 40 points in 20 games which some big teams cannot be able to achieve. I think their aim is to finish strongly on the standings that will automatically see them play Champions League football, to me I see it as a reality if they keep on this good form till the end.

There are always surprises in the Premier League, in the last few seasons we have been surprised by the performance of Leicester City, a team that has managed to make new history in the world of football, because they have just been promoted to the Premier League, they immediately won the title. And even though they were absent for one season in the Premier League, they were able to return the following season. However, it is very unfortunate that this season they have experienced a series of bad results, and are threatened with relegation.

And for this season, perhaps the surprise is Nottingham Forest, where they performed beyond expectations. Quite surprising considering that last season they were only able to finish in 17th place, and were almost relegated. The changes made by Nottingham Forest are truly significant, because they are not only able to survive in the highest caste competition in the Premier League, but they have also become a truly frightening specter for big clubs, and are currently able to compete closely in the top position.

[Antotena]

While you are not far from the truth, it didn't occur in the same vein with me. Haven't seen the level at which Liverpool have performed strongly this season, I didn't see it coming for Manchester United to draw with them. I believe that every match comes with its uniqueness based on the performance level of the team at a given time. So, I saw a better performance opportunity for Liverpool to win over Manchester United in the last match but that didn't not happen, couples with the fact that Liverpool was playing home at the Anfield stadium, I saw that as another hedge over the Red Devils. Well, for both teams, I will say well done. They both did well in their individual capacities as clubs.

Some people might not believe that Liverpool isn't they well but I'm very flabbergasted they have only loss one game in the whole of this season including other leagues ttey have appeared, the season isn't coming yet to an end but if we are going to be sincere about Liverpool, they have everything needed to win the Premier League this season because they didn't just wake upto be hoping there, last few seasons was every difficult got them but they are better now.

Manchester United had grace to be able to draw with Liverpool else it would have been another waste for the club. Even by that, Liverpool over came and equalized that goal when the match was already coming to an end. If they were quick to score a goal, it would have been the opposite because I don't Manchester United will be that lucky to come out of their that match and think they are going to draw, most often it's Liverpool that wins their game.

[pawel7777]

Any thoughts on Arsenal losing the 1 leg EFL cup semi-final game to Newcastle 0-2 in front of their own audience? Is it because they didn't take it seriously (they had some players from the bench) or is Newcastle just overall a better team recently.
I know the EFL cup is not a priority for the top Premier League clubs, but it would be strange to get this far to just drop out without a fight.

Meanwhile, Tottenham just took a 1-0 lead against Liverpool in today's game.

[BIT-BENDER]

Any thoughts on Arsenal losing the 1 leg EFL cup semi-final game to Newcastle 0-2 in front of their own audience? Is it because they didn't take it seriously (they had some players from the bench) or is Newcastle just overall a better team recently.
I know the EFL cup is not a priority for the top Premier League clubs, but it would be strange to get this far to just drop out without a fight.

Meanwhile, Tottenham just took a 1-0 lead against Liverpool in today's game.

I am still trying to find out of this is true but if it is then is a big embarrassment for Arteta, I have heard news that he actually blamed the ball for Arsenal's disgraceful performance against Newcastle yesterday.
Even if Newcastle were in form there is no excuse for Arteta and his boys not to score at least a goal against Newcastle knowing how much they need to win a trophy.
There is still another leg but with what I watched yesterday I kind of feel that Newcastle are still favourite to win the second leg.

[pawel7777]

I am still trying to find out of this is true but if it is then is a big embarrassment for Arteta, I have heard news that he actually blamed the ball for Arsenal's disgraceful performance against Newcastle yesterday.
(...)

I just looked it up and yup, he did blame the EFL cup balls (produced by Puma) for being different than the ones used in the Premier League (manufactured by Nike):
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/13285096/mikel-arteta-arsenal-boss-says-carabao-cup-ball-was-a-factor-in-his-sides-wasteful-finishing-against-newcastle

To be fair to him, he didn't blame it on the ball entirely but just mentioned it as a contributing factor. The truth is, the ball was the same for both teams and if Newcastle could score, then so should Arsenal.

[Akbarkoe]

Nottingham Forest and EPL

We actually need no more evidence to understand that Nottingham Forest did not come to joke this season. Most times I asked myself question to why small teams like Nottingham Forest will be getting it right this season while big teams like Manchester United will be struggling. I personally believe that this is about building for the future. When Nottingham Forest gained promotion to the English Premier League, the match 23 signings and we laughed at them because the assignments were not popular kind of superstars. Little did we know that they were building a formidable team, and today I can tell you that with the rate Nottingham Forest is playing, they will definitely make top four this season because they are not in any European competition that will give them much distraction. They are exerting same energy Leicester city exerted years back.

Nottingham Forest's plan this season is to stay in the Premier League. But it seems they have done more than that, not only have they avoided the threat of relegation like they did last season, but they have also become a very strong team, in fact they are the only team to beat Liverpool this season, and maybe this victory is what makes them appear so confident in every match. Currently Nottingham Forest is more than just a dark horse, Nottingham Forest is really competing tightly at the top of the standings.

And in the near future Nottingham Forest will meet Liverpool again in the second round of the Premier League, this will be a very exciting match to watch. Liverpool whose consistency has been a little shaky lately, where they had to share points when facing Man United and most recently Liverpool also had to lose narrowly to Spurs in the League Cup. With what Liverpool have experienced lately, I am sure that Nottingham Forest will win again over Liverpool. I will bet on nottingham forest...

[blue Snow]

Any thoughts on Arsenal losing the 1 leg EFL cup semi-final game to Newcastle 0-2 in front of their own audience? Is it because they didn't take it seriously (they had some players from the bench) or is Newcastle just overall a better team recently.

When I watch the highlight, seem like Arsenal is unlucky on their home. They have several time get chance to create the goal, but the squad is look hard to break newcastle defenders. I don't know it's because Bukayo Saka is Absent, or because Arsenal let them win to adjust several tournament that make them fatigue if there are too many matches to play ahead. But so far, Newcastle is playing better than Arsenal, Isak is good, He is become man of the match which always gave chance to create over 2 goals.

[el kaka22]

When a team is leading, it's quite easy to get complacent and start getting draws and losses because in most cases they already know that they are good and even if they lose like two in a row they could end up with title contending.

So right now, Liverpool could lose two in a row after this game they could still do great and probably even lead the league, so they do not really care and losing that care ends up being very important for them. If they end up losing out like that, it's not really that simple because they can't give up all together because that would be terrible but at the same time there are few games throughout the season they could just end up not caring at all for those few games. In the end, just focus on overall situation and if you can do much better if you could focus on all games type of situation.

[Velvet78]

When a team is leading, it's quite easy to get complacent and start getting draws and losses because in most cases they already know that they are good and even if they lose like two in a row they could end up with title contending.

So right now, Liverpool could lose two in a row after this game they could still do great and probably even lead the league, so they do not really care and losing that care ends up being very important for them. If they end up losing out like that, it's not really that simple because they can't give up all together because that would be terrible but at the same time there are few games throughout the season they could just end up not caring at all for those few games. In the end, just focus on overall situation and if you can do much better if you could focus on all games type of situation.

Honestly I would be very okay with watching a title competition until the end of the season.    Therefore seeing Liverpool stumbling isn't a problem to me. When it comes to how long they will keep it up, I'm also curious. In the end Arne Slot is in his first season in the Premier League managing a this big team for the first time in his manager career. As a young manager (46) at the same time, we all must be curious how quick he will handle it.

In the meantime maybe Arsenal could also catch up with them more if they don't mess up too. I know Nottingham Forest also have the same points with them but I can't be sure whether they would last that long in top 4. But I admit they have really capable players.