⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Obim34]

City have gone through a difficult crisis and are now gradually starting to get better

Manchester City are currently having a terrible season, I never expected Manchester city performance to drop so bad this season, the only trophy which is left for Manchester city this season is the FA cup, they are out of the remaining competition. They are currently struggling to qualify for the champions league, but if they can continue with their good performance, then they will be able to qualify for the champions league next season, but any mistake from Manchester City, there are other teams behind them which will be taking over their position, but am sure Guardiola will keep on working on the team’s performance.

The space is tight for teams competing to make it into semi finals, any team that drops point is going to be left behind and easy going for the rest. If Manchester City should win any trophy this season then they are lucky because of how badly they started the season and are ending in the same way, same thing goes to Manchester United who are still in the race of Europa. Both teams are giving their very shot to make it happen after poorly ending Premier League table, it benefits one side United to qualify automatically into Champions League and the Manchester United to own a trophy this season.

[jaberwock]

Although they managed to climb to third place, Manchester City's position is not completely safe, because Nottingham Forest or Newcastle could retake Man City's position in third place. Pep Guardiola's team must appear consistently in the remaining matches, they must be able to maintain their position so as not to leave the top 5 standings, because the most important thing for the team right now is how Man City can compete in the Champions League next season.

And there is the opponent of Nottingham Forest in week 34, they will face Bournemouth, seeing how the performance of both teams in the last few matches, the match will likely end with a win for Nottingham Forest and the worst possibility is ending with a draw. While the match between Newcastle United VS Ipswich, I think this will be a fairly easy match for The Magpies, so it is possible that Manchester City's position will be shifted again.

Maybe the gap is just one point, but it is also true that City has done quite well lately and they are doing very well. This is why I have doubts that City will start to play badly now. They had a terrible season at the start, during that late first half of the season they weren't good at all but they are doing right now. Which is why they are not going to win easily but they are going to win.

Moreover, there is a "feeling" of Nottingham Forrest not doing as good, not for any realistic reason but because they haven't done good in 50 years, so it would be shocking if they could take back their position, it was shocking all season long that they were third, so people are assuming (including me) that they would do worse and will end up being much lower in the end.

[SensitiveEyes]

They know it is a terrible season. The FA cup is the only trophy Man City can win for the fans. If City players take their fans to a Wembley final it will be a perfect day out but Forest in the semi stand in the way. Villa and Palace are in the other semi.

Manchester City are currently having a terrible season, I never expected Manchester city performance to drop so bad this season, the only trophy which is left for Manchester city this season is the FA cup, they are out of the remaining competition. They are currently struggling to qualify for the champions league, but if they can continue with their good performance, then they will be able to qualify for the champions league next season, but any mistake from Manchester City, there are other teams behind them which will be taking over their position, but am sure Guardiola will keep on working on the team’s performance.

[Velvet78]

Arsenal are completely focused on the Champions League now. This is why they left points against Crystal Palace as well two days ago. Nothing to be surprised of though.    No aim left in the Premier League in the end...

But they really are having their best season in the Champions League in who knows how many years... They could even go for the title even though they aren't the most favoured team for it. No matter what Arteta is really one of the best manager choices for Arsenal.

[Adbitco]

The run in games chart shows Man City have it easy. Chelsea have it tough because they have to play Liverpool, Newcastle, Man Utd and Forest. Forest play Chelsea on the last day and Aston Villa travel to Man Utd. It is impossible to say which teams will play in the UCL.

What really makes you think that Manchester City has it easy? If you think or feel that City has it easy how about Aston Villa? Because both seem to have almost same opponents. Manchester City will play; Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Fulham, Wolverhampton and Southampton.
Aston Villa will play; Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Tottenham and Manchester United. The only difference is the last two teams for both clubs and we all know that Tottenham and Manchester United is not in the top level this season to consider them a serious threat to team like Villa of this very season.

[Distraction]

After all is done, do you think Enzo Maresca was a really necessary change for Chelsea? 

I mean I don't see much difference between his and Pochettino's era there. You know, Pochettino was able to carry the team to 6th place after a big effort. He was making progress but still they wanted to replace him. What has changed since then? They are still in the same place in the league now. I can't say they have been great about making good transfers either. But I don't blame it on Enzo Maresca of course. I just don't like the way Todd Boehly does his job as the owner. He just sees this as a business, that's all...

[Zlantann]

City have gone through a difficult crisis and are now gradually starting to get better

Manchester City are currently having a terrible season, I never expected Manchester city performance to drop so bad this season, the only trophy which is left for Manchester city this season is the FA cup, they are out of the remaining competition. They are currently struggling to qualify for the champions league, but if they can continue with their good performance, then they will be able to qualify for the champions league next season, but any mistake from Manchester City, there are other teams behind them which will be taking over their position, but am sure Guardiola will keep on working on the team’s performance.

Any drop of point from Manchester City might make them lose the Champion League slot. Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa,  Newcastle and Chelsea are closely following them. But the Citizens have more advantage of maintaining the third position since their future games are not against top clubs. I am sure Pep Guardiola will be pleased that City won on cup this season. They will be meeting Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium. It would not be an easy game but if they can win it it will be well celebrated. This is because City went through hard times that some pundits even predicted that they will to fight against relegation this season. But Pep was able to stabilize the club and made it to become competitive.

[reagansimms]

Aston Villa suffer one drop on their performance in one aprt of the tournament and that kill them, with the new reinforcement like Rashford and Asencio they can wake up jsut in time to do a super good performance on Champions League and also to save their spots in europe in the current Premier League, but im sure if they dont have that drop for sure they can be fighting much higher this season.

Aston Villa elimination from the Champions League and recent defeat in the Premier League was not due to a decline in performance, they had tried to fight in the two games, but the quality of the opponent's squad was stronger than theirs. Aston Villa almost managed to take home a point at the Etihad Stadium if Matheus Nunes had not scored in the closing stages of the match, the defeat also ended a five-game winning streak achieved in the previous game.
Now they must rely on themselves and hope their rivals drop points in the remaining matches of the season to maintain their chances of qualifying for European competition next season.

[X-ray]

What really makes you think that Manchester City has it easy? If you think or feel that City has it easy how about Aston Villa? Because both seem to have almost same opponents. Manchester City will play; Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Fulham, Wolverhampton and Southampton.
Aston Villa will play; Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Tottenham and Manchester United. The only difference is the last two teams for both clubs and we all know that Tottenham and Manchester United is not in the top level this season to consider them a serious threat to team like Villa of this very season.

Bro, City already beat Villa, and took three points. They have greater chance to secure UCL spot, but it's fact that they have slightly easy fixtures than Villa. Look at how they have no big clubs awaited against them. It clearly gives them advantage.

This totally different when you saw Villa. They have Tottenham awaiting for them. I aware how crap Tottenham is, but can underestimate them at this moment.

I took Villa vs Tottenham as the most cricual match to determine their position at the end.

[Spaceman1000$]

Aston Villa suffer one drop on their performance in one aprt of the tournament and that kill them, with the new reinforcement like Rashford and Asencio they can wake up jsut in time to do a super good performance on Champions League and also to save their spots in europe in the current Premier League, but im sure if they dont have that drop for sure they can be fighting much higher this season.

All of this can happen next season, as for this season is already looking like a wrap,  but hopefully Aston villa will qualify for the Europa league next season given their current position in the EPL table. They tried pulling some strings in the champions league this season and trust me a lot of people really where surprised how far they came,  Rashford arrival brought them some level of improvement to the team, with the way I'm looking at the situation both Aston villa and Nottingham Forest are the teams to look out for next season.

[masulum]

Any drop of point from Manchester City might make them lose the Champion League slot. Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa,  Newcastle and Chelsea are closely following them. But the Citizens have more advantage of maintaining the third position since their future games are not against top clubs. I am sure Pep Guardiola will be pleased that City won on cup this season. They will be meeting Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium. It would not be an easy game but if they can win it it will be well celebrated. This is because City went through hard times that some pundits even predicted that they will to fight against relegation this season. But Pep was able to stabilize the club and made it to become competitive.

The position for the champions league seems to be in the current position of the club, except for Chelsea and nottingham. I think, for the team that potentiallu going out from the spot is likely to be Nottingham Forest. because they still have a schedule against Chelsea, if the point difference is still the same as it is now, until the last week, and Chelsea wins that match, it could be, those who fall out of the UCL spot. with the condition, any clubs under also struggle to shifted chelsea. Well, even though there is already a champion, but the competition in the middle or bottom is always tight.

[dezoel]

The third to seventh place will battle until the very end, we still have 4-5 games left and that could lead to anything as long as teams lose points and not like they are all going to end up with pure wins, I am sure there must be some games between each other, maybe not I haven't checked but it could be doing a lot better.

If we can do this and keep it working then we are going to make some great income from it. Without it, there won't be any further improvement on the rankings, so we just have to wait and see who will lose points. City winning all their remainder of games isn't unlikely, they are looking very dominating again and they haven't seen like that all season long which is why they are doing much better right now and could be considered better again.

[asriloni]

Arsenal are completely focused on the Champions League now. This is why they left points against Crystal Palace as well two days ago. Nothing to be surprised of though.    No aim left in the Premier League in the end...

But they really are having their best season in the Champions League in who knows how many years... They could even go for the title even though they aren't the most favoured team for it. No matter what Arteta is really one of the best manager choices for Arsenal.

Arsenal has only UCL as their last chance to avoid from being mocked by rival fans for once again as being a trophyless team. That's why they tried so hard to maximize their chance to win it. However, i'd prefer to bet on Barca to win UCL instead of them. 

They don't care to the PL as Liverpool already won it. 

[AirtelBuzz]

It would literally be said that Manchester City has replaced Nottingham Forest. Moreover it is undeniable that some teams in the English Premier League are now in a dilemma. Having seen Nottingham Forest's outstanding performance earlier, we never thought they would drop from their position. It is clear before our eyes that Manchester City are not going to lose the match easily now, while Forest are suddenly losing the match. The sudden defeat in the match created a gap between City and Forest. In my opinion if Newcastle Football Club could have at least drawn with Aston Villa, they might have been level on points.

City have gone through a difficult crisis and are now gradually starting to get better, and with Nottingham everything happened the other way around, Espiritu lost to Aston Villa and there is nothing surprising about it, but then there was a loss to Everton, no one expected this from them in a home match. But despite this, Nottingham has one game in hand and in case of a win can rise to third place again, Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season, if they manage to maintain a place in the top 5, it will be a huge success.

It is through this that the real plans of Pep Guardiola are being proved to us because they have been able to make a lot of progress even though they are in a difficult crisis. In the thought of all, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest are competing to each other, even they may have been the enemy of each other. The next match is the semi-final match between the City and Nottingham, i.e. the FA Cup match. You mentioned reasonable quote that Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season. However I still believe that City will have the advantage of holding the third place for a long time because they will regain their position with overall good performance.

[RaltcoinsB]

It would literally be said that Manchester City has replaced Nottingham Forest. Moreover it is undeniable that some teams in the English Premier League are now in a dilemma. Having seen Nottingham Forest's outstanding performance earlier, we never thought they would drop from their position. It is clear before our eyes that Manchester City are not going to lose the match easily now, while Forest are suddenly losing the match. The sudden defeat in the match created a gap between City and Forest. In my opinion if Newcastle Football Club could have at least drawn with Aston Villa, they might have been level on points.

City have gone through a difficult crisis and are now gradually starting to get better, and with Nottingham everything happened the other way around, Espiritu lost to Aston Villa and there is nothing surprising about it, but then there was a loss to Everton, no one expected this from them in a home match. But despite this, Nottingham has one game in hand and in case of a win can rise to third place again, Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season, if they manage to maintain a place in the top 5, it will be a huge success.

It is through this that the real plans of Pep Guardiola are being proved to us because they have been able to make a lot of progress even though they are in a difficult crisis. In the thought of all, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest are competing to each other, even they may have been the enemy of each other. The next match is the semi-final match between the City and Nottingham, i.e. the FA Cup match. You mentioned reasonable quote that Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season. However I still believe that City will have the advantage of holding the third place for a long time because they will regain their position with overall good performance.

Manchester City will play the match away. It won't make much difference for them but I think they will win the match. Manchester City had some tough times but they are past that. They are better now and they are focused on winning matches. The Nottingham match will be a tough one but I think City will win because I think they will be fully focused on preparing for the Semi-Final match.

[Juse14]

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

Maybe the gap is just one point, but it is also true that City has done quite well lately and they are doing very well. This is why I have doubts that City will start to play badly now. They had a terrible season at the start, during that late first half of the season they weren't good at all but they are doing right now. Which is why they are not going to win easily but they are going to win.

Moreover, there is a "feeling" of Nottingham Forrest not doing as good, not for any realistic reason but because they haven't done good in 50 years, so it would be shocking if they could take back their position, it was shocking all season long that they were third, so people are assuming (including me) that they would do worse and will end up being much lower in the end.

Have you really paid attention to the Premier League since the beginning of the season? Manchester City is one of the best teams in the Premier League, they have even been able to dominate the Premier League for the last 4 seasons, they managed to win 4 trophies in 4 consecutive seasons starting from the 2020/21 season to the 2023/24 season. And at the beginning of the 2024/25 season, Pep Guardiola's team appeared very convincing, they continued to be at the top of the standings for quite a long time, even many thought that the 2024/25 season would belong to Manchester City again, but it was very unfortunate when they entered the middle of the season they had to lose their consistency because their performance on the field suddenly decreased due to many key players being injured, even City had to be thrown far from the top of the standings. When the transfer market opened, Man City tried to fix their team by bringing in new players, they became one of the teams that were quite busy in the transfer market, but unfortunately the strategy was not fully successful because their new players still needed to adapt to the team and the league, fortunately they were able to adapt quickly enough so that now the team is performing well on the field and getting more consistent results, although indeed to return to the top of the standings it feels quite impossible because the season is almost over.

and talking about nottingham forets, it should be remembered that the EPL always provides unexpected surprises, such as what happened to liecetser city in the 2015/2016 season, and this season it happened to nottingham forest, where the team that was almost relegated in the previous season actually performed extraordinarily this season, and even nottingam forest became one of two teams that were able to beat liverpool for this season. So is nottingam forets worse at this time, of course not when compared to the previous season.

[bitzizzix]

It would literally be said that Manchester City has replaced Nottingham Forest. Moreover it is undeniable that some teams in the English Premier League are now in a dilemma. Having seen Nottingham Forest's outstanding performance earlier, we never thought they would drop from their position. It is clear before our eyes that Manchester City are not going to lose the match easily now, while Forest are suddenly losing the match. The sudden defeat in the match created a gap between City and Forest. In my opinion if Newcastle Football Club could have at least drawn with Aston Villa, they might have been level on points.

City have gone through a difficult crisis and are now gradually starting to get better, and with Nottingham everything happened the other way around, Espiritu lost to Aston Villa and there is nothing surprising about it, but then there was a loss to Everton, no one expected this from them in a home match. But despite this, Nottingham has one game in hand and in case of a win can rise to third place again, Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season, if they manage to maintain a place in the top 5, it will be a huge success.

It is through this that the real plans of Pep Guardiola are being proved to us because they have been able to make a lot of progress even though they are in a difficult crisis. In the thought of all, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest are competing to each other, even they may have been the enemy of each other. The next match is the semi-final match between the City and Nottingham, i.e. the FA Cup match. You mentioned reasonable quote that Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season. However I still believe that City will have the advantage of holding the third place for a long time because they will regain their position with overall good performance.

Manchester City will play the match away. It won't make much difference for them but I think they will win the match. Manchester City had some tough times but they are past that. They are better now and they are focused on winning matches. The Nottingham match will be a tough one but I think City will win because I think they will be fully focused on preparing for the Semi-Final match.

Manchester City is indeed not in its best form this season and not like the previous season, but towards the end of the season Manchester City began to find its rhythm and began to return to its original form and with six unbeaten matches in the Premier League, it is predicted that Manchester City will win every match including the match with Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semifinals later.

And Nottingham Forest this season is a team that really cannot be underestimated because they are really extraordinary in every result of their match and in the semifinals later it will be an interesting consideration and if Manchester City can beat Nottingham Forest it means they are really back because in their last match Manchester City lost to Nottingham Forest with a narrow score of 1-0.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Aston Villa suffer one drop on their performance in one aprt of the tournament and that kill them, with the new reinforcement like Rashford and Asencio they can wake up jsut in time to do a super good performance on Champions League and also to save their spots in europe in the current Premier League, but im sure if they dont have that drop for sure they can be fighting much higher this season.

It's Asensio by the way - not Asencio. The one you mentioned is playing for Real Madrid as a centre-back.

As for the evaluation of these new players at Aston Villa:

• 8 goals, 1 assist in 16 games by Asensio. He is playing on loan but he's going to have a year left on his contract.
• 4 goals, 5 assists in 17 games by Rashford. He is also a loanee and his contract with Man Utd ends in 2028.

They both can be signed by Aston Villa in short. Asensio would come for a cheap price. But for Rashford I don't know how much they will ask.    However I'd rather watch him at Aston Villa as he looks better now.

[Agbe]

It would literally be said that Manchester City has replaced Nottingham Forest. Moreover it is undeniable that some teams in the English Premier League are now in a dilemma. Having seen Nottingham Forest's outstanding performance earlier, we never thought they would drop from their position. It is clear before our eyes that Manchester City are not going to lose the match easily now, while Forest are suddenly losing the match. The sudden defeat in the match created a gap between City and Forest. In my opinion if Newcastle Football Club could have at least drawn with Aston Villa, they might have been level on points.

City have gone through a difficult crisis and are now gradually starting to get better, and with Nottingham everything happened the other way around, Espiritu lost to Aston Villa and there is nothing surprising about it, but then there was a loss to Everton, no one expected this from them in a home match. But despite this, Nottingham has one game in hand and in case of a win can rise to third place again, Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season, if they manage to maintain a place in the top 5, it will be a huge success.

It is through this that the real plans of Pep Guardiola are being proved to us because they have been able to make a lot of progress even though they are in a difficult crisis. In the thought of all, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest are competing to each other, even they may have been the enemy of each other. The next match is the semi-final match between the City and Nottingham, i.e. the FA Cup match. You mentioned reasonable quote that Nottingham has become the biggest surprise this season. However I still believe that City will have the advantage of holding the third place for a long time because they will regain their position with overall good performance.

Manchester City will play the match away. It won't make much difference for them but I think they will win the match. Manchester City had some tough times but they are past that. They are better now and they are focused on winning matches. The Nottingham match will be a tough one but I think City will win because I think they will be fully focused on preparing for the Semi-Final match.

Manchester City is indeed not in its best form this season and not like the previous season, but towards the end of the season Manchester City began to find its rhythm and began to return to its original form and with six unbeaten matches in the Premier League, it is predicted that Manchester City will win every match including the match with Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semifinals later.

And Nottingham Forest this season is a team that really cannot be underestimated because they are really extraordinary in every result of their match and in the semifinals later it will be an interesting consideration and if Manchester City can beat Nottingham Forest it means they are really back because in their last match Manchester City lost to Nottingham Forest with a narrow score of 1-0.

Yes it's true Manchester City is getting back to form as they have been playing getting results and this will help them finish at a good place in the table but it will not be easy for Manchester City to get results against forest because this season Forest has been in a good form and they have won Manchester City this season too so the fA cup semi finals match between these two teams will not be an easy one for city

[Volgastallion]

Aston Villa suffer one drop on their performance in one aprt of the tournament and that kill them, with the new reinforcement like Rashford and Asencio they can wake up jsut in time to do a super good performance on Champions League and also to save their spots in europe in the current Premier League, but im sure if they dont have that drop for sure they can be fighting much higher this season.

It's Asensio by the way - not Asencio. The one you mentioned is playing for Real Madrid as a centre-back.

As for the evaluation of these new players at Aston Villa:

• 8 goals, 1 assist in 16 games by Asensio. He is playing on loan but he's going to have a year left on his contract.
• 4 goals, 5 assists in 17 games by Rashford. He is also a loanee and his contract with Man Utd ends in 2028.

They both can be signed by Aston Villa in short. Asensio would come for a cheap price. But for Rashford I don't know how much they will ask.    However I'd rather watch him at Aston Villa as he looks better now.

Hahaha you have reason in correct me about the surname of the Spanish player, a few years back it was not a problem at all but now we have this child at the Real madrid defense who have only one letter diferent.

Thanks also for the statistic that show they contributed with a healthy 0.5 G/A per game.