⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[CryptoBuds]

Game was great. If one side had won this match, i would be upset actually. Because both of them played very good. I watched all 90 minutes and the ball barely stopped for even a minute. There were 24 shots in the first half alone. By the end of the match, the total number of shots was close to 40. In extra time Manchewster United goalkeeper made incredible saves and earned his team that one point.

It was a very thrilling match, no doubt about it. Both teams performed incredibly. It was completely unexpected that bournemouth would play so well in this away match. But it was definitely Manchester united's failure to get 3 points in this match. Manchester united were leading 2 -1 at the end of the first half. But united conceded two goals in just  7 minutes of the second half. And fell behind 3-2. I would say this was manchester united's biggest  failure. If they could have kept their defense a little more stable, they could have gotten 3 points in this match. The match was also very important for united. If they had won this match , the team could have made it to the top  4 of the table for the first time.

[yixichloro2xx]

Chelsea are trailing behind the front trio in the table now. Even with the 3rd team which is Aston Villa the gap is 5 points. Maresca really needs to do something not to get away more from a potential title race.

I have never considered Chelsea as a title contender and they are still not a title contender even with Cole Palmer back in the team. Chelsea has not been consistent all season and I don't think the team is matured enough to be in the title race. They are a team with potential, but I don't think they are ready for a title push this season. They can be considered a top 4 contender and not a title contender. They also have to improve, because Manchester United and Liverpool are lying in wait to take their position if they make anymore mistakes. So I don't even want to hear when people put Chelsea in the title conversation.

Yeah, you are right about chelsea. They stilll dont have the mentality to win the Epl, they lose unnecessary games to small teams and perform well against big teams. So that top 4 position will be very possible for them. But what i dont agree with you is about man u, that they can take the position of chelsea if they make mistakes. Manchester united are even poor than chelsea interms of winning, they gamble alot with their games, you can see that from yesterday result. maybe Europa league qualification might be okay for them. Liverpool can still make it to the top 4 but not Man u.

[Volgastallion]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

[Scarlett_23]

What a night man... I don't know people but I was surely not expecting this many goals.    We watched both sides making comebacks and a 4-4 score at the end...

Manchester United had 3.40 xG while Bournemouth had 1.94. But still the game ends in this way. There is no problem with the productivity for Amorim's students but the problem is their defense.

If they had a better defending this could have been a win for them most probably. They really need some quality and more reliable players in the defense line.

The Manchester United vs. Bournemouth match was truly tense, dramatic, and exciting, but disappointing for me. My parlay bet on Manchester vs. Bournemouth was the deciding factor in my win after two of my picks won. I was very confident in my Manchester United pick, but the result was disappointing.
Manchester United should have won this match, as their shaky defense contributed to the poor result. Ruben Amorim is serious about addressing his team's defensive issues, which easily conceded goals, especially after his team squandered the lead several times.

I know that it will be very disappointing to Manchester United manger and that of the fans too but for me i saw it coming for Manchester United vs Bournemouth to draw because when i check there head to head history and i noticed that the both teams are not winning each others always, that is why we should never neglect history of some certain teams that has meet before and it happens that they meet again in the future and shouldn't expect the scores or result go beyond the passed meeting because sometimes history do repeat itself as far as football is concerned.

The match between Manchester United and Bournemouth in the English Premier League was incredible. There was a flurry of goals between the two teams. One team took the lead once and the other team took the lead again. Although many thought that Manchester United would win as a team, in the end both teams had to end the game with a draw. Although the game went on through ups and downs between the two teams, United dominated the game with twice as many shots as Bournemouth but they could not do better in the end. They could have earned 3 points at home if their defense had been strong and they had not lost control towards the end.

[liuka]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

No they will not be a competitor for the Premier League title because they still cannot be consistent in their game even though the current position is still quite good because it is in position 4 for a while, it does not rule out the possibility that other teams will shift Chelsea's position.

It still takes a long time for Chelsea to become a competitor and a balanced game tat when they also lose in crucial matches, but if we have to be honest this is better for Chelsea now than Manchester United there is no progress at all.

[Berry2d]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

Never conclude easily the future can not be predicted no matter what you see at the beginning of the season what we should be looking at is the end because that is the only thing that can justify. From the beginning of the season Chelsea showed some quality display and in all  campaign last season but where faced with know option than to use what they because of injury. in Chelsea injury update I think there is a good news as some will soon be confirmed free to play and if that happens they will be out to compete for the tournament because arsenal will soon lost consistency as that is there culture, dropping points when all believed they do better

[Nahl]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

No they will not be a competitor for the Premier League title because they still cannot be consistent in their game even though the current position is still quite good because it is in position 4 for a while, it does not rule out the possibility that other teams will shift Chelsea's position.

It still takes a long time for Chelsea to become a competitor and a balanced game tat when they also lose in crucial matches, but if we have to be honest this is better for Chelsea now than Manchester United there is no progress at all.

Chelsea and Maresca know their capacities that they didn't dare to put premier league trophy as their target of this season because Maresca know to compete with Manchester city and Arsenal it's quite hard but i can says under Maresca Chelsea is quite better because the premier league fans still remember that few years ago Chelsea is very struggle to found their shape even at that time this team have to changing the coaches several times but Maresca can improved chelsea performance even fifa club trophy is belong to them

[programmer3666]

What a night man... I don't know people but I was surely not expecting this many goals.    We watched both sides making comebacks and a 4-4 score at the end...

Manchester United had 3.40 xG while Bournemouth had 1.94. But still the game ends in this way. There is no problem with the productivity for Amorim's students but the problem is their defense.

If they had a better defending this could have been a win for them most probably. They really need some quality and more reliable players in the defense line.

honestly!! i was just so speechless at the end of the match, the game was wild, Man U clearly proved that they can create enough chances going forward, the only issue was the defense, like seriously, the defense keeps letting goals pump into the back of their goal and it was quite annoying to watch, so it clearly showos that scoring was nt an issue. Amorim needs to do something about that back line really fast! otherwise, they will pay for it heavily with much tougher opponents.

[jakdanyel]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

I don't also expect Chelsea to fight for the title until the end. They still have a long way to go for that. Arsenal and Manchester City would be the ones going all in for it which is a thing we started getting used to see in the recent years. 

But I think Chelsea can finish the season ahead of Aston Villa at least. I don't think Aston Villa can go as consistent as them in the long term. Finishing the season as 3rd would technically be some progress by Maresca in comparison with last season.

[PremiumcryptoHub]

What a terrible performance by the Aston Villa team, at this stage it seems like this team is really going to keep the winning streak going because if I'm not mistaken they have won five PL matches in a row, as a result, this team has 5 more points than another Premier League giant, Chelsea, basically they achieved this feat with a lucky win against West Ham United on December 14th.

In that valuable game, a West Ham United player scored an own goal nine minutes into the game, in that case Aston Villa benefited the most, we have to admit that Aston Villa's luck is very good because this team also won against Arsenal with a very planned mentality.

[Qhunman]

Yeah, you are right about chelsea. They stilll dont have the mentality to win the Epl, they lose unnecessary games to small teams and perform well against big teams. So that top 4 position will be very possible for them. But what i dont agree with you is about man u, that they can take the position of chelsea if they make mistakes. Manchester united are even poor than chelsea interms of winning, they gamble alot with their games, you can see that from yesterday result. maybe Europa league qualification might be okay for them. Liverpool can still make it to the top 4 but not Man u.

I don' see Chelsea remaining at top 4 for long,they would surely drop points and another competent team will settle at their position .
Chelsea form is unstable and the race for the top demand consistent winnings and Chelsea don't have it. Although Chelsea is trying but I doubts if they would finished top 4 this season. I keep on saying this that Manchester United problem is their defense. Amorim should strengthen the defense and Manchester United would do better than Chelsea.

[Velvet78]

Aston Villa are currently the team with the best form in the league. They won their last 6 games since the loss against Liverpool. However they are unlucky with tough fixtures up next.

- Manchester United (H)
- Chelsea (A)
- Arsenal (A)

Playing these games in a row makes me highly sure of them to lose points finally. It can even happen in the first one right away. Manchester United concede but create many goal chances easily too.

At least one of the other 2 games could also end up with a loss...

[Antotena]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

Chelsea has a way they does their thing and the team becomes a very good contender. If I recall correctly, Maresca said he loves how his team are no longer dependent on Palmer when he went for injury, thats how a thriving team should stand and not be independent about any player. The fact that they did it without him, conquer some big teams from other leagues to attained a big spot, even now they can do better than what they are doing.

Caicedo just came back from injury but the red card effect is yet to cool off, Palmer just return from injury this month and he was able to help the team with goal lead against Everton. If such consistency can continue with the team, they can achieve more in many fold before the second leg of the season even begin. By that time, I believe Caicedo will be back fully, the squad will be more than ready than the way they have been, it's not like the team has fallen that bad.

[Alphie12]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

I don't also expect Chelsea to fight for the title until the end. They still have a long way to go for that. Arsenal and Manchester City would be the ones going all in for it which is a thing we started getting used to see in the recent years.  

But I think Chelsea can finish the season ahead of Aston Villa at least. I don't think Aston Villa can go as consistent as them in the long term. Finishing the season as 3rd would technically be some progress by Maresca in comparison with last season.

if they gave Maresca the right signings he would have challenged for the title bro openly stated that he needed a cb after cowill injury and they left him with tosin the truth is Sacking maresca will be up there with the Luca doncic trade as the worst sporting decisions of all time

Aston Villa are currently the team with the best form in the league. They won their last 6 games since the loss against Liverpool. However they are unlucky with tough fixtures up next.

- Manchester United (H)
- Chelsea (A)
- Arsenal (A)

Playing these games in a row makes me highly sure of them to lose points finally. It can even happen in the first one right away. Manchester United concede but create many goal chances easily too.

At least one of the other 2 games could also end up with a loss...

chelsea will beat villa all thanks to maresca

[Tmoonz]

Game was great. If one side had won this match, i would be upset actually. Because both of them played very good. I watched all 90 minutes and the ball barely stopped for even a minute. There were 24 shots in the first half alone. By the end of the match, the total number of shots was close to 40. In extra time Manchewster United goalkeeper made incredible saves and earned his team that one point.

It was a very thrilling match, no doubt about it. Both teams performed incredibly. It was completely unexpected that bournemouth would play so well in this away match. But it was definitely Manchester united's failure to get 3 points in this match. Manchester united were leading 2 -1 at the end of the first half. But united conceded two goals in just  7 minutes of the second half. And fell behind 3-2. I would say this was manchester united's biggest  failure. If they could have kept their defense a little more stable, they could have gotten 3 points in this match. The match was also very important for united. If they had won this match , the team could have made it to the top  4 of the table for the first time.

That match might be enjoyable to you guys but to me it is a total trash how can one be celebrating a draw game and the draw celebration is not even that Manchester United won their last 2 or 3 game it was all drawn, and yesterday which could have been a win for them they still went ahead to drew it thinking they have done something very big, maybe they might be thinking it is not a Lost but deep down this draw is not just helping matters, just imagine where they could have been in the table if they at least won 2 of those game, Truth be told this team is just so annoying very annoying.

[EL MOHA]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

Never conclude easily the future can not be predicted no matter what you see at the beginning of the season what we should be looking at is the end because that is the only thing that can justify. From the beginning of the season Chelsea showed some quality display and in all  campaign last season but where faced with know option than to use what they because of injury. in Chelsea injury update I think there is a good news as some will soon be confirmed free to play and if that happens they will be out to compete for the tournament because arsenal will soon lost consistency as that is there culture, dropping points when all believed they do better

That is just the fact we can't just judge easily when they is still alot of matches to play in the league competition and we can't predict if Chelsea will drop from the top 4th or note we just need to wait and see how the season will ended but I get the believe that Chelsea will pick form more and perform more better because they always have a time that some big club will start to perform poor and you will think that they can't achieve any trophy in the end of the season.

Chelsea will always find away to qualify for the Champions League next season because they are more stronger then last season and Chelsea as be doing good in the league is just that current matches they have been performing weak but I no they will be back strongly, because I have faith in them Chelsea do well with big clubs and perform poor when playing a small club in the league.

[Emitdama]

Bournemouth almost won, both teams came close to victory but failed to score the fifth goal. I arrived at the end of the match but saw a lot of goals. Bournemouth scored 10 goals in their last 3 matches at Old Trafford. They set a record in this area, no other team has managed to score 3 goals in 3 consecutive matches. The funny thing is, they won the matches where they scored 3 goals, but the match where they scored 4 goals ended in a draw.
Manchester United haven't been able to beat Bournemouth in 5 matches. This is something they need to think about. After all, Bournemouth isn't one of the teams competing for the championship. They are just a mid table team.

While I was also watching this game, both teams were doing amazing stuff here I surely praise Bournemouth they were at their best against Manchester United they never give up and fight till end games like these are always great to watch when both teams are balanced and giving their best.

Semenyo deserve to be in big club amazing player most chances Bournemouth will lose him in this January transfer window in this game, one thing is sure Manchester United is still long away from their best because they were not good in defense while their attack is now consistently performing 8 goals in two games against weak sides still not bad job for them.

[Slow death]

Chelsea cant compete at high level, is sad but true they are facing the exact same problems from last season, i really thinked in this one they can be a contender but after seeing how much they suffer the Caicedo and Palmer injuries i can affirm they are not longer a real contender in this year.

Maresca cant find the proper balance in the team.

I also thought Chelsea would be the main contender for the title when I saw their performance in the Club World Cup games that took place in the USA. I thought that with that good performance they would be consistent in the Premier League, but I see that the coach still hasn't managed to have a good, fixed starting eleven. He's constantly making changes to the team. The saddest thing is seeing that there are games where the team wins, but in the next game the coach changes the entire squad and formation, and then they lose. Honestly, I can't understand how the Chelsea coach's mind works.

[hyudien]

I also thought Chelsea would be the main contender for the title when I saw their performance in the Club World Cup games that took place in the USA. I thought that with that good performance they would be consistent in the Premier League, but I see that the coach still hasn't managed to have a good, fixed starting eleven. He's constantly making changes to the team. The saddest thing is seeing that there are games where the team wins, but in the next game the coach changes the entire squad and formation, and then they lose. Honestly, I can't understand how the Chelsea coach's mind works.

I agree with your point. I've noticed this from Chelsea throughout the start of this season. Could this be due to too many players across all lines? Or does Maresca really want to give everyone confidence? I'd agree if he didn't change most of the lineup for each match, but what we're seeing is that most of the lineups are frequently changed.
To be clear, they're currently playing against Cardiff, and Maresca is fielding mostly second-string players. It's clearly a quarterfinal match, and they haven't scored a single goal yet.

[Amphenomenon]

I agree with your point. I've noticed this from Chelsea throughout the start of this season. Could this be due to too many players across all lines? Or does Maresca really want to give everyone confidence? I'd agree if he didn't change most of the lineup for each match, but what we're seeing is that most of the lineups are frequently changed.
To be clear, they're currently playing against Cardiff, and Maresca is fielding mostly second-string players. It's clearly a quarterfinal match, and they haven't scored a single goal yet.

There are quite a number of players but how many how actually consistent or top players?
Only a smaller set which oten makes our starting in eleven and when it's time for resting key players or pther issues like injuries or suspension, we find ourselves in a difficult position.
Between, looking at the game against Cardiff it's clear how mid our squad depths can be, hopefully we get the win in the end.