English Football Season 2025-2026. Here we go again.

Welcome 2+2 to the English football season of 2025-2026.

This year I am going to make the thread officially for all of English football from Liverpool down to Real Bedford and everything in between. I've gone a bit along the spectrum today and made the OP especially long, you've been warned.

Before going any further I would like to pause to remember Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva who both lost their lives in a car accident at the start of July. This was an incident that shocked everybody in the football world and I especially think of Diogo's three young children who will now have to grow up without their father. Diogo was also as we all know an incredible footballer in his absolute prime. It just shows you that life is too short to spend it worrying or being a hater. Rest In Peace.

Last season saw a Mo Salah inspired Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy to equal Manchester United's 20 top flight titles record and give Arne Slot a start to life in England nobody thought was possible at the beginning of the season.

They fell short in the League cup final however, where a Newcastle side who were clearly the better team on the day made sure their major trophy drought of 50+ years finally came to an end.

The bigger shock was perhaps in the FA Cup final, where Crystal Palace won their first ever major trophy beating the Saudi owned death star of Manchester City to do it. City were not having their best of seasons, an older team was showing its age in some positions and Haaland was slightly off it (by off it I mean only the 22 goals in the Premier league) - but still Palace were big underdogs going into the game. An Eze goal and Henderson pen save brought the glory to Palace for the first time.

Relegation was settled relatively early in a tbh quite boring and disappointing manner. Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester were the three promoted teams and all three of them went down, with that outcome looking entirely probable the whole way. Hopefully some of the promoted teams can give us a proper relegation battle and scam staying up this year.

The other title of note, that of FPL champion, was almost won by a woman called Susan, who did not use her first wildcard, made her selections on pen and paper, and had never heard of Bruno Fernandes before. She was leading up until a couple of weeks before the end but unfortunately the dream died and a standard football nerd called Lovro Budisin won instead.

The two-week winter break, in effect since the 2019–20 season, was scrapped in 2024-25 in favour of a longer summer break for the players. So of course it was left up to FIFA to ruin a good thing and they held their revamped Club World Cup immediately following the conclusion of the domestic season.

Now that Chelsea have been crowned ultimate champions of the universe by Donald Trump after a tournament that nobody watched,

we can all delete the DAZN app and get down to real business. FPL is launching this week.

The Premier League opens its doors again to Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland. This means we have the Newcastle/Sunderland derby back for the first time since 15/16. It also means we have Manchester United/Leeds games back again, and Sir Jim has already made sure they were the first victim of a new cost cutting policy.

As always there are some innovations coming in for the new season.

Goalkeepers will concede a corner if they hold onto the ball for more than eight seconds. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/...

Semi Offside Tech - It was supposed to be in last year but we only ended up getting it in April. In from the start this time hopefully it speeds it all up.

Halftime interviews with players/managers

Interviews with players who get subbed off

Dressing room broadcasts

Not sure about the last three tbh. Hopefully someone calls their manager a bellend after being subbed off.

PUMA have also replaced Nike as the match ball supplier and therefore we have a new match ball. The design kinda looks like what I see in my vision when i'm having a migraine but whatever. Presumably Arteta has OKd it.

This all gives us the following 20 teams in the top flight and the resulting odds on their chances. Odds are in decimal and taken from betfair exchange. Everything is correct as of the day of the OP. Of course the transfers in/out will be out of date 20 minutes after this is posted but I've put them in anyway. In order of chance to be crowned champions.

LIVERPOOL

To be champions - 3.40

To be relegated - 1000.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Milos Kerkez
Florian Wirtz
Jeremie Frimpong
Mamardashvilli
Armin Pesci
Freddie Woodman

Players officially confirmed out -
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Caoimhin Kelleher
Jarrel Quansah
Nat Phillips

The favourites to retain the title, albeit only slightly over arse and citeh. An incredible transfer window so far has seen them sort out the full back situation and bring in one of the hottest players around in Florian Wirtz. They open the season vs Bournemouth and after not winning a single game after sealing the league last season will look to come out of the gates at full speed having had a proper rest. Unfortunately expect to see at least two teams in your FPL mini league named "Whats the Wirst that could happen?"

ARSENAL

To be champions - 3.55

To be relegated - 1000.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Martin Zubimendi
Christian Norgaard

Players officially confirmed out -
Jorginho
Kieran Tierney
Nuno Taveres
Marquinhos
Tomiyasu
Premier League player in his 30s.

Always the bridesmaid but never the bride, after three seasons finishing second is this their year? They need a striker and it looks like gyokeres is on his way. Rated better than Citeh by the market they will for what I believe is only the second time ever in history, open their top flight campaign against Manchester United. Last season I was impressed by Areteta's dedication to the cause, he would control the team photos put out on social media so nobody knew who was going to be playing in goal vs Leicester. If that doesn't work then you can always blame the new ball. Surely a strong contender in all competitions.

MANCHESTER CITY

To be champions - 4.30

To be relegated - 20.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Tijjani Reijnders
Rayan Ait Nouri
Marcus Bettinelli
Rayan Cherki

Players officially confirmed out -
Kevin De Bruyne
Jacob Wright
Scott Carson
Kyle Walker

Last season was a weird one for City. A couple of bad runs and they just didn't look like the contendors they used to be. Haaland would either be the deadliest striker known to man or look like he couldn't be arsed. However Pep has extended, new signings have arrived and the stadium expansion will be completed mid-season. An end of an era with KDB leaving but City are always in contention for every trophy. They will likely give everyone a doing but then inexplicably lose at home to Spurs.

CHELSEA

To be champions - 9.20

To be relegated - 220.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Jamie Gittens
Joao Pedro
Liam Delap
Estevao Willian
Dario Essugo
Mamadou Sarr

Players officially confirmed out -
Bashir Humphrey
Marcus Bettinelli
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Mathias Amougou
Zak Sturge

Returning to the Champions League for the first time in several seasons and Club World Cup champions. It just goes to show what can be achieved with financial jiggery pokery even UEFA find shady. Palmer had a quiet season by his standards last year but hopefully he is at his best this time around. With Reece James back playing regularly and with new signings like Pedro and Delap who knows what could happen. I know, it will be me putting James in my FPL and him immediately getting injured next game.

NEWCASTLE

To be champions - 30.0
To be relegated - 190.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Anthony Elanga
Antonio Cordero

Players officially confirmed out -
Lloyd Kelly
Jamal Lewis
Callum Wilson

Trophy drought officially over and back in the champions league, it would appear the good times are in full effect at St James Park. However a quick glance at some fan forums reveals arguments over if the new third kit looks like a school uniform or not. Elanga is a good signing but playing in the champions league again may take its toll on the squad. You'd still back them to beat anyone at home.

MANCHESTER UTD

To be champions - 40.0

To be relegated - 28.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Matheus Cunha
Diego Leon

Players officially confirmed out -
Christian Eriksen
Jonny Evans
Victor Lindelof

After one of their worst ever seasons, in which their new manager called them "maybe the worst manchester united team of all time" you have to wonder could it get any worse? With INEOS at the wheel unfortunately for their (impressive despite all the crap) fan base the answer is most certainly yes. Cunha is a great signing but unfortunately is also a complete nob. There's a picture doing the rounds of a Wimbledon pundit who sadly has no arms. Someone in the comments of that photo suggested United sign him as a replacement for Onana. I don't think they will ever seriously be in relegation trouble and Amorim appears to be willing to do his own honest dirty work (even if he cant actually get rid of anyone) so perhaps it is upwards from here. If it isn't then there's always Southgate. Shout out to Kdawg who has put up with all the jokes for years.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

To be champions - 55.0

To be relegated - 40.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Kevin Danso
Luka Vuskovic
Mathys Tel
Kota Takai
Mohammed Kudus

Players officially confirmed out -
Pierre-Emile Hojberg
Fraser Forster
Sergio Reguilon
Alfie Whiteman

Lads, its Tottenham. Somehow plucking their best season ever in recent times from the jaws of their worst season ever, Ange walked away with one of the biggest mic drops of all time and ended the decades of jokes+memes. Thomas Frank is a quality established manager but its hard to see how he can top that. Either way Daniel Levy will be happy with the Champions League money and it will be lets say interesting to see them play psg soon. Likely their fanbase will just want to concentrate on beating Arsenal which they will invariably fail to do.

ASTON VILLA

To be champions - 100.0

To be relegated - 140.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Yasin Ozcan
Zepiqueno Redmond

Players officially confirmed out -
Robin Olsen
Rico Richards
Josh Feeney
Kaine Kesler Hayden
Philippe Coutinho
Kortney Hause
Oliwier Zych

I was actually surprised to learn Coutinho was still technically a Villa player. Down to the Europa League this season after the highs of CL last year it will likely be a bit of an unglamorous slog compared to playing psg. Morgan Rogers was one of the most impressive break through players last year and it would be big for Villa if they could keep hold of him. Likely not to compete for anything but also not in any danger of getting relegated, you can still watch their games and hope Emery drops his catchphrase in the post match interview.

BRIGHTON

To be champions - 320.0

To be relegated - 22.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Maxim De Cuyper
Olivier Boscagli
Diego Coppola
Tom Watson
Yoon Doyoung
Charalampos Kostoulas
Nils Ramming

Players officially confirmed out -
Simon Adingra
Joao Pedro
Valentin Barco
Odel Offiah

Have sold some good players like Pedro but also sold Barco which is justice for ****ing up my FPL gw 1 last season. Tony Bloom's software always appears to make good judgements so it will be interesing to see what the newcomers are like.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

To be champions - 330.0

To be relegated - 9.6

Players officially confirmed in -
Igor Jesus
Cherif Yaya
Jair Cunha

Players officially confirmed out -
Anthony Elanga
Harry Toffolo
Jack Perkins
Andrew Omobamidele
Ramon Sosa
Ben Perry

Had a great season last year - Chris Wood rightfully got all the headlines but they were solid defensively as well. Unfortunately for Forest they slipped away at the end just missing out on the promised land of the Champions League. They ended up in the farmers conference league but UEFA bullshit has seen them take Palace's spot in the main Europa League. There's likely an appeal of sorts or something coming so it all awaits to be seen. Either way they will have a lot of matches and will have to work hard to maintain anything like last season. Nuno's tactics can be a little defensive at times but for the casual watcher its worth keeping an eye on their owner who should probably be sponsored by just-eat. If he's not arguing with his manager at full time in front of everyone he could well be taking control of his clubs social media account and unleashing some truth bombs.

EVERTON

To be champions - 520.0

To be relegated - 11.0

Players officially confirmed in -
Charly Alcaraz
Thierno Barry

Players officially confirmed out -
Abdoulaye Doucoure
Ashley Young
Asmir Begovic
Joao Virginia
Neal Maupay
Mason Holgate

Have finally formally rid themselves of Neal Maupay, which can only make the blue half of Merseyside feel a serene sense of calm but is also a sad day for banter fans. Got rid of Dyche last season and brought Moyes back, which is kind of like the spiderman cartoon meme as they got rid of one brand of sufferball just to bring another. At least the new goalkeeper rule appears to be specifically targeted at Pickford. Will undoubtably stamp their name on the title challenge as they hold Arsenal to a 0-0 for 90 minutes before scoring an injury time header from a corner.

LEEDS

To be champions - 650.0

To be relegated - 2.28

Players officially confirmed in -
Sebastiaan Bornauw
Lukas Nmecha
Jaka Bijol
Gabriel Gudmundsson

Players officially confirmed out -
Josuha Guilavogui
Joe Snowdon
Junior Firpo
Max Wober

Back in the Premier League this season after missing out last year, they are ranked the promoted team most likely to stay up. Opening the new season with a MNF fixture against Everton at home, they will be looking for a strong start and some momentum. Unfortunately Arsenal away the Saturday evening after will likely be a sterner test. Like all the promoted teams this year I hope they actually can put something together and break the cycle of every promoted team being immediately relegated again.

CRYSTAL PALACE

To be champions - 850.0

To be relegated - 11.50

Players officially confirmed in -
Walter Benitez
Borna Sosa

Players officially confirmed out -
Joel Ward
Jeffrey Schlupp
Louie Moulden
Owen Goodman

Had some really brilliant players over the last several seasons and it remains to be seen who they will hang on to. Should they keep the likes of Eze and Mateta then the 11.50 on relegation would be worthless but that remains to be seen. UEFA kicking them out of the Europa League this year is a complete ****ing joke when you consider what they have let bigger clubs away with. Either way I am glad they beat City in the FA cup final this year but thats only because I have Simon Jordan on mute.

BOURNEMOUTH

To be champions - 1000.0

To be relegated - 12.50

Players officially confirmed in -
Eli Junior Kroupi
Adrien Truffert
Players officially confirmed out -

Milos Kerkez
Dean Huijsen
Jaidon Anthony
Joe Rothwell

For the smallest club with some of the lowest wages in the Premier League they had an exceptional season last year. Huijsen to Real Madrid was not on anyones bingo card at the start. Have sold some of their best players but that was always going to happen. Open the season away at Anfield which cant be nice given Salah's opening day record, but no Europe and a solid foundation should see them keep their Premier League status safely.

WEST HAM

To be champions - 1000.0

To be relegated - 6.60

Players officially confirmed in -
Jean-Clair Todibo
Daniel Cummings

Players officially confirmed out -
Aaron Cresswell
Lukasz Fabianski
Vladimir Coufal
Dannny Ings
Kamarai Swyer
Kurt Zouma
Mohammed Kudus

Last season was a bit of a disappointing one for The Hammers. They have a squad with some great players and Lopetegui came with a good rep but it just didn't quite click for whatever reason. However they then brought in Potter and this will be his first full season in charge so perhaps things will be more settled with a good foundation built. Their fans have appeared to take a dislike to the new kit with one of them referring to it as a "relegation kit" but Bowen is one of the most underrated players in the Prem and with him plus a good manager they really should be well clear of the relegation zone. There is also no need for weight loss jabs at West Ham, as Fullkrug has managed to lose 6 kilos before pre season.

FULHAM

To be champions - 1000.0

To be relegated - 13.00

Players officially confirmed in -
Nobody

Players officially confirmed out -
Carlos Vinicius
Willian
Luca Ashby-Hammond
Callum Osmand

A decent season last year and it was pleasing to see Jiminez back to his best after most seemed to think his career was winding down. No signings so far can't be great but its also hard to see how they would be potentially in relegation trouble with the decent enough squad they have. That said, I would rather take the 13.0 here than the 11.5 on Crystal Palace.

BRENTFORD

To be champions - 1000.0

To be relegated - 4.40

Players officially confirmed in -
Michael Kayode
Romelle Donovan
Caoimhin Kelleher
Antoni Milambo

Players officially confirmed out -
Christian Norgaard
Mark Flekken
Ben Mee

Survived Toney leaving without batting an eyelid. Frank was a great manager and losing him plus potentially Mbeumo in the same window could however make life tough for them this season. However Kelleher is an outstanding goalkeeper who always looked great whenever Liverpool needed to call on him (which was reasonably frequent given Alisson's hamstrings). If anyone could get dragged into the relegation battle its Brentford or Wolves.

WOLVES

To be champions - 1000.0
To be relegated - 4.6
Players officially confirmed in -
Fer Lopez
Jorgen Strand Larsen

Players officially confirmed out -
Matheus Cunha
Rayan Ait Nouri
Pablo Sarabia
Craig Dawson
Chem Campbell
Chiquinho

Stayed up last season thanks to Cunha's goals. Sold him and another of their best players in RAN to Manchester. If any established team could get dragged into the fight this season its Wolves. Opposition players troll them by calling their home town a **** hole right before dropping a hat trick on them. The positive to take from this is they hopefully won't have players arguing with their fans on social media anymore.

BURNLEY

To be champions - 1000.0

To be relegated - 1.40

Players officially confirmed in -
Kyle Walker
Loum Tchaouna
Axel Tuanzebe
Quilindschy Hartman
Bashir Humphrey
Jaidon Anthony
Marcus Edwards
Zian Flemming
Max Weiss
Jacob Bruun Larsen

Players officially confirmed out -
Nathan Redmond
Jonjo Shelvey
CJ Egan-Riley

Straight back up after being relegated, perhaps Scott Parker will approach the Premier League a bit more pragmatically than Vincent Kompany did a couple of years ago. They clocked over 1,000 minutes without conceding a goal in the league at one point last season and in fact only conceded 16 in total. That goes beyond some sort of voodoo **** and was quite impressive. Perhaps this sort of defensive solidity might help to keep them in the Premier League.

SUNDERLAND

To be champions - 1000.0

To be relegated - 1.39

Players officially confirmed in -
Simon Adingra
Habib Diarra
Enzo Le Fee
Noah Sadiki
Reinildo Mandava
Chesmine Talbi

Players officially confirmed out -
Tommy Watson
Jobe Bellingham
Nathan Bishop
Adil Aouchiche

As a great game once told me "The board expect you to battle bravely against relegation". Favourites to finish dead last you would think the pressure is at least off Le Bris and his players but they have spent a decent chunk of money in the transfer market. Having spent several documented years out the Premier League We will at last get to enjoy Sunderland/Newcastle derbies once again. Although perhaps not on a rainy night with Shearer benched and Duncan Ferguson turning up to trash Ruud Gullits office at 8am the next morning. It's going to take some serious effort to remain in the top flight.

Finally, the full fixture list for the PL season https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/43....

And of course, a supporters list. Some of which may or not be here, some of which I might have got wrong. PM a mod if you want a change to it. I took most of them as a cp from an old thread.

Arsenal
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MindFckr
jalfrezi
PoseidonCubed
DuckSauce
Hoagie

Aston Villa
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gotgot123

Bolton
------
bazooka87

Burnley
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Tall Paul

Chelsea
-------
Cinarocket
Clayton
72off

East Stirlingshire
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POGcrazy94

Leeds
-----
PeteBlow

Leicester City
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andre006
thethethe

Liverpool
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Reynolds

Manchester City
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daca

Man Utd
-------
KDawg

Schalke
-------
royalblue

Sheffield Utd
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sixfour

Southampton
-----------
joejoe1337

Spurs
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TheGramuel
ChopSueyyy
mw828
Elrazor

West Ham
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Hoopie1

Enjoy the season everyone, let us football.