Category: English Premier League

In a mailbag edition of his newsletter, Jonathan Wilson answers questions about Michael Carrick, VAR and the Premier League’s new teams

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Manchester United finally seem to have something that resembles stability in the dressing room under Michael Carrick. I feel with quality signings in defence and midfield, they could mount a decent challenge for the Premier League next season. How do you feel they will fare? – Sterling.

There’s an odd sense that Michael Carrick’s level of achievement last season was at precisely the most awkward level for the board. United didn’t produce indisputably brilliant football under him but equally 12 wins and three draws in 17 games was good enough that they pretty much had to give him the job. But it’s one thing to turn out those kinds of results when the pressure’s off, you’re already out of both cup competitions and you don’t have any European football; it’s quite another to do it in the heat of a full season. United don’t have to have an especially amazing season to play 15 more games this season than they did in 2025-26.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.

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Unai Emery’s task seems to get harder each year, and the Europa League winners need their big signings to shine

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 7th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 4th

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With most of their rivals changing managers, can the champions go back-to-back for the first time in more than 90 years?

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st

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Mikel Arteta’s team and the Brazilian star could be a perfect match. It also could be a risk that ends in disaster

Sometimes what is needed is something different.

There is a long history in football of counterintuitive thinking being successful, of the benefits of creative tension, of adding grit to the oyster to generate the pearl, but even so, the news that talks between Vinícius Júnior and Arsenal on personal terms are progressing comes as something of a shock. Mikel Arteta’s great followers of a blueprint adding a free spirit like the Brazilian? Really?

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian. Subscribe for free here.

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Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta is perhaps best placed to fill the void but the coaching contenders are legion as another season looms

This used to be a land of giants. This used to be a land where big men fought. This used to be a land where Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger tussled, then José Mourinho joined the fray. This used to be a land where Jürgen Klopp made Pep Guardiola reconsider, and he changed his style and won anyway.

Not any more. Next season will be the first since the inaugural Premier League in 1992 not to feature any of the five big managerial beasts – not Ferguson, not Wenger, not Mourinho, not Klopp and not Guardiola.

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• Measures planned to run throughout 2026-27 season

• Ifab yet to give permission for proposed rule change

English football will introduce a trial this season in an effort to end the goalkeeper tactical time-out.

The trial – backed collectively by Pro Ref (formerly Professional Game Match Officials), the Football Association, Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League and National League – aims to prevent goalkeeper injuries used to disrupt momentum and allow opportunities for tactical instruction.

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• Argentinian surplus to requirements at Chelsea

• Deal follows Morgan Rogers’ switch to Stamford Bridge

Aston Villa have confirmed the loan signing of the Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho, as a summer of change continues at Villa Park.

The deal for Garnacho’s season-long loan includes a conditional obligation to buy a player who joined Chelsea last August from Manchester United in a deal worth £40m. Villa will be expected to pay a similar fee for Garnacho, who struggled to impress at Stamford Bridge despite featuring in 43 games in all competitions and scoring eight goals.

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• Losses increase between 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons

• Transfer spend and lack of one-off sales account for rise

The combined pre-tax losses of Premier League clubs climbed from £135m in the 2023-24 season to £948m in 2024-25, according to Deloitte’s annual review of football finance.

This rise was attributed by Deloitte to transfer spending and the absence of significant profits from one-off sales. Net debt of Premier League clubs was up to £3.6bn in 2024-25, compared to £3.5bn the season before, Deloitte found.

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• 43-year-old led French side to Conference League semis

• Burnley pushing to bring in Craig Bellamy as head coach

Gary O’Neil is poised to become Ipswich’s new head coach, with the 43-year-old expected to return to England from Ligue 1 Strasbourg.

There are only minor details to sort with O’Neil primed to succeed Kieran McKenna, who announced his wish to depart Ipswich after leading them to the top flight for a second time.

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• Manchester United travel to Hull on first weekend

• Manchester City without Guardiola host Bournemouth

Coventry will begin their first Premier League campaign in 25 years with a Friday night trip to the champions, Arsenal, on 21 August.

Their fellow promoted club Hull begin at home to Manchester United on the Saturday and Ipswich entertain Sunderland that day.

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• Burnley relegated in 2022 after Everton breached PSR

• Everton ‘angered’ by verdict and have appealed

Burnley have won a landmark legal case against Everton for breaching Premier League financial rules, with the Merseysiders ordered to pay nearly £40m in compensation. It is the largest financial penalty ever imposed on a Premier League club.

The verdict by a Premier League independent disciplinary commission – comprising the same three-man panel that deducted Everton 10 points over the same £19.5m breach in November 2023 – has widespread ramifications for the competition and increases the likelihood of more clubs taking legal action against members who have broken league rules.

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• Last of his 24 Premier League seasons was at Brighton

• ‘I could never have dreamed of the journey,’ he says

James Milner has finally pulled down the curtain on a distinguished, record-breaking and extraordinary playing career. It involved the highly versatile 40-year-old midfielder spending 24 seasons in the Premier League and winning 61 England caps as he traversed a road that carried him from Leeds to Brighton with stops at Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool along the way.

In February, Milner, who also had a short loan at Swindon, broke the Premier League appearance record while playing for Brighton against Brentford. He ends his career having clocked up 658 top-tier games for six clubs and represented England in four major tournaments.

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We picked Liverpool as champions, Chelsea as challengers and tipped Brentford and Sunderland to go down. Oh dear

What we predicted: Mikel Arteta vowed this would be a “big summer” after finishing as runners-up in the Premier League for a third season in succession and the new sporting director, Andrea Berta, has delivered on a number of signings in his first transfer window. The question now for Arsenal supporters is whether Martín Zubimendi, Christian Nørgaard, Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyökeres, Cristhian Mosquera and Kepa Arrizabalaga can help them take that elusive final step to becoming champions for the first time since the Invincibles in 2004.

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The Premier League season is over, but what did Guardian football writers enjoy, dislike or marvel at over the last nine months?

Goalkeepers never usually get a mention for this award but David Raya played an integral role in Arsenal finally getting over the line, winning the Premier League’s Golden Glove award for a third year in a row thanks to 19 clean sheets. Declan Rice and Bruno Fernandes were the outstanding outfield players. Ed Aarons

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Slip-ups are brutally punished in English football’s top flight, but enlightened management can still transform a team’s fortunes

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The final day of the season, to a modern audience, can seem almost overwhelming: 10 games going on at once, each with their own rhythm and dynamic and storyline. It can be hard to imagine that at one time, before the advent of regular live television coverage, this is how it was every weekend. But from the mass of narratives, one key theme, one that has lurked in the background all season, emerged: that this is a brutally hard, extremely competitive, league in which any slip-up is punished.

There have been complaints this season about the style of many games, but then there comes a point towards the end of most seasons when a number of fans pronounce themselves bored and declare it a bad season; that tends to correlate quite strongly with how well their team has done.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition

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