Premier League Preview: Can any club topple Liverpool for title?

Hopes springs eternal for the 20 best teams in English soccer ahead of the 2025-26 Premier League season. 

The new campaign kicks off on Friday when reigning champions Liverpool host Bournemouth at Anfield as part of a busy opening weekend that will also see heavyweights Arsenal and Manchester United square off on Sunday at Old Trafford. 

Here are five storylines to keep close tabs on during the upcoming English top-flight campaign.   

Liverpool looks to repeat as Premier League champions 

Liverpool won the Premier League title at a canter last season, finishing atop the table with a 10-point edge over Arsenal and 13-point gap over defending champions Manchester City. 

Dutch manager Arne Slot’s championship roster from the 2024-25 campaign remains largely intact with some notable exceptions. English international Trent Alexander-Arnold left to join Real Madrid, while Portuguese star Diogo Jota was tragically killed in a car crash last month. Also, forwards Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich) and Darwin Nunez (Al-Hilal) were shipped out on big-money transfer deals.

Impressively, Liverpool has bolstered its already strong squad with the additions of former Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz (more on him later), forward Hugo Ekitike (from Eintracht Frankfurt), and defenders Milos Kerkez (from Bournemouth) and Jeremie Frimpong (from Bayer Leverkusen). In total, Liverpool spent more money (€293.68 million) on transfers this summer than any other Premier League club. 

With top scorers Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo still in place, as well as midfield general Alexis Mac Allister and veteran centre back Virgil van Dijk, the team from the red half of Merseyside looks a solid bet to bring the Premier League title back to Anfield for a second consecutive season. 

A host of teams will be hot on Liverpool’s tail 

According to Transfermarkt.com, Chelsea (€279.65 million), Manchester United (€229.70 million), Arsenal (€224.20 million) and Manchester City (€176.90 million) were the biggest spenders in the summer transfer market behind Liverpool. Whether that translates into one of those clubs toppling Liverpool for the title remains to be seen.  

Arsenal has finished runners-up three years in a row. Eager to shed their reputation as a bridesmaid, the Gunners went out in the off-season and bolstered its attack with the addition of Swedish forward Viktor Gyökeres (from Sporting Lisbon) and solidified its midfield with the signing of Martín Zubimendi (from Real Sociedad). 

Not to be outdone are Chelsea, who cracked the top four last season under first-year manager Enzo Maresca after finishing sixth and 12th in the table the previous two campaigns. Like fellow London-based club Arsenal, Chelsea has brought in a number of high-profile recruits over the summer, most notably Brazilian striker João Pedro (from Brighton & Hove Albion) and English winger Jamie Gittens (from Borussia Dortmund). 

Chelsea is also coming off a win over Paris Saint-Germain last month’s FIFA Club World Cup, so confidence is riding high amongst the Blues going into their domestic campaign. 

The relegation battle 

The Premier League bid a fond adieu at the end of last season to Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton, who finished in the bottom three of the table and were relegated to the second-tier English Championship. 

Who’ll be going down at the end of the 2025-26 season? The list of possible candidates has to start with the three newly-promoted sides: Leeds United, Burnley and promotion playoff winner Sunderland. The last six teams promoted to the top-flight have all gone straight back down to the Championship. Last season, Leicester was the best team among the newcomers with 25 points, but even then they finished 13 points out of the safety zone. 

Beyond the promoted sides, you have to look at Wolverhampton as being in danger of suffering the drop. Wolves finished 16th last season and lost two key players this summer in Brazilian attacker Matheus Cunha (to Manchester United) and Algerian wingback Rayan Aït-Nouri (to Manchester City). 

Brentford could also find itself in trouble after losing its manager Thomas Frank (to Tottenham), goalkeeper Mark Flekken (Bayer Leverkusen), captain Christian Norgaard (Arsenal) and top scorer Bryan Mbeumo (Manchester United). 

Newcomer to keep an eye on: Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz   

Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool earlier this summer when the Reds paid a club-record transfer fee (a reported £116 million) to Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen for the German international.  

Still only 22, Wirtz is considered one of the most promising young playmakers in the European club game — he had 57 goals and 65 assists across six seasons with Bayer Leverkusen.  

Wirtz made his debut for Liverpool in last week’s Community Shield vs. Crystal Palace, and even though his side came out on the wrong end of a penalty shootout loss, the young German impressed and showed why he’s among the most talented young attacking midfielders in the game today. 

Will Canadian Daniel Jebbison earn a recall by Bournemouth? 

Canadian forward Daniel Jebbison joined Bournemouth from Sheffield United last summer and ended up scoring three goals in 21 games across all competitions for the Cherries. 

While at Bournemouth, Jebbison, a 22-year-old from Oakville, Ont., made his debut for Canada at the Concacaf Nations League finals in March and went on to make four more appearances for Les Rouges this year, including at this summer’s Gold Cup. 

The hope was that Jebbison would be able to firmly assert himself in the Premier League this season and establish himself as a starter with Bournemouth ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But the Cherries have sent him on loan to Preston North End, which means he’ll spend the 2025-26 season in England’s second division. 

But all might not be lost for the Canadian international who as a member of Sheffield United made Premier League history in 2021 by becoming the youngest player (at 17 years and 309 days) to score in his first start. 

Premier League teams can always recall players who have been sent out on loan. If the Cherries run into problems scoring early on this season, it’ll be interesting to see if they bring back Jebbison to kickstart the attack.