Ten Reckless Predictions for the 2026/27 Premier League Season

May 26, 2026

The 2025/26 Premier League season has finally wrapped up. It was a strange campaign in many respects—unpredictable in ways that make our track record of forecasting look even more embarrassing than usual.

Naturally, we've learned absolutely nothing from that experience and are ready to make another set of instant, hasty predictions about what will definitely unfold next term.

Arsenal retain their crown with ease

Defending a Premier League title ranks among football's toughest challenges. Before Pep Guardiola made it appear almost routine, Sir Alex Ferguson was the last to manage it consecutively in 2008 and 2009. Jose Mourinho achieved the feat with Chelsea in 2005 and 2006.

Mikel Arteta should become the fourth name on that list—and accomplish something even Arsene Wenger never managed at the club. Arsenal's seven-point margin over Manchester City demonstrated genuine dominance. City, despite their victory at the Etihad, never convinced anyone they'd pull it off. That late-season collapse belongs entirely to the bottle guy.

The problem for City's challengers: they must now compete under a new manager after Guardiola proved unable to retain the title. Their replacement has twice spectacularly imploded Chelsea mid-season. City remain the only realistic threat to Arsenal's supremacy, which says plenty about everyone else's prospects.

At least two of Alonso, Maresca, Carrick and De Zerbi depart by February

Add either Arne Slot or his successor at Liverpool to the potential departures.

Xabi Alonso possesses a fine beard and decent character, but his managerial reputation rests entirely on one dazzling Bundesliga campaign. Real Madrid consumed him whole. Now he takes on arguably football's most chaotic club. Disaster could strike quickly.

Enzo Maresca looks uncomfortably like Moyes as he tackles the genuinely impossible job of replacing Guardiola at Chelsea. His physical resemblance to his predecessor somehow makes the task even harder.

Michael Carrick enjoyed the luxury of managing Manchester United during their easiest period—a one-game-a-week schedule following Ruben Amorim's departure. Amorim had completely lost the plot by then, apparently blaming Kobbie Mainoo for everything. Carrick faced no reminders about United's actual demands. Now comes the real test, with a proper fixture list and proper expectations, combined with elements of the Class of '92 actively willing him to fail. That's a recipe for catastrophe.

Roberto De Zerbi requires little explanation. He's brilliant, volatile, and emotionally combustible—a man who brooks no fools. He's already demanding his Spurs squad be assembled before pre-season, something the club has never actually achieved. Given what promises desperate Spurs officials made to lure him, this relationship could implode spectacularly, possibly before a ball is even kicked.

The media resurrects Frank Lampard

Coventry finished 19th, below both other promoted clubs. None of that was Frank's responsibility, obviously.

The press remains desperate to rehabilitate their second-favourite Frank. His catastrophic Spurs tenure has already been conveniently forgotten by journalists who've invested considerable effort in making him feel special and important.

Revisionist takes are already emerging, particularly from one journalist who seems to chair the Thomas Frank Fan Club. The official narrative now? Spurs' relegation battle resulted entirely from Igor Tudor's bewildering appointment, not Frank's previous mismanagement.

Remember: failing at Spurs is somehow not real failure because it's Spurs. This dangerous thinking led them to sack Ange Postecoglou after seven weeks when they suddenly faced relegation.

More importantly, Frank's rehabilitated reputation will be thoroughly cemented during his BBC World Cup pundit appearances before the Premier League returns. Social media will overflow with "Class act, deserves another chance" takes from Very Thoughtful Journalists. Henry Winter will somehow produce 800 words of analysis containing zero additional insight.

Spurs do something utterly ridiculous

Will De Zerbi's full-strength football propel them into third place? Or will an incompetent club learn nothing, squander another season, and actually get themselves relegated after losing De Zerbi to one of his trademark explosions—perhaps triggered by being told Mohammed Kudus will return from injury in three weeks and be "like a new signing" instead of receiving a January forward?

We suspect the latter, but genuinely can't be certain. What we know for sure: it'll be one or the other.

An unexpected top-five finisher emerges

Bournemouth nearly managed it this season with their casual 18-game unbeaten run.

Too many question marks now surround the traditional contenders. Arsenal and Villa represent the only heavyweight clubs truly committed to their current trajectory. Everyone else is either beginning fresh journeys or continuing ones they've collectively lost faith in.

European participation creates additional complications, with unusual teams involved and regular European competitors missing out. This reshuffles the entire competitive landscape.

Someone from this season's bottom half—and not even the obvious candidates like Newcastle or Spurs—will finish in the top five.

Hull become the new Sunderland

Sunderland defied expected goals en route to seventh, while Hull took that concept even further on their way to a sixth-place Championship finish and an absurdly chaotic playoff promotion.

Teams capable of brazenly contradicting underlying statistics possess transferable skills superior to more obviously "correct" sides. Hull's incoming 50-point Premier League campaign may not reach Sunderland's Europa League heights, but expect something similarly maverick.

Promoted sides face difficult second seasons

Sunderland and Leeds should beware. While their performances this season warrant celebration, history suggests danger ahead.

Leeds themselves know this story. After 2020 promotion, they finished ninth playing beautiful football, then 17th the following season, and finally went down with barely a whimper.

Sheffield United's trajectory proved even more dramatic—ninth with 54 points after 2019 promotion, then dead last with 23 points the next season.

Seventh-placed Sunderland concerns us more than 14th-placed Leeds. Their foundations appear flimsier with less solid underlying data supporting their remarkable campaign. Europa League football, while wonderful, creates a brutal Sunday-Thursday-Sunday schedule that has damaged far bigger clubs.

Crystal Palace finish 12th with 45 points

Everything changes at Palace this summer following their second straight trophy-winning campaign—or so it might seem.

The Oliver Glasner era concludes, yet this creates minimal real disruption. Palace will still finish 12th because Palace always finishes 12th.

This club maintains a 13-year streak of finishing between 10th and 15th. Nobody else has sustained that for more than five consecutive seasons before accidentally becoming either good or bad and spoiling the run.