Arsenal Wins Premier League with 85 Points as Four Coaches from Gipuzkoa Take Charge in England

Here's a stat to help understand where the Premier League stands right now: as of today, there are four coaches born in Gipuzkoa managing in the English top flight. And only one of the current twenty managers has ever won the title before. That one, as it happens, was also born in Gipuzkoa. If that doesn't sum up a season full of question marks, nothing will.

After three consecutive runner-up finishes, Arsenal finally broke the curse and lifted the title with 85 points and a goal difference of plus-44. Mikel Arteta delivered, but the rest of the landscape changed completely within a matter of months. Pep Guardiola left Manchester City after six Premier League titles. Liverpool, the defending champions, stunned everyone by sacking Arne Slot barely a year after winning the league. And Chelsea, for its part, is already on its fourth manager in less than twelve months.

Against that backdrop, it's worth taking stock of how each of the twenty clubs enters the 2026-27 season.

Arsenal, the Clear Favorite (With One Major Question Mark)

Arsenal signed Bruno Guimaraes for roughly 87.5 million euros and added Piero Hincapie from Bayer Leverkusen, reinforcing a squad that had already been the league's most solid defensively over the past three years. The issue isn't talent, it's health: Bukayo Saka is nursing Achilles tendon trouble, William Saliba tweaked his back at the World Cup, and Jurrien Timber couldn't even play in it. If injuries stay away from the squad, it will be hard to see Arsenal slip from the top spot.

Right behind is a Manchester City side in the middle of a transition: Guardiola is gone, Rodri left for Barcelona for 76.5 million euros, but Erling Haaland stayed and Enzo Maresca arrived as the new manager. A preseason that included a loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield left the impression that settling in will take time.

Chelsea, with Xabi Alonso as their new manager and close to 339 million euros spent on signings such as Morgan Rogers, look like the biggest challenger for a top spot, especially with no European competition to sap their energy.

Liverpool, United and the Rest of the Uncertainty

Liverpool sacked Slot despite the title and brought in Andoni Iraola from Bournemouth, tasked with organizing an attack loaded with similarly named players, such as Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike. Manchester United, third last season under Michael Carrick, are leaning heavily on the experience of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro (now at Inter Miami) and company, though the question is whether the squad has enough youth to sustain a Premier League and Champions League campaign at the same time.

Further down, Tottenham finished 17th in each of the last two seasons and are now banking on Roberto De Zerbi following a promising end to last season under his charge. De Zerbi himself, discussing his time at Olympique de Marseille, offered a line that sums up his reputation as an intense coach:

It was clear the relationship between the coach and the squad was broken.Roberto De Zerbi

Newcastle, despite their financial backing, let go of Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon, while Aston Villa lost much of the core that carried them to a fourth-place finish. Elsewhere, Coventry City and Ipswich Town earned promotion, along with the return to the top flight of Hull City, who arrive as the promoted team with the weakest historical numbers of the past decade, though recent experience from clubs like Sunderland shows that's no guarantee of doom.

With Arsenal as the clear favorite and the rest of the pack reinventing themselves on the fly, the 2026-27 Premier League season promises to be, above all, one where nothing can be taken for granted.