The new season is almost upon us and it is high time we nailed our colours to the mast and gave our predictions for the Premier League 2025/26 season.
The team of writers at 101 Great Goals was asked to provide their thoughts on the top six, who will go down and the outstanding player over the next nine months.
Here are the results and some analysis.
The Results
| Top Six (1-6) | Relegation (18-20) | Player of the Year | |
| Jon Fisher | Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham, Man United | Brentford, Leeds, Burnley | Declan Rice |
| Ben Miller | Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea | Everton, Leeds, Burnley | Tijjani Reijnders |
| Mitch Fretton | Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Man United | West Ham, Leeds, Burnley | Cole Palmer |
| Tom Rostance | Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle | West Ham, Brentford, Burnley | Mohamed Salah |
| George Nash | Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United, Aston Villa | Everton, Leeds, Wolves | Cole Palmer |
| Nick McGee | Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, Aston Villa | Brentford, Wolves, Burnley | Moises Caicedo |
| Cian Cheesbrough | Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Aston Villa, Tottenham | Sunderland, Wolves, Leeds | Cole Palmer |
| Blake Hurst | Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United, Aston Villa | Wolves, Burnley, Sunderland | Erling Haaland |
The Top Six
As you can see, everyone went with Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City to occupy places in the top six. That should come as no surprise, neither should the identity of the teams fighting for fifth and sixth.
Newcastle and Aston Villa lead the way as do, somewhat more surprisingly, Manchester United. Our team clearly feel we will finally start to see the Ruben Amorim-inspired revolution take shape.
And with the likes of Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha all on board it is impossible to think United won’t be pushing for a European spot.
As for the title winners, it was a mixed bag with just two predicting Liverpool – the overwhelming favourites with the bookmakers – will retain their title.
It has been a difficult off-season for Arne Slot and his players and it may just offer the chance for Arsenal – with Viktor Gyokeres in theory solving their number nine problem – and Manchester City to take advantage.
Both Arsenal and City received three votes, despite the latter’s miserable season in 2024/25.
Relegation Candidates
It will obviously be tough for the newly promoted teams, given the fact the last six attempts to get a foothold in the Premier League have all ended in failure.
It is no surprise, therefore, to see Sunderland, Burnley and Leeds feature heavily.
That said, there is also some optimism that the new boys may survive.
Sunderland, in particular, appear well-fancied after a hectic recruitment drive that has seen the likes of Grant Xhaka, Simon Adingra and Reinildo appear on Wearside.
Player of the Year
With so many worthwhile candidates, it was perhaps a shock to see one name feature three times, that of Cole Palmer.
The Chelsea playmaker was outstanding at the Club World Cup, scoring twice in the final win over Paris Saint-Germain, and it is a big year for the former Manchester City man as he tries to nail down a regular place in Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI before the World Cup.
The other selections were largely dependent on who the writer felt was going to win the league. Arsenal/Declan Rice, Man City/Tijjani Reijnders, Man City/Erling Haaland and Liverpool/Mohamed Salah were all paired together.
There was also a vote for Moises Caicedo which could be a sneakily good pick. The Ecuadorian flies under the radar but is one of the leading midfielders in the Premier League. He has a big job this season with he and Enzo Fernandez tasked with helping a young team gel under Enzo Maresca.
