2025/26 Premier League Season Preview

Who's ready for the new Premier League season? Not me, clearly, based on how late I left this preview issue.

Hopefully Spurs Men are more prepared for the league campaign to start than I am. I have some concerns regarding the squad, but I think we all do.

In this issue: State of the team | Predicting the starting XI | Season prognosis | Narratives across the league | Quickfire predictions

I've pared down the preview format from previous seasons, mostly in the interest of time but also because I'm going to try to streamline the newsletter in general this season. I want to continue writing it, but I need to reduce the time commitment for the sake of my sanity.

This preview will be mostly Spurs-centric, but I will touch on the rest of the league briefly. Without further ado, let's dive into the 2025/26 Premier League season!

State of the team

It would be foolish not to address the elephant in the room right away: the face of the team and its most recent captain, Son Heung-min, has left the club after 10 years of service.

It would already have been a big task to adjust to his absence on its own, but then new manager Thomas Frank and his staff were thrown another curveball in the same game as Son's farewell; James Maddison is now out for most (if not all) of the season with an ACL tear. How soon he's able to return will depend on his recovery, but the team will have to plan without him in the meantime and not count on him being anything more than a squad depth option towards the end of the season.

Maddison isn't the only player injured to start the season, nor is he the only fairly long-term absence. Dejan Kulusevski is still struggling to return from an injury that required surgery, and the timeline for his return keeps shifting. Destiny Udogie was sidelined again during pre-season. The injury bug has even hit the new signing ranks; centerback Kōta Takai is dealing with plantar fasciitis and also has an uncertain start date for the season. On the more minor end of the injury spectrum, Dominic Solanke missed some time in pre-season but already came back for the UEFA Super Cup. Radu Drăgușin is also expected to feature soon after recovering from his own ACL injury.

Outside of (or sometimes because of) injury concerns, there are some areas of the squad that are still lacking depth with just over two weeks left in the transfer window. The playmaker role is perhaps the most pressing; without Maddison's creativity to depend upon and no other true #10 in the squad, Frank will have to rely on other players finding a new dimension to their game to make up the gap. Wilson Odobert already got some limited experience in that role at the end of last season, and new winger Mohammed Kudus or Mathys Tel (now permanently signed from Bayern Munich)could also be utilized there, though that's obviously not the best use of their skillsets. Otherwise, Johan Lange and the recruitment team will have to look to the transfer market to fill out the attacking midfield roster. One player seems like the bare minimum we can get away with, but two would be ideal.

Then there are a few positions where we've had bad injury luck in recent seasons that could probably use some bolstering. I'm thinking specifically of centerback and left fullback (especially with Udogie already a fitness doubt to start the season), but centerback is also a concern with Takai unlikely to be a reliable rotation option just yet—not only becuase of his injury, but also his age, lack of Premier League experience, and overall unfamiliarity as a new signing. I also worry about our ability to replace the lost goals/assists from Son and Maddison with the current slate of attackers, particularly since Solanke has had such a stop-start beginning to his Spurs career, and Tel is still being used as a versatile option between the striker and winger positions and not really getting a chance to specialize in either role. That being said, Brennan Johnson loves to overperform expectations and has a knack for big moments, and I think Wilson Odobert could make a significant leap this season. I know better than to hope for an injury-free Richarlison season, so instead I will hope for more of the same efficiency and selfless work rate we've seen from him in his limited game time in seasons past.

I've glossed over the base of the midfield so far, but largely because that's an area that we have decent squad numbers in, if not any true standouts (yet). Pape Sarr looks poised to finally, finally have his true breakout season if the pre-season is anything to go by, and elsewhere there's a balance of promising young talents (Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray) mixed with experienced veterans of the league (Rodrigo Bentancur and new loanee João Palhinha).

Newly designated captain Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven will continue to spearhead the defense from the centerback duo, but we could see that duo often become a trio under Frank's tactics, giving Kevin Danso the promise of much more gametime in his first full season with the club. Luka Vušković had a bright start to pre-season but is rumored to be going on loan in the Bundesliga. Rounding out the back line, expect Pedro Porro and Djed Spence (and Udogie when fit) to keep up the same dynamic play on the flanks as fullbacks, with rotation stints from Ben Davies and Gray.

There was a lot of chatter during the pre-season about competition between Guglielmo Vicario and Antonín Kinský for the #1 keeper spot, but honestly, I still think it's Vicario's to lose at this point. It seems that Frank trusts him more so far and will surely be relying on his leadership contributions with Son gone and Maddison out long-term. There will be plenty of game time for Kinský in the cups, at least in the first half of the season, so fret not.

I think that covers everyone significant as far as the existing playing squad goes. Yves Bissouma is likely headed out the door (good riddance), and Dane Scarlett probably needs another loan. On that note, a lot of the up-and-coming Academy players (as well as recent graduates like Alfie Devine, Will Lankshear, and Mikey Moore) have already headed out on loans, so this doesn't look to be a season where Frank will be "playing the kids" very often. So fingers crossed that we're getting the worst of the injury bug out of the way early since there's not much leeway for an injury crisis later in the season (any remaining transfer additions excepted, of course).

The other important change to this season's team is, of course, the manager. We've already seen some noticeable changes in the playing style (particularly in defense) under Thomas Frank compared to Ange Postecoglou's system. But I think the difference will be most keenly felt when it comes to changing tactics both between games and within games. The Super Cup was a great example, as Frank opted for a 3-5-2 formation that we had only seen a quick glimpse of late in a pre-season game. Clearly, he's willing to adapt his tactics to different opponents. It might not always come off the way we hope, but at least we'll know every option has been exhausted more often than not.

Predicting the starting XI

Taking all of those factors into account (key emphasis on fitness!), as well as the first competitive lineup we saw from Thomas Frank in the Super Cup loss to PSG, I've taken a stab at predicting our first Premier League lineup of the season.

Here are my picks to secure a win and all three points on matchday 1 against Burnley:

(Injury note: Destiny Udogie is confirmed to miss out alongside longer-term absentees James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, and Radu Drăgușin, and Yves Bissouma is back in the squad after his one-game club suspension.)

It feels like a safe assumption that Frank will opt for a back-four against a newly-promoted team like Burnley, and at that point, the backline picks itself. The starting midfield pivot also feels locked on, while Pape Sarr has earned his place in the starting lineup over the pre-season friendlies. Mohammed Kudus is also a must-start. That just left the striker and left winger spots to fill. Based on availability, I opted for Richarlison as the central forward over Solanke, who probably needs to be eased back in after his pre-season knock. Mathys Tel is probably a bold call since he didn't have a great game in the Super Cup, but that was in a less-familiar front-two configuration. I think he can put in a good shift at left winger in the typical front-three, and suspect Frank will give him a chance to show his quality. However, he's the pick I feel least confident about; Brennan Johnson featured on the left frequently in the friendlies and didn't play against PSG, so he would be the option with the fresher legs.

Season prognosis

As I spoke about on our Tottenham Depot season preview episode, I believe Spurs fans are going to have to set some reasonable expectations for this season.

We all know it's the end of an era with Sonny moving on, but it's also a continuation of the rebuild that began when Mauricio Pochettino left and has yet to be completed. You only have to look at the average age of the squad to see that we're still in a development phase.

That's not to say that winning the Europa League last season was a total fluke—we certainly deserved to be in the final and were the better team on the day—but we can't expect to repeat the feat in the Champions League this campaign.

There will come a season in the near future when our core group of young talents has come into their own and the team is a well-oiled machine capable of competing on multiple fronts and consistently reaching finals. It won't be this season. That's not to say we couldn't reach a final in one of the domestic cups, and in fact, I could see Frank and the players targeting the FA Cup in particular. But I can't see us getting anywhere close to the Premier League title, nor challenging the Champions League frontrunners.

So the focus for this season must primarily be on player development and reestablishing consistency in league play.

Narratives across the league

To wrap things up, let's take a look at some of the other teams in the league as I note a few storylines that I'll be keeping an eye on.

Can anyone stop Liverpool from repeating as Premier League champions?

My short answer is: no.

My long answer is: they have simply strengthened too much in the transfer window for any other team to catch up. Not only did they sign two of the best players from the Bundesliga (Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike), but they also poached a promising young defender from within the league (Miloš Kerkez). Frankly, they've made some of the best transfer business for several seasons running, so this was just building on previous progress to their squad. And Mo Salah has shown zero signs of slowing down. Good luck to everyone in the race for 2nd.

Do any of the promoted teams stand a chance?

I think Leeds United might, honestly. They've also been busy in the transfer window, and while I question a few of those signings, they have a strong squad overall that is certainly Premier League caliber. I think Sunderland might be in trouble after losing Jobe Bellingham to his brother's old club and having let former Spurs player Jack Clarke go the season before. They're gambling on Granit Xhaka having at least one more top-tier season left in him. And Burnley? Well, we'll have a better idea after this weekend's opener if they learned any lessons from their last yo-yo between the leagues.

So if, say, Leeds do manage to break out from the promoted pack and stay up, who goes down? It may finally be Wolves' time. Personally, I pray on West Ham United's downfall every season.

Which of last season's surprise challengers can build on their progress?

I'm speaking of the teams that reached European qualification (Nottingham Forest), won a domestic cup (Crystal Palace), or otherwise overperformed expectations (Bournemouth). Of this group, I feel most confident in Crystal Palace taking advantage of their moment in the sun. They already added to their trophy tally with the Community Shield (sure, they won on PKs and it's not the most prestigious competition, but it was certainly a hard-fought game) and have held onto their core of key players... so far at least. Oliver Glasner seems to have revitalized both the playing squad and the Palace fanbase.

Nottingham Forest won their legal battle to wrest Europa League qualification from Palace (due to Palace's shared ownership with Olympique Lyonnais), but I'm choosing to interpret that situation as a precursor to some serious bad karma. Some of their outgoing transfers seem problematic, although they managed to hold onto Morgan Gibbs-White in, shall we say, suspicious circumstances. I don't know, the vibes just seem bad.

As for Bournemouth, they are a difficult team to beat at times, but ultimately I think they've reached their ceiling—at least with their current squad and manager. I'm not necessarily on the Andoni Iraola train and was relieved we didn't end up with him as Spurs manager. He's free to prove me wrong, though!

Quickfire predictions

Last season, I was reluctant to make any predictions—and for good reason, it turned out! Who could have predicted anything about that Spurs season?

So perhaps it's foolhardy for me to get back in the predictions game, but I'm going for it anyway.

• Tottenham's PL table finish: 5th
• PL winner: Liverpool
• Golden Boot winner: Hugo Ekitike
• CL winner: Bayern Munich (let me dream)
• FA Cup winner: Tottenham
• League Cup winner: Manchester City

No time for a full Burnley preview, so let's just leave it at:

COYS

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