This season’s Premier League title is secured.
Liverpool turned the campaign into a procession, having led the top flight since November, and the 5-1 win over Tottenham on Sunday ensured a triumphant first term for head coach Arne Slot.
So, what about next season? Can deposed champions Manchester City bounce back? Will Arsenal mount a more concerted challenge? Or could a different team altogether emerge from the pack?
While acknowledging that it is ridiculously early to start making any confident predictions about the 2025-26 campaign — given we have a summer transfer window and almost four months’ worth of off-field shenanigans to wade through before that point — we decided to ask our experts anyway.
Jacob Whitehead: Arsenal
Building a title-winning back line is the hardest part of the equation — Mikel Arteta’s team are already there.
Arsenal have saved their money and this summer should be the window when they recruit the striker to take this team over the top. If they fail, consider Liverpool favourites.
Top five: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle United/Chelsea
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Sarah Shepherd: Liverpool
It should be Arsenal’s time (with many logical reasons existing to back up those feelings), so for that reason, I’m going with Liverpool to make it two in a row. Why? I’m not yet convinced that Arsenal have the mental fortitude to get over the line (I reserve the right to change my mind if they win the Champions League, which would be a game-changer), and their search for a striker who ticks all the boxes feels like one they have failed to resolve for far too long.
Slot has seemed pretty unshakeable this season and, with Mohamed Salah’s and Virgil van Dijk’s new contracts in place, they will be in a good position going into next season, despite Trent Alexander-Arnold’s seemingly inevitable exit.
Top five: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea
Jordan Campbell: Newcastle United
It should be Arsenal, but going close so many times can fatigue. So step forward, Newcastle.
Bold? Yes. Dependent on Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes remaining? Yes, but Eddie Howe has built a walking nightmare of a team that has been together for several seasons and, crucially, has the taste for silverware.
This squad is physically dominant and plays with a relentless spirit that has made St James’ Park a suffocating place. They look to have that chameleon quality needed to win in different ways. Competing against the big teams has been their strength but they appear to have learned how to cut open the rest and are running over the top of teams.
If they can upgrade in a couple of positions to raise the technical level and improve the depth, what’s stopping them from doing it across a full season?
Top five: Newcastle, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa
Could Newcastle challenge for the title? (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor: Arsenal
This comes with the caveat that the recruitment has to be good this summer and fix the issues exposed this season. Not a single Arsenal player has reached double figures for goals in the Premier League and you just cannot win a title like that.
Their top scorer, Kai Havertz, has nine goals. Mohamed Salah has 27 for Liverpool. It’s pretty stark.
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So, sign a reliable centre-forward and find a left-sided player who mirrors Bukayo Saka’s quality on the other flank, and they’ll be very hard to beat.
Top five: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle
Gregg Evans: Manchester City
Next year will be different for City, with Rodri back from injury and Pep Guardiola pumped up to make amends for this season.
With a little fine-tuning, they will come back stronger. January signings Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez will benefit from settling in this season and no way will the defence be as leaky as in this campaign.
Out with the old and in with the new, it will give City a spring in their step. I’m excited.
Top five: Manchester City, Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa
Nick Miller: Arsenal
There is a danger of being sucked in by the lure of Arsenal, who have looked ‘nearly there’ for a few years now. And maybe this would be different if I wasn’t writing this a few days after they dominated Real Madrid.
But, assuming they sign at least one more forward of some description… they are nearly there, aren’t they? I can see a pretty robust, ding-dong title race with Liverpool: Manchester United and Tottenham will still be nowhere, Chelsea will be better but not near enough, while Manchester City’s issues won’t be fixed sufficiently.
Top five: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea
Mikel Arteta will be desperate to finally land the title next season (Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)
Andy Jones: Liverpool
I can’t see it being anyone outside of Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester City. Nobody else looks ready to make that jump, with or without European commitments.
If Arsenal win the Champions League this season, it may propel them to a league title like it did for Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. Yet with Liverpool retaining Van Dijk and Salah, and set to strengthen a title-winning squad in the summer, it is tough to go against this season’s champions.
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A significant drop-off from the two stars mentioned above or multiple failures in the transfer window could hamper their chances. Regardless, it’s safe to assume that we will at least get a two-way title race next season and who knows what Guardiola is drawing up in his laboratory to get City firing again.
Calling the top five is more difficult — it is dependent on who finishes where this season and how many extra games they will have to play in the 2025-26 campaign.
Top five: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle
Adam Hurrey: Arsenal
This relentless mini-era of the Premier League, in which managers now effectively have to budget for campaign-derailing injury crises, makes any next-season prediction a shot in the hypothetical dark — but it will be Arsenal.
Their No 9 fixation, the last piece of Arteta’s jigsaw, will dominate the summer but the truth is their jigsaw will be better than anybody else’s in 2025-26: fresher than Liverpool’s, more coherent than Manchester City’s, more seasoned than Newcastle’s and less confused than Chelsea’s.
Top five: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea
Tom Burrows: Liverpool
Would you seriously bet against Slot’s side following up their success next year?
This season, Liverpool have found a ruthless, steely and efficient edge under the Dutchman, despite making just one signing last summer, and were only knocked out of the Champions League (having finished first in the league phase table) after a magnificent ding-dong with an impressive Paris Saint-Germain.
In the upcoming transfer window, there are obvious areas for Liverpool to strengthen, including left-back and centre-forward, as questions persist over Darwin Nunez’s wayward finishing and Diogo Jota’s fitness. If sporting director Richard Hughes and his boss, Michael Edwards, the CEO of football at owner Fenway Sports Group, can deliver here, expect an even more formidable Liverpool next time around.
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Top five: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Chelsea
Mark Critchley: Manchester City
How do you replace a genius like Kevin De Bruyne? Can the required rebuild be accomplished in one summer? Will Rodri even be the same player on his return from a serious knee injury?
If any of those questions are met with an unsatisfactory answer, next season could be just as difficult for Manchester City as this one has proved. But Guardiola has stabilised things since January, and, ominously, it sounds like he is beginning to understand where it all went wrong. That is rarely a good sign for City’s rivals.
Guardiola’s contract extension back in November failed to lift City out of their slump but his presence at the Etihad for another two years is the most compelling reason to believe they can get back to their best.
Top five: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelsea
Can Manchester City replace Kevin De Bruyne? (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
Jack Lang: Arsenal
At this incredibly early stage, it makes sense just to go with the team with the fewest obvious issues to resolve. That is undoubtedly Arsenal.
They have enviable quality and a good amount of depth in every position bar one (more on that in a second). The squad has the right balance between youth and experience. In Arteta, they have a manager who is both very good and clearly in tune with his players. There is also a sense that this team is growing towards something.
If they have better luck with injuries next season, it’s hard to imagine them not being at least in the conversation for the title. If they can add the right striker — someone who can knock in a few ugly goals or at least provide a point of difference in tight matches — I would expect them to make good on the promise of the last two or three seasons.
Top five: Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelsea
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Matt Slater: Liverpool
As long as we are clear that my guess at the outcome of 380 games between 20 fiercely competitive teams, stocked with expensive but sometimes fragile talent, is no better than yours, I think next season could be a belter.
It’s between Liverpool (by far the best this season and with reinforcements to come), Arsenal’s defensive solidity and a re-Rodrified Manchester City. And that’s the order they will finish but I will probably change my mind tomorrow.
With decreasing confidence, Aston Villa will shade Newcastle to be the best of the rest.
Top five: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Villa, Newcastle
