r/PremierLeague

I don’t know how reputable this source is but I do find this article very interesting.

It was something that I found on FotMob so I’d imagine it has some truth to it.

According to Chelsea officials, Enzo Maresca was not fired by Chelsea and when he left the club, they only stated that they ‘parted ways’

This article gives a little bit more insight into what that scenario was actually like and how Chelsea imply that they feel that Maresca purposefully began to lose games when they had an outside chance at the title prior to the Arsenal game earlier this season.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta asked how he felt on Tuesday:

 "You probably don't realise it. It's one of the best feelings I've ever had. I was supposed to be here, at the training ground, watching the game with the boys and the staff because that's what they wanted - but I couldn't. I think 20 minutes before the game I had to leave. I couldn't bring the energy that I wanted, and ultimately it was their moment to watch it together and be themselves. 

"I went home, I went outside to the garden and had a BBQ and I didn't watch any of it. I was just hearing some noises in the living room and suddenly the magic happened. My eldest son opened the garden door, started to run towards me, gave me a hug and said: 'We are Champions, daddy!' It was beautiful."

This article is reporting signings from multiple leagues, here are the Premier League ones;

Alessandro Bastoni could potentially be going to Man United as Barcelona become hesitant.

David Affengruber, 25 year old, Elche centre-back is another Man United transfer target.

Gabriel Martinelli could potentially be put in a swap deal for Julian Alvarez.

Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham are all interested in Frankfurt midfielder, Hugo Larsson. Spurs reportedly willing to make him their record signing, assuming they aren’t relegated.

Liverpool still want RB Leipzig winger, Yan Diomande but are willing to pivot to his teammate, Antonio Nusa.

Bremer from Juventus is willing to leave because he wants UCL football and Man United and Liverpool are both interested.

Enzo Fernandez is in talks with an extension with Chelsea and has asked them to sign fellow countryman, Christian Romero.

Xabi Alonso has reported that he does not want a new centre-back, yet Chelsea are interested in Bayer Leverkusen defender, Edmond Tapsoba.

Hoffenheim are preparing to sell Bazoumana Touré, left winger, as they failed to qualify for the UCL. Aston Villa, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Man United are all interested.

Sporting midfielder, Hidemasa Morita, is ready to turn down Leeds in favour of Aston Villa.

Taty Castellanos, Argentinian striker, has informed West Ham that if they get relegated, he will not be staying. Brazilian team, Flamengo are interested in signing him.

Barcelona are still interested in Marcus Rashford and are hoping to have another loan deal with a mandatory purchase clause.

Florentino Perez, Real Madrid president, has made it clear that Mbappe will not be sold, despite reports of Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea being interested.

Atletico Madrid have made Marc Cucurella their main defensive target.

Barcelona would like to sign Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres, a deal that may cause a merry-go-round as Torres could exit to Aston Villa and Ollie Watkins could go to Arsenal.

Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Juventus, and AC Milan are all interested in Man City midfielder, Bernardo Silva.

In my view the 3 best starting elevens in premier league history are:

1. 1994 Man United

2. 1998 Arsenal

3. 1999 Man United

That 1994 Man United side didn’t really have any weaknesses, it struggled in Europe because the 3 foreigners rule meant only 3 of Schmeichel, Irwin, Keane, Kanchelskis and Cantona could play, which realistically meant 1 if Irwin, Keane or Kanchelskis.

The 1998 Arsenal side lacked a genuine world class striker, Anelka was a great talent but scored 6 league goals, the defence was also already ageing so by the time Henry had settled in a couple of seasons later Bould was gone and Adams, Winterburn and Dixon‘s legs were going.

The 1999 Man United team had arguably the best back 5 and midfield in premier league history. however Yorke and Cole were a massive drop off in quality.

The Arsenal invincibles were a very good team but more if the right place at the right time with Man United having Tim Howard as their first choice keeper, Keane was 33, Giggs 30, Scholes was injured a lot, and with Ferdinand’s drug ban for the second half the season their centre back options were Brown, Silvestre and O’Shea.

The Man United 2008 team was OK but where they shone was more through squad depth rather than being brilliant.

The City treble team again was two top 4 starting elevens that rotated allowing a relatively fresh City team to compete against tired opposition.

Klopp‘s Liverpool were a great back 5 and unbelievable front 3 with a solid midfield 3.

Mourinho’s first Chelsea side were again a strong team that was in the right place at the right time with Arsenal have lost Vieria and Ljunberg, Pires, Bergkamp being in their 30s. Man United were in a similar boat, they still hadn’t sorted out their keeper issue. Keane was 34, Scholes and Neville 30-32, Giggs 31-33. Ronaldo had also grown about 4 inches in 2 years and was having to relearn his body.

primary sch sons ask me "how to choose a premier league team to support"
actually I dont know how to answer correctly, I watch football only on world cup period.

should I say follow your best friends? support what they support? his best friend replied "I support Messi!"
follow your parent's preference? but I dont have a preferred team either.
support your the team in your city? but our team is in National League not the Premier one.

I am curious that how everyone find their favourite team.
can anyone share?

Personally I'm a bit fond of Villa, not a fan but I like their vibes, good squad, no oil money and they just work hard.

Brentford & Everton - nothing against either, hard working teams and it'd make for a great story for either to win some major trophies. And to break the traditional crop of PL winning teams since Leicester did it.

And Brighton - just funny to say 'PL winners Brighton'.

If Liverpool beat Brentford and Everton beat Spurs, the average English fan would get to watch 6 teams in the CL and Spurs relegated.

For those asking about Man City vs Villa, if England get (some of) more CL money, why wouldn't the refs cooperate?

That's all really, guess he likes Villa. Good morning.

Why are Spurs fans coping so hard with Arsenals league title?

I’ve read stuff from: “we ll also challenge next year” or “the title and how they’ve won it is not worth like our Europa League” and so on…

Would love to hear some answers from spurs fans.

Per the title, I'm a Canadian looking to become a supporter of a Prem team. I visit London somewhat regularly which may sway my choice. I'm leaning towards Fulham due to the underdog nature and have shy'd away from the larger teams with massive fanbases. I liked Liverpool but hate the owners (Go Jays) and same goes with Chelsea (F the dodgers).

Any suggestions are welcome

This season the refereeing in the Premier League has been all over the place, with some genuinely ridiculous decisions every week.

A lot of people are saying Arsenal have benefited heavily from certain calls, while others argue poor officiating has affected basically every club.

Does anyone have a full list of the PGMOL apologies/admitted errors from this season? Would be interesting to see which teams were affected most overall

[UPDATE ON POST]

https://www.squawka.com/en/features/var-errors-premier-league-2025-26/

Some from the Reddit shared this link, here it displays VAR errors for and against each team this season.

Obviously, this still doesn’t show the full picture. Even if a penalty is given or not given, it’s not guaranteed that the player would have scored. The outcome isn’t guaranteed. It’s the same with red cards, sending off a player doesn’t guarantee how the rest of the game plays out, so it’s more about illustrating decisions rather than rewriting results.

The Premier League used to have a “Big Four”: Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. In the 2010s, that slowly became the “Big Six” with Manchester City and Tottenham added.

I understand that the term was not purely about league position. It was mainly about revenue, global fanbase, historic status, commercial power, and long-term competitiveness. But results were still part of the logic. Tottenham were included because, for a long period, they were consistently finishing near the top four/five and competing in Europe.

My question is: does the “Big Six” still make sense based on the last five years?

Right now, the only truly consistent elite Premier League sides seem to be:

• Manchester City
• Liverpool
• Arsenal

These three have been the most consistent domestically, they have had the best European results, and they are usually top three, or top five at worst.

After that, it becomes much less clear.

- Manchester United obviously have the revenue, fanbase, and historic silverware.
- Chelsea also have a large fanbase, recent major silverware, including the 2021 Champions League, and are usually still relevant in Europe.
So I understand why both are still considered part of the group, even with inconsistent league form.

But Tottenham are the one that makes me question the label most.

Yes, they won the Europa League, and yes, they have a big fanbase and a strong modern Premier League profile. But apart from that, their recent domestic performance has been poor compared to the standard normally implied by “Big Six”. At some point, if the label is supposed to reflect more than revenue and branding, results have to matter.

What makes this even more interesting is Aston Villa.

For the first time in a while, there is a non-Big Six club that has not just had one, two good season, but has consistently outperformed some Big Six clubs over multiple years. Villa have been around the top five for several seasons, have had multiple deep European runs, and now also have a major European trophy.
They are also historically one of England’s biggest clubs, with more major trophies than Tottenham, and are the biggest club in England’s second city.

https://preview.redd.it/q56e7avb3h2h1.png?width=682&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a351728e7f8fb44007af8a10d7003a026b894ac

Last 3 years

Starting point for next year

Looking at the recent data:

• Villa are fourth in total Premier League points over the last four seasons.
• Villa have had three consecutive strong European campaigns.
• In UEFA coefficient points over the last three years, they are second and above most Big Six clubs, and in the last 4 years and basically from next year they are 4th (see photos).
• They have done this without the same commercial/revenue advantages that the Big Six receive.

To be clear: I am not saying Aston Villa have now permanently replaced Tottenham in the Big Six. I am also not saying Tottenham are a lower tier club or should be dismissed.

My point is:

Maybe the Premier League is no longer a clean “Big Six”. Maybe we are moving into something more like a Big 3-5 + a second tier of major clubs, where the second group includes clubs for different reasons, For example:

Top-tier:

• Manchester United: huge fanbase, revenue, and historic silverware, despite inconsistent results.

Top-tier to second-tier:

• Chelsea: recent major European success, large fanbase, and still usually in the European conversation.

Second Tier:

• Aston Villa: recent domestic and European results, historic silverware, Second City status.
• Tottenham: strong fanbase, modern commercial growth, and Europa League success, but weaker recent league consistency.

If the Big Four became the Big Six because the league changed, are we now at the point where the Big Six label also needs to change?

Enzo Maresca has started working on summer transfer activity and pre-season planning before his impending appointment by Manchester City.

The Italian is set to replace Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, with the Catalan bringing to an end his glittering 10-year tenure.

Sources briefed on the situation, not authorised to speak publicly, say he has already been collaborating closely with sporting director Hugo Viana for pre-season, the new campaign and beyond in preparation to take over.