Football: Arteta or Maresca, Carrick or Alonso, De Zerbi or Iraola how the ‘Top 5’ contenders will potentially fare in the Premier League 2026/27 season
A new premier league season beckons and the 20 teams once again rev up their engines with a new set of hopes, dreams and plans to outlast their rivals. Vying for some of the top spots in the league some are targeting trophies, while others want bragging rights while some have to take this as an ultimate fight for survival.
Among the 20 teams there exists a so called Big 6 (Arsenal, Man City, Man utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham) among them there is always the question of bragging rights, massive rivalry and contention for titles as well. Aside from this Big 6, teams like Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brighton, Newcastle etc will also be looking to upset the applecart and take these titans to the limit.
Apart from the title race they would all be vying for the lucrative Top 5 spots that would give them the red carpet entry into the elite Champions League competition. This is why after winning the title, the next top aim for these teams is to end up as the top 5 teams in the league. We now look at some contenders for these much vaunted Top 5 spots their strengths, weaknesses and where they might potentially finish.
Arsenal
The defending champions managed by Mikel Arteta are deep into a project now culminating towards massive silverware stacking. The team has already established its dominance in the league and now with the departure of Pep Guardiola from Man City has further solidified their status as the team to beat.
Adding Christos Tzolis, Bruno Guimares and Ezri Konsa Arteta has had to only shore up talented numbers to his already set squad. With Declan Rice, Saka, Gabriel, and Saliba, they have a team full of leaders and have managed to keep hold of all of their Prime assets.
Strength: incredible defence perhaps the best in Europe with Calafiori, Hincapie, White and Mosquera shoring the back. Havertz and Merino add the diverse options in midfield and attack. With an astounding squad strength all over the field giving Arteta’s champions all the tools to retain the PL title. With arch rivals Guardiola and Klopp gone Arteta now has a field run against his competitors.
Weakness: history is against the Gunners as the London team has failed to retain the title since 1935. A record arteta will be eager to break. The major issue for the team will be getting the attack firing at the highest level although their team contributes to goals it still lacks the magical forward line like Klopp’s Liverpool or Pep’s City. Injuries to crucial players may also hamper the team greatly.
Prediction: 1st
Manchester City
The powerhouse club of the premier league in the past decade. Under Pep the club won 20 major trophies with 6 league titles setting an array of records. Pep was also Arteta’s mentor and usually in their clashes had his protege’s number, however now with the Spanish legend leaving the club City has turned to the Italian Enzo Maresca.
The club has let go of a number of its players with Rodri, Nico Gonzalez, Savinho, Bernardo Silva, Ake, Akanji, Reijnders and potentially a few more heading out the exit door. While so far adding midfielder Eliot Anderson as it’s main marquee signing.
Strength: City has the likes of Haaland, Doku, Cherki, Semenyo and Foden forming a very powerful attack. With Gvardiol, Dias, Guehi, Donarumma etc they have one of the best defences in the league. The team is full of players who have won a number of titles so they have the experience and know how of what it takes.
Weakness: Maresca has had one good season in the EPL and is yet to really showcase how he will manage a long term project. His departure from Chelsea was touted by many as extremely shameful and unprofessional. He has tendencies to be too stubborn and his experience for a title race may be found lacking. On top of it the team has lost a lot of top winners, without Pep it won’t be easy to chase the marauding Gunners.
Prediction: 2nd
Chelsea
The Blues are once again embarking on a new project with Xabi Alonso now at its helm. Alonso has taken full charge of the team and is now clearly moulding it into his own identity with a 3-4-3 formation and a new set of personnel joining the ranks.
Morgan Rogers seems like a very exciting signing with Palestra and Chavaria adding to the wingback setup. Lacroix too appears to be an astute pick to marshal the Defence.
Strength: a frontline of Pedro, Palmer and Rogers will give nightmares to any defence while they gain more chemistry as a trio. The squad is deep and has a lot of options in many positions as Caicedo, James will back the manager with their experience. Alonso is managing his first season in the EPL but he has already managed to make an invincible title winning team in Germany and will be eager to showcase his quality in England.
Weakness: the defence is still suspect with injury prone James and Fofana while Colwill is coming back from an injury and Hato still finding his feet. The goalkeeper Sanchez is well below par resulting in the team conceding a lot of goals. While injuries to critical players may decide how the season pans out for the blues as Alonso is still only beginning to build his squad.
Prediction: 3rd
Liverpool
The Merseyside team has appointed the spaniard Andoni Iraola as it’s manager as the reds look to reclaim the glories they experienced under Klopp. The team has added Munoz in attack and Jacquet in defence as it chases the dynamic Barcola.
Iraola will be looking to rebuild the team and compete at the highest level picking up from Arne Slot who had a rather turbulent time at the club.
Strength: The club is stable and has a good defence on paper, Van Dijk and Jacquet should form a tight partnership while Sobozolai, Macallister and Gravenberch will be expected to anchor the team with their vast experience and abilities.
Weakness: the attack has been very poor and Isak and Wirtz have so far failed to settle at the club, this is a major issue. The club has also lost a huge amount of experience with quality players like Konate, Salah, Jones and Robertson all leaving. The post Klopp era has fallen well short of his great standards and the fans will be hoping for Iraola to change that.
Prediction: 4th
Manchester United
The famous red devils once again dream of a great run to compete with the top teams continuing from the end of last season when interim Michael Carrick zoomed to an impressive 3rd place finish.
The team has added Baleba, Santos and Tielemens to its midfield shoring up the departure of Casemiro. Carrick will now look to push on as many fans are hoping for a long awaited title run.
Strength: Carrick know the club in and out and has managed to strike up a chemistry in the team. The squad is extremely experienced and know each other well. Utd under Carrick showed some extremely impressive performances beating both City and Arsenal last season as well, which give the team and fans the confidence they can take on anyone.
Weakness: The personnel remains the same and once again the overdrawn Shaw, Maguire, Martinez defence leads another season. The options on the wings and upfront are still not convincing. Carrick will have to prove now that he’s managing the team full time that he’s not just a fluke hit but infact is here to stay.
Prediction: 5th
Tottenham
Another new manager and Spurs head into another campaign with lots of hope, however this time it seems the board has gone all put to back manager Roberto De Zerbi. An outlay of around 500 million pounds has been spent by Tottenham, it seems the constant close brushes with relegation have spooked the club to go all out in securing a top berth.
De Zerbi has good managerial experience and had a decent PL stint with Brighton, but he’s known to be irritable and emotional, the Spurs job is extremely draining as the club is well supported but with very high expectation among the fans.
Strength: Van Hecke, Robertson and Senesi join bolstering the defence with the marquee signing Tonali holding the midfield alongside Fernandes. Savinho too has joined expected to be followed by Marmoush and maybe even Gakpo. De Zerbi will have a huge squad to chose from. With Madison, Kudus and Kulusuveski coming back the attack should be a renewed force. If it all clicks this maybe one of the toughest squads in the league.
Weakness: Tottenham have a habit of failing to deliver and falling well short of expectations. People see this spending and automatically assume its a top finish for the team however so many new signings will not find it easy to just slot in like nothing as Xavi Simons found out. The burden of a mega spending puts pressure on De Zerbi to find the team flow fast or the pressure will only get harsher.
Prediction: 7th
