Is it that time of year already? On Friday night, fans will flock to Anfield as champions Liverpool raise the curtain on the new Premier League season as they take on Bournemouth.
It only feels like yesterday that Virgil van Dijk was lifting the Reds’ history-equalling 20th league title, with red confetti raining down around him.
But here we are, two weeks into August, and 20 teams are getting primed and ready for a new season that promises to be like no other – and where fans will be desperate for the answers to a host of burning questions.
Will Arsenal finally be rid of their Bridesmaid’s title? Can Pep Guardiola lead his new-look Manchester City side back to the summit? And what about Ruben Amorim‘s Man United? What can we expect from them?
We will find out over the next 40 weeks.
The new campaign, of course, brings with it some interesting storylines that have been crafted over the course of the summer, but there are some other additions that you should also look out for.
The Premier League returns on Friday as champions Liverpool host Bournemouth
Arsenal and Manchester City are expected to challenge champions Liverpool for the title
1. Will new-look Liverpool gel?
After years of being berated by sections of the Reds’ fanbase, owner John Henry has finally got his chequebook out this transfer window and splashed the cash. Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, and Hugo Ekitike have all come in for big fees, but the biggest of them all was the mouth-watering £116m deal they struck with Bayer Leverkusen to acquire Florian Wirtz.
All four signings, which could end up costing the club over £250million, are a signal of intent from Arne Slot and the club that they don’t want last season’s title triumph to be a one-off; they want this to be the start of a dynasty.
And their spending might not be over as they continue to show interest in Alexander Isak, with the Reds already having a bid thought to be worth £110m rejected.
But will this new-look side gel? All four signings started the Community Shield on Sunday, with Wirtz and Ekitike taking just four minutes to combine for the opener. Going forward, the Reds showed glimpses of the champagne football they are capable of playing, and there is no doubt that they will have no trouble in front of goal.
The new arrivals seem, however, to have left them very open at the back – a point alluded to by Jamie Carragher during Sunday’s clash.
Palace’s forwards had a field day on the break, with Kerkez in particular being targeted. It was a sign that Slot may need more signings, having let the likes of Jarell Quansah, Luis Diaz, and Darwin Nunez all go, while this juggernaut of a team may need time to settle as they look to defend their title.
Florian Wirtz (left) and Hugo Ekitike (right) both shone in the Community Shield on Sunday but the new signings left Liverpool open at the back
2. New Puma ball
This is going to feel weird. For the last 25 years, fans have been used to seeing teams kick around the iconic Nike ball, and boy, have there been some beauties over the last quarter century.
However, this season the Premier League will use a ball not made by Nike, with the two severing ties at the end of the 2024-25 campaign. Instead, the Puma ‘Orbita Ultimate’ will debut as the league’s official match ball when Liverpool host Bournemouth.
It’s certainly different from what we are used to. It has flashy pink lines outlining 12 geometric panels that supposedly help distribute the weight and improve aerodynamics. As long as it hits the net a lot, that’s all that will matter to fans.
Something tells me that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will not be a fan of the new ball, though. Many of you may remember that he bizarrely blamed his Arsenal side’s home defeat by Newcastle in last season’s Carabao Cup semi-finals on the Puma ball that was used.
The new season brings with it a new official match ball in the form of Puma’s Orbita Ultimate
3. Interviews with substitutes
Remember Granit Xhaka’s furious response towards his own fans when the then-Arsenal captain was substituted during a game against Crystal Palace back in 2019? Now, just imagine Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davison trying to chase him down the tunnel in an attempt to interview him after that incident.
Touchline interviews with substituted players and cameras inside the dressing room will feature as part of the Premier League’s new £6.7billion TV deal with Sky Sports and TNT Sports, as broadcasters try to make their coverage more American.
Unfortunately, for those who like drama, we won’t get to see players like Xhaka immediately after he has sworn at his own fans, as players will be allowed to cool down before being interviewed. There will also be no access to the dressing room during team talks.
In another new innovation for the 2025-26 season, footage of goal celebrations will now look more like something from a video game as camera operators will be permitted to take to the pitch to get close-up shots of the players as they jump all over each other with joy.
Players are set to be interviewed by broadcasters after they have been substituted in games
4. Semi-automated offsides
If only Luis Diaz were still in the Premier League. This season, there will be no chance that the mistake that led to his goal against Tottenham in 2023 being wrongfully called offside will be allowed to happen.
The days of officials drawing lines on a screen for minutes on end, leading to moans and groans from the terraces, are long gone, as semi-automated offside technology will be in operation from the start of this season, having featured in the final seven weeks of the last campaign.
It’s quick, it’s clearer, and it’s easy to understand. Fans won’t be able to have too many complaints with this system in place, although it’s not exactly perfect. It’s far from it.
If the penalty area is crammed full of bodies, the software struggles, and we have to resort to the annoyingly tedious and pesky lines. The precision of the technology means that decisions may be made quickly, but it won’t stop supporters taking to X to vent their fury when their striker has had a goal ruled out for a toenail being offside.
Semi-automated offsides will return after a successful trial at the end of last season
5. Can Howe and Newcastle weather the Isak storm?
The Alexander Isak saga has arguably been the saga of the summer. Is he coming? Is he going? At this point, it’s anybody’s guess; the story seems to be changing with each passing day.
It’s been a nightmare summer for Newcastle, with Isak’s links to Liverpool at the centre of it. Eddie Howe has missed out on target, after target, after target as they seek potential replacements, and now it feels as though they are at panic stations in the market.
All of this is bound to have affected Howe and his players. The team failed to win a single one of their six pre-season games, and the mood around St. James’ Park is subdued, to say the least.
With Champions League football back on the table for the Magpies this year, it will be interesting to see if Howe can galvanise his group of players for the challenge of Europe, as well as the Premier League, after such a troubling period for the club.
The stand-off between Alexander Isak and Newcastle means that the Swede is not expected to play in the clubs opener against Aston Villa
6. No more time-wasting keepers
Nobody likes a time-waster, well, unless it’s your goalkeeper doing it while your team is 1-0 up in stoppage time of an important game, then that’s OK. Well, it’s not OK anymore.
Goalkeepers are no longer going to be able to run down the clock following a significant change to the law, which means they now have just eight seconds to release the ball. If they do not, then the referee will award the opposition a corner – and they could also be booked.
The funny thing is, the old rule only allowed keepers six seconds before they were supposed to be penalised with an indirect free-kick, so if anything, goalkeepers are getting cut some more slack. The problem was, the referees never actually enforced it.
The new rule, however, was enforced at the summer’s Club World Cup for the first time, and it certainly baffled players who ended up being caught out. Mamelodi Sundowns keeper Ronwen Williams held on to the ball for too long against Ulsan HD, and the referee awarded a corner.
Goalkeepers will be punished for holding onto the ball longer for longer than eight seconds in a bid to tackle time-wasting
7. Are Amorim’s attacking problems fixed?
While Ruben Amorim had a whole raft of problems to contend with last season, perhaps the biggest one of them all was a distinct lack of goals.
The Red Devils were in desperate need of an attacking reboot after scoring just 44 Premier League goals in 38 games last campaign, with their main man up top, Rasmus Hojlund, only netting four of those.
A reboot is what they have got, with Amorim refreshing his frontline by signing Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, and Benjamin Sesko to the tune of more than £200m.
That’s a lot of money to spend, but in Mbeumo and Cunha, they are gaining proven Premier League goalscorers, with the pair netting a combined 35 goals in the league last campaign. That’s just nine shy of what United’s whole squad managed.
While Amorim is certainly still in need of reinforcements in midfield and defence, United’s shiny new frontline should be able to propel them up the table after a dismal campaign last time out, given everything clicks. That, of course, is not guaranteed.
Bryan Mbeumo (left), Benjamin Sesko (middle) and Matheus Cunha (right) have joined Man United for around £200million
8. VAR announcements in stadiums
Referees will get their own spotlight as from this season, they will announce the reasoning for VAR decisions to crowds.
The aim is for the announcements to provide greater transparency, with the man in the middle now implored to explain why they have overturned a decision after reviewing footage on the pitchside monitor.
This has already been introduced in the cup competitions, with Stuart Attwell making the first in-stadium announcement last season in the Carabao Cup semi-final between Tottenham and Liverpool.
However, only the decisions will be relayed, not the process that has led to them, like in rugby or cricket. Broadcasting live conversations of VAR decisions being made is still outlawed by lawmakers IFAB.
Referees will now explain certain VAR decisions to the crowd after they have been made
9. Will Espirito Santo survive ruthless Marinakis?
You’d think after the stellar campaign that Nottingham Forest had last season — qualifying for Europe through a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League next season and being bumped up to the Europa League by the lawmakers — that there would be a good feeling around the club heading into a fresh new season.
That doesn’t feel like the case, however.
Despite managing to tie Morgan Gibbs-White down to a new deal, there is still an air of uncertainty over how well Nottingham Forest will do, especially now that they will have Europa League nights to contend with, after taking the place of Crystal Palace, who were demoted to the Conference League by UEFA.
Forest failed to win a single one of their seven pre-season matches, only scoring a single goal across the 630 minutes of action. Five of the games ended 0-0, and the electric attack that Nuno Espirito Santo built last season seems to have dissipated since the exit of Anthony Elanga to Newcastle.
Evangelos Marinakis is a ruthless man and craves success. That was proven when he managed to change Gibbs-White’s mind when he had one foot already inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Nuno may have credit in the back, but there is no doubt that he will have to sort things out early in the season if he is to avoid a run-in with the Greek owner.
Nottingham Forest only managed to score one goal across their seven pre-season matches
10. Can promoted teams end the relegation curse?
West Brom, Norwich City, and Watford: what do all of these teams have in common? They are the traditional Premier League yo-yo teams.
These days, though, the relegation zone itself has become a yo-yo. For the past two seasons, the three teams that have been promoted to the top-flight from the Championship have been sent right back down.
It’s almost as if teams are doomed from the start. Nobody believed that Leicester City, Ipswich, or Southampton had a fighting chance last season due to the sheer gulf between the top two divisions in English football, and those suspicions were practically realised by November. All three went down with a whimper.
Nobody wants this. Fans don’t want the Premier League to become an exclusive club, where you only get a free trial before being dumped out, never to return.
This season, though, it doesn’t feel like there is quite as much certainty that the promoted trio will be relegated. That’s not to say that Sunderland, Burnley, and Leeds United aren’t in for long and tough seasons; they just aren’t the only ones.
Brentford have been decimated, losing head coach Thomas Frank and main man Mbeumo, while their captain Christian Norgaard has also ditched west London. The Bees are certainly not expected to thrive quite as much as they have in recent years, while Wolves could be in danger too.
