2025/2026 English Premier League Thread

[Slava]

Playing Trafford was quite the decision as well. I don’t know if Ederson has that first goal, but he wouldn’t have done that on the second.

And honestly, Haaland has to bury that free header at the end of the first half.

[Matty81]

What a weird set of 3 matches to group together it looks like a bunch of championship fixtures on paper i feel like all 6 of them were down a little while ago and probably will all be again soon except for villa

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Matty81

What a weird set of 3 matches to group together it looks like a bunch of championship fixtures on paper i feel like all 6 of them were down a little while ago and probably will all be again soon except for villa

Agreed.
Arsenal match in this mix & Spurs/City the late game would have been a nice schedule.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by Matty81

What a weird set of 3 matches to group together it looks like a bunch of championship fixtures on paper i feel like all 6 of them were down a little while ago and probably will all be again soon except for villa

Not weird when you consider that back in the day, football was a working man's sport. Most men (and it was men) worked 5 and a half day weeks. They'd finish work on Saturdays around 12-1pm, go home to eat, or to the pub. The games were all scheduled for Saturday at 3 pm to accommodate this routine.

Nowadays, when the schedules are released, except for holiday fixtures, all games are still scheduled for Saturdays at 3 pm. The vast majority of lower league games still kick off at this time.

After the schedules are set, the broadcasters then select the games they want to show. The contracts with the broadcasters do not allow them to broadcast the fixtures they select on Saturdays at 3 pm in case it affects attendance across the leagues. This means when a match is selected, the time and/or date of the selected fixture changes - sometimes at very short notice later in the season. This is because broadcasters don't select all their fixtures at the start of the season.

Very few lower league games are televised, but most - but not all Premier League games are on TV in the UK. The broadcasters obviously want to show the most attractive fixtures, but are required to show each team a minimum number of times.

So, the Premier League games that remain at their originally scheduled time of Saturday at 3 pm, tend to be fixtures that aren't as attractive to watch. So you end up with fixtures like these. This has become more obvious now because the amount of fixtures broadcast this season has increased significantly.

[Matty81]

Makes sense on it being leftover games. I am watching villa Brentford and villa look dire against a bad brentford team. I feel like with how weak wolves are looking one or two of the promoted teams might actually have a chance to stay up this year. The gap between the big 6 and the rest really feels like it is getting out of hand when you look at the lack of squad depth for some of these weaker premier league teams though

[Senator Clay Davis]

When you look across all sports, not just football, it does feel like we might be at the pinnacle of mediocrity in sport. Or maybe it's just a phase. Or maybe I'm aging into "old man yells at cloud". But it just feels like it's rare to turn on a sporting event now and see a genuinely great game.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

When you look across all sports, not just football, it does feel like we might be at the pinnacle of mediocrity in sport. Or maybe it's just a phase. Or maybe I'm aging into "old man yells at cloud". But it just feels like it's rare to turn on a sporting event now and see a genuinely great game.

It's overcoached and it has gotten more predictable as he mega rich have flooded in to buy the bigger clubs and they have amassed massive herds of glory hunting massively entitled fans but i do still think football has that x factor that makes it compelling in relegation and multiple cups on offer. As long as fans keep the super
league stuff at bay it will continue to be interesting I do think smaller clubs can still have their day of glory.

They need to sort out the ffp and multi club rules though chelsea are just making a mockery of the system right now with their excessive buying

But I totally agree that on field players look increasingly like soldiers and individual creativity and moment of brilliance goal scoring in many sports has been on a steady decline.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by Matty81

It's overcoached and it has gotten more predictable as he mega rich have flooded in to buy the bigger clubs and they have amassed massive herds of glory hunting massively entitled fans but i do still think football has that x factor that makes it compelling in relegation and multiple cups on offer. As long as fans keep the super
league stuff at bay it will continue to be interesting I do think smaller clubs can still have their day of glory.

They need to sort out the ffp and multi club rules though chelsea are just making a mockery of the system right now with their excessive buying

But I totally agree that on field players look increasingly like soldiers and individual creativity and moment of brilliance goal scoring in many sports has been on a steady decline.

Another goal off a corner, with little else to be excited about pretty much supports this argument. Arsenal are overreached and dull.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Stoke secretly moving to North London and rebranding as Arsenal FC is one of the great magic tricks of recent history It's atrocious to watch, but hey, it works, I guess.

[Barnet Flame]

They have the creativity coached out of them - thankfully though, Saka is a talent that continues to outweigh Arteta's negativity. He is such a joy to watch - a throwback to when we were wonderful to watch.

[Matty81]

Eze will change them... he's a player who can break through the zombie defenders with creativity, I don't think there are a lot of players like him anymore - they only seem to rise up at the smaller clubs that tolerate the cage football style of attacking and the mistakes that come with that. The big clubs academies are like factory assembly lines

The only thing is he will give the ball away and shoot over the net a bunch before he has his 1 or 2 goals in a game, and I wonder if a big club like Arsenal with a lot of other egos will tolerate that.

But if you make him the main man and feed him, at a club like Arsenal with so much of the ball, he will score 15-20 this year.

Sidebar but what were they thinking going in for Madueke on big money earlier this summer if they wanted Eze? 50 million pound backup. He's a good player too but nowhere near the dynamism of Ebs. I guess he will still play a lot but just weird for them to go in for 2 massive signings at the same position

[Barnet Flame]

Of course, Saka is going off injured - does not look good at all.

[Winsor_Pilates]

A bit negative in here today; it's 4-0 inside 60 minutes.
How Stoke City is that?

[Barnet Flame]

They've played well in the second half - but losing Saka eight days before the Anfield game is a blow.

Nice to see Gykores getting that monkey off his back.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

They've played well in the second half - but losing Saka eight days before the Anfield game is a blow.

Nice to see Gykores getting that monkey off his back.

Saka, Odegaard & Havertz all injured; last season would be panic.
Having Gyokeres, Eza, Madueke (looked good today) and evolution of Nwaneri, Dowman is such a difference in depth this season.
We'd already be relying on Sterling by this point with last year's roster .

Dowman + Nwaneri future will be insane.