With just five weeks to go until the 2026-27 Premier League season kicks off, and three days until the World Cup reaches its climax, the English league’s top coaches are already in the midst of their planning for the upcoming campaign.
At this very early stage, the Premier League 2026 betting odds have installed 2026 champions Arsenal as title favourites, but they are not odds-on and have Manchester City and Liverpool priced as serious rivals. The likes of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as Manchester United, are also in the frame, and half of these six clubs have new head coaches at the helm for the new campaign.
Mikel Arteta is still at Arsenal, and Michael Carrick has a new two-year contract at Manchester United. Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi has started the next phase of his work, guiding the North Londoners to final-day survival after joining with just six weeks of the 2025-26 campaign left.
But the biggest news of the summer, arguably, was the appointment of Xabi Alonso as the new manager of Chelsea. Alonso won the German Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen in 2024, loosening the vice-like grip of Bayern Munich in the process, and with a win percentage of 63 per cent with Die Werkself, he arrives at the Bridge with a strong reputation and hopes that he can make the West London giants serious contenders once again.
There will be some bad blood between the Blues and Manchester City this term, as Chelsea suspected the Sky Blues of tapping up their former manager Enzo Maresca last Christmas before he sensationally left Stamford Bridge on New Year’s Day 2026. The league will seem strange without Pep Guardiola entertaining us with his lively interviews after a staggering 10 years of success at the Etihad Stadium.
In other Premier League 2026 news, Liverpool, after sacking Arne Slot, have welcomed Andoni Iraola as their new head coach. The former Bournemouth boss took the Cherries to their best-ever finish, in sixth last term, and Reds fans hope he can build on the work of Slot and Jurgen Klopp before him, while getting a tune out of the Reds’ expensively assembled squad.
The other new arrival in the technical area is Alvaro Arbeloa, who has become Fulham manager following the departure of Marco Silva to Benfica. The 43-year-old has a superb pedigree, having managed Real Madrid youth sides, though he failed to bring the La Liga title back to Madrid when he managed Los Blancos last season after he replaced the outgoing Alonso, who also struggled at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Maybe a stint in England will suit them both.
Early deals completed
With the World Cup still taking everybody’s attention, I expect the transfer activity to ramp up considerably next week, but there have been some notable deals already pushed over the line.
Manchester City have splashed out a cool £116 million on England World Cup star Elliot Anderson. His signing from Nottingham Forest is Maresca’s first big deal, and the combative midfielder certainly impressed during his summer with the Three Lions. Anderson now becomes the most expensive English player in the Premier League.
And there are some other notable deals completed which have caught our eye here at SBOTOP. Spurs have signed Italian midfield ace Sandro Tonali from Newcastle for £100 million, Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United for £85 million and Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton for £52 million, as well as signing Andrew Robertson on a free from Liverpool. Clearly, De Zerbi means business, and the Tottenham board is willing to back him in what they hope will be a new era of success for the club after two poor Premier League campaigns.
Manchester United are looking to the future too under Carrick, and the Red Devils have made a canny signing, bringing Belgian ace Youri Tielemans to Old Trafford. The 29-year-old advanced midfielder scored an FA Cup-winning goal for Leicester City and has 244 top-flight appearances under his belt, so with that level of experience he can slot seamlessly into a club with such high expectations.
Down in London, the departure of Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid left Alonso with an immediate problem, and he moved to bring 21-year-old Atalanta full-back Marco Palestra to Stamford Bridge in a deal worth £43 million.
Elsewhere, Harry Wilson has gone from Fulham to Leeds United on a free transfer, while Brentford have pulled in winger Jaidon Anthony in a £17 million move from relegated Burnley, and striker Callum Wilson on a free from the also departed West Ham United. Brighton have signed Luka Vuskovic in a £50 million move from Tottenham Hotspur. The wheels of Premier League commerce are already turning and are about to gather pace.
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