Premier League 2026-27 Season Predictions: Winners and Losers

Predicting a Premier League season is a fool’s game at the best of times. The 2026-27 campaign feels even more volatile than usual.

Arsenal snatched the title from Manchester City last season. Tottenham Hotspur flirted with relegation. Nine clubs, including City and Spurs, have changed managers. Squads have been ripped up and rebuilt. Any attempt to lean too heavily on last year’s table already feels dated.

So eyes turn, as they always do, to preseason. It lies. It misleads. It creates “Preseason Pirlos” like Andreas Pereira, then abandons them when the real stuff starts. But it also offers clues: who is sharp, who is struggling, and which kids might be about to crash the established order.

This summer has given us plenty of both.

Winners

Wonderkids Dowman, Ngumoha, Madjo

Preseason thrives on teenage promise, and this year the kids have delivered.

At Arsenal, Max Dowman is still technically school age, yet he’s already brushing shoulders with the league’s biggest names. The 16-year-old, a surprise nominee for last season’s PFA Young Player of the Season despite starting only one Premier League game, has picked up the hype again.

Against Girona in a 4-1 win, he didn’t just look comfortable. He took over. A goal, an assist, and the kind of fearless wing play that makes managers pause when they scribble down their first XI. Arsenal fans have seen this movie before, though: he dazzled in friendlies in Asia last summer against AC Milan and Newcastle United, then barely featured when the league began. His talent is obvious. His minutes are not.

Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha is chasing a similar breakthrough. The 17-year-old finished last season with a growing chorus of fans demanding more of him. This preseason, he’s at least been on the stage. Three starts in four friendlies, helped by Cody Gakpo’s late return from the World Cup, have given him a platform.

He used it well. Bright, direct, and decisive, Ngumoha scored the only goal in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Wrexham on their U.S. tour. It was the kind of moment that lingers in a new manager’s mind when the competitive fixtures roll around.

Then there’s Brian Madjo at Aston Villa, who has turned preseason into his own personal showcase. Signed from Metz for £10 million on his 17th birthday in January, he wasn’t even allowed to play for Villa at any level until this summer because of FIFA rules on international transfers for under-18s. Villa appealed. They won. Madjo has wasted no time.

Four goals in preseason: a brace against Walsall, one against Real Sociedad, another against an Indonesia league All Stars side. That was just the warm-up. In the UEFA Super Cup in Salzburg, he scored Villa’s only goal in a 2-1 defeat to PSG and could easily have had more.

There is context. Ollie Watkins, Villa’s first-choice striker, has been on an extended post-World Cup break. Madjo has filled the void, not displaced the England international. But he is eligible now, he is scoring, and Unai Emery suddenly has a fascinating decision to make when the Premier League kicks off.

Nottingham Forest’s Igor Jesus finds his touch

Igor Jesus was the constant in Nottingham Forest’s chaos last season. Four managers came and went — Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche, Vítor Pereira — but the Brazilian striker kept his place.

His return was modest: six goals in 37 Premier League appearances. Hardly headline-grabbing. Yet the story changed in the run-in. Four of those goals came in the final eight league games, hinting at a player finally adjusting to the pace and punishment of the division.

He has carried that momentum into the summer. Jesus has scored in four consecutive preseason matches, including in a 2-1 defeat to Sporting CP, and looks like a forward playing with conviction rather than just occupying a shirt.

Forest have spent heavily and churned through ideas. What they might now have is something they’ve been searching for: a reliable, improving No. 9.

Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo, creator-in-chief

Antoine Semenyo barely stopped this summer. He played in all four of Ghana’s World Cup matches, helping them reach the round of 32 before Colombia ended their run. Many players would have taken an extended break. Semenyo went straight back to work.

He featured in all four of Manchester City’s preseason friendlies and immediately picked up where he left off last season, when he scored 17 goals and supplied four assists across Bournemouth and City in the Premier League.

This time, he turned provider. Semenyo assisted five of City’s six preseason goals in games against Inter Milan (1-1), K-League All-Stars (3-1) and Atlético Madrid (3-1). He looked like the main conduit for everything sharp and dangerous in City’s attack.

With so many of City’s stars only just returning from deep World Cup runs, Semenyo has used the space to plant his flag. On this evidence, he isn’t just a squad option. He’s central to how City will attack under Enzo Maresca.

Xabi Alonso settles quickly at Chelsea

For Xabi Alonso, the timing has helped. Appointed Chelsea manager in May and officially starting on July 9, he has enjoyed something rare for a new coach at a superclub: time and access.

While rivals scrambled to reintegrate players returning late from the World Cup, Alonso had a near full-strength group to work with. João Pedro, Cole Palmer and Estêvão have all been heavily involved. Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Jorrel Hato and Robert Sánchez have also been present and available.

Pedro, in particular, has exploded. Five goals in preseason, including a hat trick against Western Sydney Wanderers and a brace against AC Milan, have underlined his status as a potential focal point of Alonso’s attack.

It hasn’t all been a procession. Chelsea lost 2-1 to Tottenham in Sydney and then 1-0 to Juventus in Hong Kong. Those results will sting, especially against a Spurs side still trying to find its footing. But in terms of structure, minutes and clarity of roles, Alonso has had the kind of preseason managers usually envy from afar.

Losers

Liverpool’s creaking back line

Andoni Iraola walks into Liverpool with a clear attacking identity but a defensive jigsaw missing several key pieces.

At right-back, first-choice Conor Bradley is still sidelined with a knee injury. Joe Gomez, who can cover across the back line, picked up a muscle problem during preseason and is out. New €60 million signing Jérémy Jacquet has yet to play a minute after a long-term shoulder injury.

That left Iraola short of options in an area of the pitch he can’t afford to get wrong. Liverpool have moved to plug the gap by bringing in Ronald Araújo on a season-long loan from Barcelona, a significant addition on paper.

Yet the anchor of the defense remains Virgil van Dijk, now 35, who played an astonishing 6,051 minutes last season across club, country and the World Cup. He started all 68 of those matches. Asking him to repeat that workload feels unrealistic, but Liverpool may have little choice.

Preseason hasn’t answered many of Iraola’s defensive questions. It has only underlined how urgent they are.

Preseason injury heartbreak

The warm-up period is supposed to be gentle, a runway into the season. It rarely feels that way for the players who go down hurt.

No one has had their momentum checked more brutally than Bournemouth forward Junior Kroupi. The 20-year-old broke out last season and was heavily linked with a big-money move to one of Europe’s elite clubs. That narrative has been paused.

On a preseason tour of Austria, he suffered a foot injury that required surgery. The prognosis is grim: up to four months out. He may not be seen in the Premier League again until January, just as the season’s shape begins to harden.

Aston Villa have their own injury cloud to navigate. Midfielder Amadou Onana ruptured his ACL in July, a major blow to Emery’s plans in the middle of the pitch. John McGinn, the heartbeat of the side, landed awkwardly on his knee in a friendly. He is expected to be fit for the start of the season, but the scare was real. New signing Johan Manzambi is also nursing a knee injury picked up at the World Cup with Switzerland and could miss the early weeks.

One bit of relief arrived for Newcastle United. Anthony Elanga was stretchered off after a nasty tackle from Valencia defender José Gayà, who was shown a straight red. Fears of a serious layoff were quickly eased: tests revealed only a bruised shin. Elanga should be available for Newcastle’s opener. For once, preseason’s worst images did not come with the worst news.

Enzo Maresca’s awkward start at Manchester City

Replacing Pep Guardiola is as daunting as it gets. Enzo Maresca knew that when he took the Manchester City job. What he might not have expected was to start his reign with so few of his stars at his disposal.

City’s players racked up just under 5,000 minutes at the World Cup. Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku, Rodri, Marc Guéhi, Nico O’Reilly and new signing Elliot Anderson all went deep into the tournament. Many only reported back this week.

Their first real chance of minutes under Maresca will come in the Community Shield against Arsenal. Until then, the Italian has been working largely with a skeleton version of his squad.

To his credit, City still won two of their three preseason games. The lack of key personnel is entirely out of his hands. But for a coach trying to imprint new ideas and step out from Guardiola’s shadow, it’s an early complication he could have done without.

Jack Grealish and James Maddison stuck in limbo

In another timeline, Jack Grealish and James Maddison would have spent the summer being eased back into club duty after starring for England at the World Cup. Reality has been far less glamorous.

Grealish missed the tournament and the final four months of last season with a foot injury, a setback so severe that his loan from Manchester City to Everton was cut short. He returned to training last month, yet City kept him at home while the squad toured Asia, choosing to focus him on fitness work in Manchester.

His future remains unresolved. As of July 29, no decision had been made on where he will play next season. His contract at the Etihad Stadium runs until 2027, but that offers security, not clarity.

Maddison’s road has been even more frustrating. An ACL injury wiped out almost all of his previous campaign. This preseason, a minor hip issue has kept him from playing a single minute. For a player who relies so heavily on rhythm and sharpness, the stop-start pattern is becoming a worrying theme.

As the new Premier League season looms, some teams and players are already moving at full speed. Others are still stuck on the treatment table or waiting for their chance. The question now is simple: whose August form will prove real, and whose summer promise will vanish the moment the lights go up?