<\/p>\n
The English Premier League season is done and dusted before the hearts and minds of the football world become engulfed by this year\u2019s World Cup, it is time for reflection.<\/p>\n
The 2025\/26 season was a truly wild one with Arsenal ending their 22-year drought as champions, while their fiercest rivals Tottenham flirted with relegation until the final day of the season.<\/p>\n
\ufeffGet all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n The two north London clubs copped plenty of criticism across the course of the season, but in the end Arsenal certainly had the last laugh.<\/p>\n While Tottenham can breathe a big sigh of relief despite many pundits arguing that Spurs\u2019 hierarchy deserved to face the drop following years of poor decision making.<\/p>\n Liverpool delivered a timid defence of the title they won in Arne Slot\u2019s first season in charge.<\/p>\n Frustrations at Anfield have led to fingers being pointed at botched transfer windows as well as their Dutch manager, who suffered from a bad case of the second year blues.<\/p>\n Adding to the angst on Merseyside was the re-emergence of Manchester United.<\/p>\n The Red Devils turned the corner under now permanent boss Michael Carrick and the future is looking a lot brighter at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n Big six club Tottenham and Chelsea flopping once again allowed for middleweight clubs to surge up the table and secure European football for next season.<\/p>\n Here are the biggest talking points from the end of the Premier League season!<\/i><\/p>\n McGree RULED OUT of World Cup | 00:40<\/p>\n TOTTENHAM\u2019S OWNERS DESERVED RELEGATION<\/b><\/p>\n Arguably the story of the season was Tottenham\u2019s relegation battle.<\/p>\n Spurs avoided the drop with three wins and a draw in their final five games of the season.<\/p>\n Instead, London rivals West Ham are headed to the Championship, finishing two points behind Tottenham.<\/p>\n On the final day of the season West Ham fans mourned a disastrous campaign and projected their anger towards the club\u2019s hierarchy at the London Stadium, chanting to them \u2018you sold our soul for this s***hole\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n The shoe could have easily been on the other front.<\/p>\n Tottenham supporters celebrated that they would remain in the top flight with a 1-0 win against Everton and their $1 billion stadium, but Spurs fans have certainly not forgotten their frustrations with their club\u2019s ownership.<\/p>\n Australian manager Ange Postecoglou was sacked at the beginning of the season despite ending the club\u2019s 17-year trophy drought with a Europa League triumph because of finishing 17th in the Premier League.<\/p>\n Tottenham bosses stressed that with Champions League football secured they wanted to compete on all fronts rather than sacrifice one competition for the benefit of another like Postecoglou.<\/p>\n They certainly have egg on their faces now.<\/p>\n Postecoglou\u2019s team was never seriously threatened with relegation like this season\u2019s squad under Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and Roberto De Zerbi were.<\/p>\n Tottenham made it to the Round of 16 in the Champions League before they were humbled by Atletico Madrid, but the reality of their campaign stood in stark contrast to the pre-season expectations placed on the club.<\/p>\n \u201cRewind to just over a year ago and Spurs released a video on the club\u2019s YouTube channel in which (Daniel) Levy, the former chairman, and (Vinai) Venkatesham, the chief executive, went on a smarm offensive about their shared love of red wine and boldly declared: \u2018We want to win the Premier League. We want to win the Champions League. We want to win.\u2019,\u201d The Telegraph\u2019s<\/a> Matt Law wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cHad it not been for a Jo\u00e3o Palhinha goal and a stunning save from Antonin Kinsky against Everton on Sunday, then Tottenham might have been contemplating trying to win the Championship next season.<\/p>\n \u201cLevy and Venkatesham\u2019s sound bites proved to be nothing more than delusional drivel and both men should cringe with embarrassment if they ever watch it back. The video was released less than a month after Tottenham had sacked their first winner in 17 years and replaced him with a man who had never won a trophy and had never managed in the Champions League.<\/p>\n \u201cIf ever there was a wrong man at the wrong time, then it was Thomas Frank at Tottenham. He is a talented coach and an impressive individual, but Spurs were the worst fit possible for somebody who had come from such a settled and supportive environment at Brentford.<\/p>\n \u201cLevy, Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange were delusional in their belief that Frank could somehow pick up where Ange Postecoglou had left off by winning the Europa League. They conveniently forgot the squad the Dane inherited had finished 17th in the Premier League table and had, along with supporters, been desperate for Postecoglou to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n The final month of the season has been a sugar hit for Tottenham, but there is no hiding the reality of where they are at.<\/p>\n Back-to-back 17th place finishes without financially lucrative European football means they start 2026\/27 under immense pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it too far to say that they\u2019ve been pathetic? That they should be ashamed of themselves? Probably not,\u201d Manchester United great Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.<\/p>\n Neville added: \u201cNow they know for real, having escaped today, they can start to basically drive a bulldozer through that dressing room because that\u2019s what they need to do.<\/p>\n \u201cThe actions out on the pitch speak a lot louder than words. To dare is to do – do they dare to do, these players? I don\u2019t think so. Are they always together? No, I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n \u201cIs there a connection right through the club? No, we hear that the owners have been trying to sell this club for two or three, four years now, trying to get as high a price as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve done a great job in certain ways with certain things that they\u2019ve built, in infrastructure terms, but they failed the fans on the pitch – that is most important.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s got to be a massive reset; there\u2019s got to be an autopsy that goes really deep, right the way through the club.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re owners of a football club – and I\u2019m an owner of a football club – sometimes you have to start by looking in the mirror yourself.<\/p>\n \u201cSuccess sometimes doesn\u2019t come in a football club because of the decisions that you [the owner] make, because of what you do. Not because of what the fans, what the players, or what the coaches do.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, appointing Igor Tudor and having to sack him within a few weeks – didn\u2019t feel right, that appointment, from day one, did it? It just didn\u2019t connect.<\/p>\n \u201cSacking Ange Postecoglou and bringing in Thomas Frank, someone who\u2019s highly respected, bringing in Igor Tudor, now bringing De Zerbi in.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a rollercoaster of a season. [The owners] have lost a lot of credibility and trust. You can see the signs that are up against the owners and I\u2019m not surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/b><\/p>\n Aussie star\u2019s cruel double blow, Qatar hero\u2019s Socceroos journey ends as WC bolter emerges<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \ufeff\u2018S**thole\u2019: Selling fans the dream, this icon \u2018sold its soul\u2019 instead. Now it lives a $300m nightmare<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Tears of joy, despair as Spurs SAFE after final day nail-biter, London rivals relegated\ufeff<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n LIVERPOOL TRANSFER PRESSURE AS SLOT IN THE GUN<\/b><\/p>\n After winning the title last season and winning their first five games of this campaign, Liverpool fans would have laughed at someone if they suggested the Reds would just cling onto a Champions League place late in the season.<\/p>\n Fifth-placed Liverpool\u2019s season quickly suffered a downward spiral with new signings like Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike failing to make an immediate impact.<\/p>\n While Mohamed Salah\u2019s form fell away, the Egyptian king fell out with Arne Slot and he farewelled Anfield on the final day of the season.<\/p>\n Liverpool are reportedly targeting 19-year-old RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomand as their Salah replacement.<\/p>\n It is one of several holes they need to fill in a team that was booed off the pitch multiple times in the second half of the season. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots of things wrong with this Liverpool team. Nothing\u2019s working or functioning going forward or defending. But the biggest thing that stands out for me that Liverpool have lost is the press,\u201d Reds great Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports in March.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd pressing, for Liverpool, was not just a Jurgen Klopp thing; he took it to a completely different level than what we\u2019ve seen Liverpool teams do in the past, there\u2019s no doubt about that, but the whole point of people saying it\u2019s tough going to Anfield is not because Liverpool are always amazing on the ball or have got the best players in the world, it\u2019s because it\u2019s a tight pitch, the crowd are on top of you and Liverpool get after you.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is something that is sorely lacking. For me, that is the biggest problem with Liverpool right now.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been asking myself all season: is this down to the manager or is it the profile of the player?<\/p>\n \u201cI think Liverpool\u2019s hierarchy will be sat there thinking \u2018We won the league last season, and when we recruited, we think we recruited better players than we had before\u2019. You could argue that, talent-wise, but Liverpool are not a team – they are a team of individuals.<\/p>\n \u201cQuality players, yes, but they\u2019ve just been dropped in. There\u2019s no cohesion. That\u2019s what they\u2019ve lost, and that is the most important thing for Liverpool.<\/p>\n \u201cI never think of Liverpool as this fancy team with superstar players; it\u2019s always been about top players, but being a team.\u201d<\/p>\n Many supporters have pointed the finger at Slot, but multiple reports have stated that the Dutchman will keep his job.<\/p>\n Liverpool lost 20 games across all competitions this season – their worst tally this century.<\/p>\n Slot is reportedly going to be aided by the acquisition of Etienne Reijnen, who was his assistant at Feyenoord and is allegedly a set piece specialist.<\/p>\n Ballon d\u2019Or winner and Liverpool great Michael Owen is \u201ca little bit torn\u201d on Slot\u2019s future, however, and many Reds people feel the same way.<\/p>\n \u201cTo win the league in your first year, that should buy you a lot of points. But this year has been pretty poor,\u201d Owen told The Mirror.<\/p>\n \u201cI do feel sorry for him in a way that there have been injuries, and not all signings will be the manager\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think the style of play is what is irking the Liverpool fans. They are used to being entertained in the last decade, they are used to high-energy… a lot of people use the word and even Mo Salah said it in his statement the other day, heavy metal type of football.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they are seeing more of a slow, boring… they are not on the edge of their seats at Anfield this season and it\u2019s been pretty depressing. I would be, after winning the league, qualifying for the Champions League, hesitant to pull the trigger just yet.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, I understand people that say if things don\u2019t change after 10 or 15 games next year, then the season is virtually written off and you have wasted another year. I do get that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut who is out there? I\u2019m not sure. I would probably continue with him. Probably. But I would be easily swayed if things started badly next year.<\/p>\n \u201cThen the problem is obviously all the good managers are snapped up at the start of the year, so then you are potentially looking at leftovers during the season, and that\u2019s not a position that Liverpool want to be in.<\/p>\n \u201cCome November or something, if they are making a change, it\u2019s like, where do you go then?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost like you\u2019d write a year off and that\u2019s the bit that\u2019s niggling at the back of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n ARSENAL: HOW GUNNERS PREDICTED DROUGHT-BREAKING TITLE<\/b><\/p>\n Mikel Arteta\u2019s side copped a lot of flack this season for their style of play.<\/p>\n \u2018Set Piece FC\u2019 was the moniker routinely thrown away as a result of their strength from corners and free kicks.<\/p>\n Others were a lot harsher in their criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cEarlier this year, Paul Scholes said they would be the \u201cworst Premier League title winners ever\u201d. The notion that Arsenal do not have a clear enough \u2018Premier League Player of the Season\u2019 winner has been used as a stick to bash the Gunners with,\u201d Sky Sports\u2019 Sam Blitz wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt follows criticism throughout the season about their style – the comments made by Fabian Hurzeler about Arsenal\u2019s time-wasting in March appearing to be the height of those complaints. Arteta sarcastically responded: \u201cWhat a surprise\u201d – a sign he was getting fed up of the criticism of his team.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in the days since their title win was confirmed, there have been plenty of comments on social media about how \u2018VARsenal\u2019 won the title due to fortunate refereeing decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt included Liverpool head coach Arne Slot having a thinly-veiled dig at Arteta\u2019s Arsenal this week. \u201cCongratulations to them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for me they have been a different champion to the last 10 seasons. It is the first time in 30 years that 40 per cent of goals had come from set pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite how it looks on the pitch, how it came to be off it was a stroke of genius.<\/p>\n Mocked for three straight runner-up finishes before this breakthrough title triumph, Arsenal carefully plotted that now would be the time to strike.<\/p>\n \u201cYears before Arsenal would become champions again, the club\u2019s decision-makers identified what they believed could be a rare opportunity in the Premier League\u2019s competitive cycle,\u201d The Athletic\u2019s<\/a> James McNicholas wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cAfter a rigorous analysis of rival squads, contract lengths, age profiles and managerial timelines, they projected a \u201cwin window\u201d between 2023 and 2027 \u2014 a period in which Manchester City and Liverpool, winners of the past eight titles between them, might finally loosen the grip on the division.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything Arsenal subsequently did was built around that calculation.\u201d<\/p>\n They promoted players from their academy like Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly as well as targeting other youngsters like Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe.<\/p>\n The Gunners then complimented their young crop with targeted acquisitions of the likes of Jurrien Timber, David Raya and club-record signing Declan Rice.<\/p>\n They also stressed the need for managerial stability in the form of Arteta when others may experience change.<\/p>\n \u201cArsenal anticipated potential managerial changes at rival clubs, foreseeing the departure of Jurgen Klopp from Liverpool, among others,\u201d McNicholas added. <\/p>\n \u201cThey projected the age curves for players such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool and Manchester City\u2019s Kevin De Bruyne. It wasn\u2019t a perfectly accurate prediction, but it provided the hierarchy with a framework. Player recruitment was then aligned to these forecasts, enabling Arsenal to assemble a squad designed to peak just as their rivals started to fade.<\/p>\n \u201cNaturally, tweaks and adjustments have been required. There were near misses. Those three consecutive second-place finishes between 2023 and 2025 suggested they were close, but needed more. With Arsenal\u2019s projected opportunity narrowing, the appointment of Andrea Berta as sporting director last March brought about a more aggressive final push in the transfer market.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, Arsenal delivered on the plan they had set in motion years earlier. This title was not simply won on the pitch. It was engineered.\u201d<\/p>\n Those calculations also were not about this title being a one-off either.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hope this could be the start of something for Arsenal,\u201d former Gunners striker Ian Wright told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n \u201cPep [Guardiola is going and Chelsea have to do what they need to do. What\u2019s happening with Liverpool? We\u2019re not sure.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a time when you look at Arsenal\u2019s team, the average age is 24 to 28 and players will want to come to Arsenal now.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s now up to Arteta and Berta who they want to bring in to continue this.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a window for Arsenal before everyone else catches up.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I\u2019m hoping we can take advantage of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp shared the same view on the final day of the season at Selhurst Park.<\/p>\n \u201cThe dangerous thing for everyone else in the Premier League now right now is Arsenal could be strong for the next few years,\u201d the former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have good young players coming through. they have Max Dowman coming through in the next few years.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are going to go again.<\/p>\n \u201cLondon is a great proposition for players. Arsenal are the Premier league title winners.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone that wants to be serious about their football will be looking at joining Arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n MAN UTD: GIANT FINALLY AWOKEN?<\/b><\/p>\n Arsenal\u2019s ascension to becoming champions and the re-emergence of Manchester United means one of the Premier League\u2019s fiercest rivals may reach its heights of the early 2000s once again.<\/p>\n United have appointed Michael Carrick on a permanent basis after the former skipper lifted them from seventh when Ruben Amorim was sacked to third.<\/p>\n Carrick\u2019s ability to deliver Champions League football in a season where the Red Devils were absent from Europe has not been understated.<\/p>\n But after years of chaos, essentially ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Carrick brought calm back to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n That achievement is perhaps his finest from his interim spell which began in January with wins against Arsenal and Manchester City.<\/p>\n