Welcome back to The Alternative Premier League Table, a new series you can enjoy on The Athletic every Thursday during the season. We all know how compelling it is to stare at standings. Whether your team is in the middle of a winning run or mired in terrible form, five minutes looking at the table can convince you…
One team has installed three rows of new seats, another has a new corner-taker and one side began the 2025-26 campaign by deliberately smashing the ball out of play. Yes, the Premier League is back and on the opening weekend we asked our reporters in addition to covering the games and the new signings to…
One swallow allegedly does not make a summer. One football match does not make club owners rush out and spend millions of pounds on new players… or does it? You may think the people who run the team you support are professional, sensible and rational. They don’t read social media, they don’t run a business…
Shirt numbers — they shouldn’t matter that much, but they do. From new signings taking iconic numbers to youngsters being given their first jersey for the senior team, there are always notable changes before a new season. Here, The Athletic’s Premier League writers analyse how shirt numbers have changed at your club, and their significance….
Benjamin Lecomte is undoubtedly a fine goalkeeper. The 34-year-old Ligue 1 stalwart of Lorient, Monaco and Montpellier fame arrives in the Premier League with a wealth of experience and with the promise of doing a fine job warming Fulham’s bench for most of the season. However, with the greatest of respect due to Lecomte, for…
A new transfer strategy? ©IMAGO The Premier League has undoubtedly built a long-standing reputation for being the richest league in European football. So far this summer, the English top-flight has far outspent its continental rivals by paying no less than €2.1 billion on new players to date. That, remarkably, is more than what Serie A,…
If you thought there has been an increase in Premier League-to-Premier League transfers, you could be forgiven. This summer, there have been numerous Premier League players who have moved clubs within England’s top flight, but the sense that intra-Premier League transfers are increasing is only a fallacy. At the time of writing, these moves have…
The summer can be a strange time for football fans. Showing my age here but, except in a major tournament year, summers used to be largely football-free from late May until the second half of August. You would pick up a newspaper in the UK and struggle to find much football coverage as sports such…
The first videos and photos have dropped on social media. Bleep tests are being sweatily run. Pre-season has begun at most clubs across the Premier League. But the group of players taking part in testing on day one of pre-season at each of the division’s 20 teams are not always the same ones that pull…
Last year, Chelsea entered into a hefty deal with two days of their 2023-24 accounting period remaining. For £200million ($274m), Chelsea FC Holdings, the company which houses the club’s operations, sold Chelsea Football Club Women Limited (CFCW) to Blueco 22 Midco Limited, a fellow subsidiary of Blueco 22 Limited, the club’s parent company. In doing…