Arsenal’s 22-year wait for the Premier League title came to an end last season, sparking wild scenes of celebration in north London.

As thousands fans spilt out into the streets for the title parade, it was a reminder of the link between the club and its fans.

And for former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour, these scenes could provide Mikel Arteta’s squad with the perfect motivation to go again.

Ray Parlour on Arsenal’s motivation to run it back

“They said something like half a million people turned up to the parade,” Parlour tells FourFourTwo. “Which was amazing and just shows you how much that Premier League win meant to everyone.”

The Gunners ended their pre-season preparations with a convincing win over Manchester City in the Community Shield, with Arteta’s men the bookies’ favourites to be celebrating another title success next May.

If any extra motivation was needed, Parlour believes the current squad can utilise memories of the fans’ title celebrations.

“If you ask any of those players who were there, hearing those fans cheering their names, it’s the sort of thing you want to do again,” he continues.

“You’ll be looking around at your team-mates, saying ‘Lads, come on, who enjoyed that?’ I'm sure they all did and they will want to do it again.”

Parlour adds that this buzz will have stayed with the squad all summer and if utilised correctly, can be key in ensuring Arteta’s players maintain their hunger and help them deal with the very different pressure that defending a title brings with it.

“You get back to pre-season on a high,” he adds.

“People talk about money but, ask most players and they’ll tell you, football is all about getting as many medals as you can while you’re still playing.”

If Arsenal can maintain this mentality, then Parlour will be hoping he can join in those celebrations again, come the end of the season.

The post-Pep Guardiola era is underway at Manchester City, after the Spaniard ended his ten-year trophy-laden spell at the Etihad this summer.

As Enzo Maresca gets to work in taking the club into a new phase, former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart believes one of the first challenges will be to restore the fear factor at the club - something that was slipping under even Guardiola over the past two seasons.

For Hart, this crucial area is separate from tactics and personnel, with City once possessing an aura that immediately put opponents on the back foot. Getting it back, however, will not be easy.

Hart on City’s need to restore the fear factor

“They lost that one-goal lead they had when they lined up at the start of games,” Hart tells FourFourTwo, explaining how opponents felt like they were a goal down even before kick-off.

“There was a point in Pep’s reign that they got 100 points, when they were absolutely phenomenal.”

This sense of inevitability was once one of the defining features of Guardiola’s reign, but with the club’s last title coming in 2024, that psychological edge has faded.

“People aren’t as afraid of them any more, but you earn that over time,” Hart continues. “Hard work, grinding it out, being willing to go through tough moments. You’ve got to earn the right.”

As Hart looks back at last season, he does see reasons for encouragement in the upcoming campaign, not least as the club look to prepare for another key exit in Rodri.

“They didn’t struggle as much when Rodri couldn’t play,” Hart continues.

“And I liked the signings – Gianluigi Donnarumma, Antoine Semenyo, Marc Guehi, and Rayan Cherki was a breath of fresh air.”

The former City No.1 was also impressed by what he saw from the club’s current custodian.

“Ederson was an incredible keeper for Manchester City, but the biggest compliment I can pay to Donnarumma was that he very much made the shirt his own.

“Defenders trusted his angles – they didn’t let players inside, but the full-backs were quite comfortable letting people have shots from an angle.”

Watch Brentford vs Tottenham as the Premier League throws up an all-London affair on the opening day of the 2026/27 season, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Brentford surprised so many under Keith Andrews last season and went agonisingly close to securing a place in Europe in 2025/26.

Down the road at Tottenham, Roberto De Zerbi has been handed a healthy transfer kitty to reinvent Spurs and will look to banish memories of two back-to-back 17th-placed finishes for the Lilywhites.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch the opening game of the 2026/27 Premier League season online and from anywhere, as Brentford take on Tottenham Hotspur.

Watch Brentford vs Tottenham from anywhere

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How to watch Brentford vs Tottenham in the UK

Fans in the UK can watch Brentford vs Tottenham on Sky Sports.

Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League will have live coverage of this game, with kick-off at 5:30pm BST.

Outside the UK? Watch Brentford vs Tottenham on Sky Sports via NordVPN.

How to watch Brentford vs Tottenham in the US

As mentioned above, Peacock and NBC is showing Brentford vs Tottenham in the US. Kick-off is at 12:30pm ET.

Peacock is NBC's streaming platform, which not only hosts a live stream of the NBC games but also exclusively shows a number of other Premier League matches each week.

Not in the US right now? Use NordVPN to watch Brentford vs Tottenham on Peacock.

How to watch Brentford vs Tottenham in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Brentford vs Tottenham on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 2:30am AEST on Sunday.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch the Premier League on Stan Sport.

Tickets

Brentford vs Spurs: Preview

It's been a summer of stabilisation for Brentford, who have made some solid additions to a squad that finished just outside the European spots last term.

Arriving at the G-Tech for Keith Andrews have been the likes of Jannik Schuster, Jaidon Anthony and Callum Wilson. Perhaps the most exciting addition, though, is Mamadou Sangare, whom they have splashed out £41 million to sign from Lens.

Spurs represent a difficult start to the season with all their new signings, but hopes will be high playing at home, somewhere they lost just three times all of last season.

Expect Sangare to fill the void left by Jordan Henderson while Igor Thiago will once again lead the line looking to build on his 22 goals from 2025/26.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

Tottenham fans have seen a real mixed bag over the last two years, winning the Europa League, two 17th place finishes, managers galore, as another new era beckons with Roberto De Zerbi.

It's been spend and spend in North London to try and pull Spurs out of their slump, with Sandro Tonali, Marcos Senesi, Matheus Fernandes, Van Hecke and Andy Robertson all through the door.

The latest talk is that Manchester City duo Savinho and Omar Marmoush are now being lined up in a joint deal, which could take Tottenham's spending over the £300m mark before the end of the window.

With no European football to worry about, most predictions see Spurs in the top six but we will hold our breathe on that one, for now.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Brentford 1-1 Tottenham

We expect a tough game in West London, with both teams sharing a point.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

After romping to the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first campaign during the 2024/25 season, a £446million summer spending spree had Liverpool fans believing they were well placed to run it back.

Fast forward to the end of the season, and the Reds’ woeful title defence saw them finish in fifth place, 25 points adrift of champions Arsenal, as Slot paid the price by losing his job.

Former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola is the new man in charge and he will be hoping that after a season of settling in, the club’s 2025 recruits will make a bigger impact this season.

Owen on Liverpool’s 2025 signings

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen believes that last summer’s new faces can make an impact.

“I’m still excited by those signings,” Owen tells FourFourTwo. “Although they appear to have been disappointing, it’s hard to analyse whether that’s been because of quality, tactics or injuries.”

Liverpool broke the £100million mark twice last summer in their purchases of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, while Hugo Ekitike was a £69million signing and Owen is confident that trio can all prove their quality in a Liverpool shirt.

“I was thrilled when they bought Florian Wirtz, and I was thrilled when they bought Alexander Isak,” he continues. “I didn’t know much about Hugo Ekitike, but he turned out to be probably the best of the three last season.

“Isak missed his pre-season, struggled a bit when he came in – when he was then starting to show a bit, and actually scored a goal or two, he got injured.

“Then Ekitike got a horrific Achilles injury, an absolute nightmare, and I can’t imagine he’s going to be back too long before Christmas. But no-one can say Wirtz is not a great player, or Isak, or Ekitike.


Liverpool’s 2025 defensive recruits arrived on somewhat more modest fees and Owen still believes there are questions to be asked of the likes of Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong.

“I must admit, I thought Milos Kerkez was a very good signing,” he continues. “But now I’m not thinking that, and I don’t know what Jeremie Frimpong is.

“He’s not really a right-back, but he’s good to have in the squad – you can play him as a right-sided attacker, or you can probably get away with him playing at right-back against a lesser team.


“He also picked up a lot of injuries, but in many ways, the positives now are the negatives from last term – the amount of injuries we sustained, and the fact that many of those players will hopefully be available again now. That will be a big boost to the manager. There are still some seriously talented footballers in the squad. It’s just a question of getting them all playing well together.”

As Michael Carrick completes his first pre-season as the permanent Manchester United manager, he will look to build on a promising five-month audition for the job last season.

The former Red Devils midfielder took charge as the club’s interim boss in January following the sacking of Ruben Amorim and would lead his side to a third-place finish, a stark improvement on the previous campaign, when they stumbled to a 15th-place finish, their worst return of the Premier League era.

One attribute that Carrick brought back to Old Trafford since taking over was resilience, with former Red Devils defender Gary Pallister believing that this was a result of Carrick’s set-up in terms of both tactics and personnel.

Gary Pallister on what Carrick got right last season

“He changed the system,” Pallister tells FourFourTwo. “There was a lot of talk about that under Amorim, a lot of negatives towards the five at the back.

“I think sometimes that was maybe a bit of an excuse – whether it’s a five or a four, players should be able to adapt, but Michael brought resilience and freedom into the team.”

This freedom was helped by Carrick ending Amorim’s habit of putting square pegs in round holes.

“He played people in the right position,” Pallister continues. “Luke Shaw was back at left-back, and he gave Bruno Fernandes freedom – at times before he was stuck deeper in midfield, which I don’t think suited him when he’s the most gifted player in the league.

“He just gave people belief.”

Amorim was sacked in January following the club’s 1-1 draw against Leeds United at Elland Road, ending the Portuguese’s turbulent 14-month spell in charge. In Carrick, Pallister believes they have a manager who ‘gets’ the club in a way the now-AC Milan boss never did.

“I don’t know how bad things got under Amorim, but Michael understands what Manchester United is all about,” Pallister continues.

“He grasped that nettle as a player, then he went back in last season and just ignited a spark.

“He made the team more difficult to beat, and the players seemed to be playing for him. Were we always playing unbelievable football?

“I wouldn’t say we were – it wasn’t always sumptuous, fantastic, breathtaking football, but there was more of a mental toughness about the team. He’s got a great chance to build on things this season.”

Watch Everton vs Crystal Palace as Eagles manager Pierre Sage takes charge of his first Premier League game on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 season, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

The former Lille boss replaced Oliver Glasner this summer and is tasked with building on the Austrian's glittering two-year spell in South London, in which the club won the FA Cup, the Conference League and the Community Shield.

In the opposite dugout is a figure who has managed in 754 Premier League matches and counting. Everton boss David Moyes starts another season in the Toffees dugout aiming to improve on a 13th-place finish last term.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Everton vs Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premier League season.

Watch Everton vs Crystal Palace for FREE

Everton vs Crystal Palace isn't technically available to watch for free, but there is a way that viewers in the US can stream the game at no cost.

Live coverage in the States is on USA Network, which is available on YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV - all of which have free-trial options of varying lengths for new customers.

Outside the US? Use a VPN to access your free Everton vs Crystal Palace stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Everton vs Crystal Palace from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Everton vs Crystal Palace.

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Is Everton vs Crystal Palace on TV in the UK?

Everton vs Crystal Palace is not being televised in the UK due to the '3pm 'blackout'' which stops games being shown live.

Those outside of the UK can still watch their live streams if they're visiting Blighty thanks to NordVPN — more on that below.

How to watch Everton vs Crystal Palace in the US

As mentioned above, USA Network is showing Everton vs Crystal Palace in the US. Kick-off is at 10:00am ET.

Fans in the States can access USA Network on OTT streaming platforms including YouTube TV (10-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial), Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial) and Sling Blue.

Not in the US right now? Use NordVPN to watch Everton vs Crystal Palace on USA Network.

How to watch Everton vs Crystal Palace in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Everton vs Crystal Palace on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 12:00am AEST (midnight) on Sunday morning.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch Everton vs Crystal Palace on Stan Sport.

Tickets

Everton vs Crystal Palace: Preview

Everton begin their second season in the £750m Hill Dickinson Stadium looking to build on a 2025/26 campaign that was at times exciting but ultimately ended in frustration.

Having been in the running for a Champions League spot as late as March, the Toffees failed to win any of their last seven games and missed out on European qualification, limping to a fifth successive bottom-half finish.

Since then, the Toffees have made some intriguing signings, including Freiburg attacking midfielder Merlin Rohl, Premier League title-winner Christian Norgaard from Arsenal, and Hayden Hackney, last season's Championship player of the season with Middlesbrough. Winger Brennan Johnson could also face his former club after joining from Palace just last week.

They join a squad that features the likes of England No.1 Jordan Pickford, promising defender Jarrad Branthwaite, classy midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and skilful forward Iliman Ndiaye, so Moyes certainly has enough in his ranks to start the new campaign with a win.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

The Everton boss faces a manager who is considerably greener when it comes to English football, as Pierre Sage takes charge of Crystal Palace for the first time in a competitive game.

The 47-year-old was hired to replace Oliver Glasner after an excellent season in the French top flight with Lens, who he led to second place in Ligue 1 and the club's maiden Coupe de France title.

The Eagles' summer signings include Dwight McNeil - who left Everton in the same deal that saw Johnson go the other way - as well as Real Salt Lake forward Zavier Gozo and winger Anan Khalaili from Union Saint-Gilloise, while they sold centre-back Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea.

Concerns have been raised in some quarters about whether Palace could start to slide in the post-Glasner era - a win today would go a long way to easing those fears.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace

Sage may need Thyme to get a tune out of his Palace players, so Everton should be confident of taking all three points at home.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United as the hosts begin a new era under Oliver Glasner on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Glasner takes charge of his first competitive game since being appointed by Forest last month, having left Crystal Palace at the end of last season following a hugely successful two-year spell.

Daniel Farke's Leeds will be aiming to make it an opening day to forget for the Austrian, as they look to pick up where they left off after cruising to safety at the end of last term.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premier League season.

Is Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United on TV in the UK?

Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United is not being televised in the UK. The game is being played on Saturday at 3pm, a time when football matches cannot legally be broadcast in the UK. This is known as the '3pm blackout'.

Outside the UK the game is virtually available in every country across the globe. If you're visiting the UK, you can use NordVPN to access your usual coverage.

Watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United.

The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United in the US

Fans in the US can watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United on Peacock. Kick-off is at 10:00am ET.

Peacock is NBC's streaming platform, which not only hosts a live stream of the NBC games but also exclusively shows a number of other Premier League matches each week.

Not in the US right now? Use NordVPN to watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United on Peacock.

How to watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 12:00am AEST (midnight) on Sunday morning.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United on Stan Sport.

Tickets

Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United: Preview

You never know what to expect from Nottingham Forest under the ownership of Evangelos Marinakis, so it is hard to predict how the Oliver Glasner era will begin in this Premier League opener against Leeds United.

The former Crystal Palace boss enjoyed great success at Selhurst Park but joins a club who flirted with relegation last season and sold key midfielder Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for £116m this summer.

Forest spent £34.5m on Ivory Coast centre-back Ousmane Diomande in their headline signing of the window, but arguably even more important is holding onto playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White, who scored 15 Premier League goals in 2025/26.

The 26-year-old was surprisingly left out of England's World Cup squad so don't be amazed if he seems keen to prove a point on the first day of the new season.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

Leeds fans may well head to the City Ground quietly confident, having made some promising signings as they look to build on last season's 14th-place finish.

England goalkeeper James Trafford has arrived from Manchester City for £40m, while they have signed Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic for £34m. The Whites also appear to have landed a couple of bargains, in Borussia Monchengladbach defender Nico Elvedi for just £8.5m and talented playmaker Harry Wilson on a free transfer from Fulham.

All four players could make their competitive debuts against Forest, although left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson and winger Willy Gnonto are both sidelined through injury.

Backed as always by a vociferous away following, Leeds will believe they can lay down a marker and do something they managed just twice last season: win a league game on the road.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Leeds United

The Whites look well-placed to take at least a point here, and don't be surprised if they grab all three.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland as the newly-promoted Tractor Boys welcome the Black Cats in their first game back in the Premier League, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

The hosts secured an instant return to the top flight last season, following relegation in 2024/25, but the man who got them there is no longer at the helm after Kieran McKenna stepped down in June.

Gary O'Neil has replaced the Northern Irishman and his first competitive game is against Sunderland, whose seventh-place finish last term made them the surprise package of 2025/26.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premier League season.

Is Ipswich Town vs Sunderland on TV in the UK?

Ipswich Town vs Sunderland is not being televised in the UK. The game is being played on Saturday at 3pm, a time when football matches cannot legally be broadcast in the UK. This is known as the '3pm blackout'.

The irony is you can watch the game in pretty much every country other than the one in which it's being played. If you're visiting the UK, you can use NordVPN to access your usual coverage.

Watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Ipswich Town vs Sunderland.

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How to watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland in the US

Fans in the US can watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland on Peacock. Kick-off is at 10:00am ET.

Not in the US right now? Use NordVPN to watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland on Peacock.

How to watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Ipswich Town vs Sunderland on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 12:00am AEST (midnight) on Sunday morning.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch Ipswich Town vs Sunderland on Stan Sport.

Tickets

Ipswich Town vs Sunderland: Preview

Ipswich Town return to the Premier League determined to stay longer than their previous visit, when they were relegated after one season without putting up much of a fight.

That underwhelming 2024/25 campaign was followed by promotion from the Championship as runners-up last term, before the bombshell news this summer that Kieran McKenna - who led the Tractor Boys from mid-table in League One to the top division - was stepping down as manager.

Gary O'Neil is the man tasked with filling the Northern Irishman's sizeable shoes, but if the former Bournemouth and Wolves boss can successfully navigate a third survival mission, he will have achieved something his predecessor couldn't.

Ipswich appear to be taking inspiration from their first opponents of the season, with their £150m splurge in the transfer window putting them on track to beat Sunderland's record £161m summer spend for a promoted club 12 months ago. If new recruits like Julio Enciso, Emersonn and Abdul Fatawu can fire them to victory over the Black Cats, it will already look like money well spent.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

Sunderland arrive at Portman Road knowing that last season's seventh-place finish will be tough to replicate, especially as they juggle domestic and European football for the first time in 53 years.

Regis Le Bris has done an unbelievable job since arriving in summer 2024, but the Frenchman could be a victim of his own success if the Black Cats start the campaign poorly.

The Sunderland manager says the club's transfer policy this summer has been quality over quantity, with experienced Belgium full-back Thomas Meunier the only notable arrival on a free transfer from Lille, so the team that lines up against Ipswich is likely to be very similar to the one that ended 2025/26.

There is always a fear of second-season syndrome when a promoted team does so well immediately after coming up from the Championship, so a win on the opening day would go a long way to allaying those concerns.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Ipswich Town 1-1 Sunderland

The Tractor Boys will target this fixture as one in which they can pick up points - and they may well be right.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

“It never happens for people like us, you know.”

So reads the third line of We'll Live And Die In These Towns, by The Enemy. The Coventry band's 2007 single has been the unofficial anthem of the city's football club for several years now.

After 25 years outside of the top flight, Coventry City fans could be forgiven for self-indulgently attributing that one particular line to their plight of recent decades. This season, those fans will sing it to a worldwide Premier League audience for the first time.

Coventry romped to the Championship crown with 95 points and deservedly earned their spot in the top tier once more, under the management of Frank Lampard. Following spells with Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton, blue was the colour for him yet again.

The Sky Blues finished 11 points clear of runners-up Ipswich, scoring 97 goals. They spent 40 of the 46 game weeks in the automatic promotion places and, save for a mid-season wobble, the overwhelming majority of that was in top spot. Keeping the rest of the division at arm's length, without the benefit of parachute payments, is no idle task.

It has been an arduous journey. The club today is unrecognisable from the one that succumbed to relegation from the Premier League in 2001. Back then, they played at Highfield Road and had spent 34 consecutive seasons in the top flight – one of the longest-serving sides at that time, in fact, behind only Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool.

Even the current iteration of Coventry City is much changed from the one that was playing League One football as recently as 2020. It's a team that has evolved, shed its skin, morphed into something else entirely and finally rid itself of the financial deadweight that had, at one stage, dragged them down to the fourth tier.

In recent years, the trajectory has been upward, but plotting a way back from League Two is rare – nigh-on impossible, in fact. They've managed it in eight years, though there have been a handful of false dawns along the way.

The club came agonisingly close to a Premier League return in 2023, only to be defeated on penalties by Luton in the play-off final. In 2025, the decisive blow to their redemption hopes came in the last minute of extra time in their semi-final second leg at Sunderland. In between those campaigns, Coventry came within a hair's breadth of making an FA Cup final appearance, too, but for a tight VAR call denying them when they had seemingly battled back from 3-0 down to lead Manchester United 4-3.

Considering that the club had also spent the latter part of their previous top-flight existence circling the drain year after year, it hasn't been easy being a Coventry fan.

“There are signs up – even on the road signs – saying, ‘We're back',” Gordon Strachan tells FourFourTwo – the last man to manage Coventry in the Premier League was in the city this summer, and saw what the club's return to the big time meant to everyone. He continues: “The community, football-wise, took a battering for 25 years. It's a different world now in Coventry.”

He's not wrong. The Scot understands better than most what plights the club has been through over the past quarter of a century. He also knows what it went through before that. Strachan joined the club under his former Manchester United gaffer, Ron Atkinson, in 1995, and then became player-manager a year later. He hung up his boots in 1997 but stayed in charge for another four years, until four months after Coventry's relegation from the top division.

Strachan's family are still among the club's season ticket holders. While football ended up taking him elsewhere, it's a place that he returns to often.

“The eyes of the world are now on Coventry, which is great, and they're actually talking about the football,” he says. “For 20 years, it was, ‘Who owns the stadium? Who's got the shares in it? Where are we playing? Are we at Northampton or Birmingham? Who is the owner?'”

There were times when fans genuinely pondered whether the slide would ever end. Disputes over rent, administration, points deductions, Sisu, League Two, Mike Ashley, Frasers Group, Sixfields, St Andrew's… finally, though, the Premier League beckons.

"Up there with Jimmy Hill"

We'll Live And Die In These Towns is a song about the realities of post-industrial Britain, urban unemployment, and getting by despite the weight of it all.

Coventry was a hub for the automotive industry and the base of many leading car manufacturers before the turn of the 21st century. Such was the city's industrial might, it was even targeted in a Luftwaffe bombing raid during the Second World War. No longer is it an industrial powerhouse, but there are reminders of its past.

‘Getting by' is what Coventry City have done for much of the last 25 years. While the club's previous owners sustained a loss-making enterprise, supporters did their best to keep the spirit of a well-supported side alive.

“It's been painful for these people, absolutely painful,” Strachan tells us. “But the younger ones, who are 12, 13 – that's the catchment area. Coventry have captured another group of kids now, which they couldn't do for years. “The three main people in this have been Mark Robins, Doug King and Frank Lampard. Frank's had to take them over the line, but between the three of them, that's some group. I think Mark Robins is up there with Jimmy Hill, Noel Cantwell and people like that for the club.” It was Hill who managed Coventry to their last top-flight promotion, in 1967. Cantwell succeeded him and, three years later, led the club to sixth in the First Division – their highest ever finish.

To tell the story of Coventry's return to the top without reverence for Robins would do the experienced manager a great disservice. While Lampard will lead the team in the Premier League, he may never have taken the reins if not for Robins' promotion successes.

The former Manchester United striker brought Coventry back from the brink. He arrived at the club for a second spell as manager in March 2017, when they sat 10 points adrift of safety in League One and doomed for the fourth tier.

Yet they spent only one season in the basement division. Robins' charges confirmed their play-off place with a 0-0 draw at home to Morecambe on the last day of the 2017-18 campaign, then defeated Notts County and Exeter to go up. Promoted alongside Coventry that season were Luton, who, five years later, would beat them at Wembley to reach the Premier League.

The Sky Blues lifted the League One title during 2019-20's Covid-affected campaign, despite being forced to play their home matches at St Andrew's in Birmingham. They were seven points clear of third place with 12 fixtures left to play, having lost just three matches, when the season was cut short and settled on points per game.

Robins almost led the club all the way back to the Premier League, but for that shootout defeat in 2023. When the decision was made 18 months later to replace him with a big-name, big-time Charlie, there was consternation among fans and pundits alike. Robins was EFL royalty. He'd had a transformative effect on a beleaguered club. Lampard, meanwhile, had flattered to deceive in his second Chelsea spell and scraped by with relegation-dodging Everton.

It was a bold call – but one that paid off, to the tune of hundreds of millions.

From Blackburn to Las Vegas

Shortly after Lampard's arrival, Coventry made the mid-season signing of Matt Grimes from Swansea City. At 31, he has made 485 appearances across the EFL's three divisions, but only four in the Premier League, all as a young player for the Swans more than a decade ago.

Given that 383 of the midfielder's EFL outings were in the Championship – and included three failed play-off campaigns – the term ‘glass ceiling' felt appropriate. Grimes freely admits that after two or three years with no concrete transfer interest, coupled with Swansea's hopes of promotion waning over the course of his 10 years with the club, the chance to play in the Premier League seemed to have passed him by.

“I'm getting older,” Grimes tells FFT. “I gave a lot of years to Swansea and I'm very thankful for what they gave me in return, but I felt it was the right time to have a crack somewhere else. And it's turned out as well as it could have done. I thought to myself, ‘If I don't go and Coventry get promoted, I'd be gutted'. But then I thought, on the flip side, ‘If I go to Coventry and Swansea get promoted, I'd be just as devastated'.

“I remember my agent saying, ‘Just have a chat with Frank Lampard.' I was very settled at Swansea – I was very happy. We were like, ‘Let's just have a conversation and see how it goes.' As a midfielder, I don't think there's anyone you would rather play for than one of the greatest English midfielders of all time, if not the greatest. That was huge. It was a massive compliment that he wanted to sign me.

“I'm not sure exactly how many seasons I've played in the Championship – seven or eight, I think – but I've had three play-off campaigns and eventually won the league. The painful moments make the good ones even sweeter.”

After last year's play-off semi-final defeat to Sunderland, the squad rallied, using their near-miss as motivation to start fast in 2025-26. “The message from the gaffer was, ‘We need to start quick,'” Grimes explains. “In my past experiences, when Swansea made it to the play-offs under Steve Cooper, I think we won five of the first six matches. Our form for the rest of the season wasn't great, but you're always just a couple of wins away from where you want to be – top two, top six.”

Coventry went a dozen league games unbeaten, and by the time their first defeat came at Wrexham at the end of October, they were top of the table with a goal difference of +25 – fully 16 goals better than anyone else. In their first dozen games, they'd won 4-0 away at Millwall, 5-0 at Sheffield Wednesday and 5-3 at Derby, while beating Birmingham 3-0 at home and dispatching QPR 7-1.

Forward Brandon Thomas-Asante tells FFT: “The QPR and Sheffield Wednesday matches were pivotal points when we sent out a message and made people respect us more, as well as beating Middlesbrough at home in February.

“Then when things weren't going so great, like in the winter when people were asking, ‘Is this when the wheels fall off?', we had the quiet confidence and humility to grind out a result or turn things around when the hype wasn't there. That was important. Over the past 18 months, we gained those minerals.”

Minerals were needed, as Coventry picked up only two wins from eight in mid-season. By the middle of February, the Sky Blues had also lost back-to-back games away at Norwich and QPR, then drawn 0-0 at home to struggling Oxford.

“If we're having a stinker and I come in screaming and shouting at half-time,” says Grimes, the club captain, “then the lads aren't going to take me seriously, because they know that's not the type of person I am. I think the days where you need to be the loudest, and scream and shout, are gone.”

His approach proved to be the correct one. Coventry picked themselves up, secured a vital 3-1 home triumph over Middlesbrough in their next game and regained top spot from them, as well as momentum. Having led the league for four months, they had been knocked off the summit for all of seven days.

“We dominated at the start, had a wobble, then recovered and won again,” Grimes says. “We won eight out of nine to cement our place at the top. Seasons like that don't happen often. Even now, I don't think it's fully sunk in.”

Coventry secured their long-awaited return to the Premier League with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn, courtesy of Bobby Thomas' 84th-minute header. They went up with three games to spare.

“It was funny after Bobby scored,” Grimes recalls. “That was probably one of the strangest feelings on the pitch. I was going to the gaffer, ‘Should we go and win it? Should we not? Do we want to go for the title tonight?' There were 7,000 fans there, something daft, which was a testament to them. It was more relief than anything at that point, because we knew it was going to happen. We were glad to get it done.

“The club have been down to League Two, had to groundshare and all of that, so I feel like an imposter talking about it because I haven't endured it the same way the fans have. But to give that back on that night, when we got the club promoted in front of 7,000 away fans, who travelled all the way to Blackburn on a Friday night, was very, very fitting.”

Coventry rounded off a title-winning campaign in style by putting 12 goals past Portsmouth, Wrexham and Watford over their final three league fixtures. Then the squad headed off to Las Vegas for a celebration. “

When teams come down from the Premier League, it's normal that all of the bookmakers have them to be in the top two or top six,” Grimes says. “So to win the league like we did, 11 points ahead of second – I don't think people will realise the magnitude of it until maybe a couple of years down the line.

“It was a season where most of what we touched turned to gold.”

Cosmic Frank?

Patently, Lampard knows how to win football matches. “You can't have too big a long-term plan at a club, because in football, the only thing that really matters is winning,” Strachan explains. “Frank's picked it up and added to it. It's nothing cosmic – it's good players, with a good understanding of what they're doing, doing what they're best at.”

The 69-year-old's view may be a simplified version of what it takes to manage a club, but it served him well for much of his Highfield Road tenure.

“Five years before relegation, we beat everyone – Liverpool away, Manchester United, Arsenal a couple of times, Chelsea three or four times, Aston Villa – so there were a lot of great moments,” he recalls with a smile. “I spent most of my life laughing. I had a great time.”

Lampard will likely say something similar when the time comes for him to hang up his, er, notepad – but that's a long way off for now. His uncle, Harry Redknapp, was a manager until the age of 70, which suggests that 48-year-old Lampard has at least two decades left.

“He has surprised me – I didn't see them going up at the start of the year,” Redknapp says. “I didn't see Coventry in it at all. I thought if they could finish sixth, maybe make the play-offs, it'd be a great season for him.

“He's got to make sure he goes into the Premier League prepared. Are they going to be good enough to stay up? That's the problem. We've seen it so many times: good young managers, who have done an excellent job and know the game quickly watch all their hard work unravel.” All right, Harry, let him enjoy it, will you?

“When results aren't going your way, you have people calling up the radio,” Redknapp continues. “Idiots who don't know what they're talking about come on and say, ‘Well, yeah, we're losing because he's a Championship manager.' What a load of rubbish.”

This year will be a test of Lampard and Coventry's mettle. Before Sunderland and Leeds' sterling efforts in 2025-26, all of the previous six freshly promoted sides had gone straight back down. Grim reality greets aspirational Championship clubs once they're in the promised land.

Redknapp thinks the Sky Blues need six quality players to stay afloat. Grimes is giving nothing away. “For any promoted team, the first goal is to stay up,” he says. “If you stay up, maybe then you can start to think about other things. We don't want to get carried away.”

Asked what stadium he's most looking forward to playing at, Grimes' answer is simple. “It's a cliche answer, but the big stadiums: Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United,” he admits, having grown up in a Liverpool-supporting family. One of those fixtures is first up. Coventry will go to reigning champions Arsenal in the 2026-27 Premier League's curtain-raiser on Friday, August 21.

After progressing from League Two to the top flight in just eight years, it will be quite the baptism of fire, before a first home game against fellow promotees Hull at the Coventry Building Society Arena a week later. The Premier League will require each to be agile, adaptable, cunning and clever. Do either have that in their locker? We'll soon find out. For 25 years, it didn't happen for teams like Coventry City. Finally, though, after a quarter of a century, it has happened. The Sky Blues are back – now, it's all about staying put.

Strachan was speaking to FFT as an ambassador for Coventry Building Society. Visit thecoventry.co.uk for info

Watch Hull City vs Manchester United as the newly-promoted Tigers host the Red Devils on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 season, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Sergej Jakirovic's play-off winners were the surprise package of the Championship last term and they are now aiming to produce a few more upsets in their first campaign back in the top flight since 2016/17.

They face a United side who enjoyed a brilliant second half of last season under Michael Carrick, which earned the former England midfielder the manager's job full-time.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Hull City vs Manchester United on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Premier League season.

Watch Hull City vs Manchester United for FREE

Hull City vs Manchester United is available to watch via free trials in the US. USA Network is available on YouTube TV (10-days), Hulu + Live TV (3-days) and DirecTV (5-days).

Outside the US? Use a VPN to access your free Hull City vs Manchester United stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Hull City vs Manchester United from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Hull City vs Manchester United.

The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Hull City vs Manchester United in the UK

Fans in the UK can watch Hull City vs Manchester United on TNT Sports.

Live coverage is on TNT Sports 1 and its streaming platform HBO Max, with kick-off at 12:30pm BST. Full coverage begins at 11:00am.

Outside the UK? Watch Hull City vs Manchester United on TNT Sports via NordVPN.

How to watch Hull City vs Manchester United in the US

As mentioned above, USA Network is showing Hull City vs Manchester United in the US. Kick-off is at 7:30am ET.

Not in the US right now? Use NordVPN to watch Hull City vs Manchester United on USA Network.

How to watch Hull City vs Manchester United in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Hull City vs Manchester United on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 9:30pm AEST.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch Hull City vs Manchester United on Stan Sport.

Tickets

Hull City vs Manchester United: Preview

For the second season in a row, Hull City find themselves among the favourites for relegation - but this time they are in the Premier League.

The Tigers were widely tipped to struggle in the Championship last term after securing survival on the final day of 2024/25, only for manager Sergej Jakirovic to work wonders in his first campaign in English football, despite an embargo that restricted them to free transfers and loans last summer.

A dramatic campaign culminated in Oli McBurnie's 95th-minute winner against Middlesbrough in the play-off final, which was a fitting end to a promotion charge built on 'moments', rather than dominant performances.

It means Hull are the pre-season favourites to finish bottom of the pile, but the likes of Joe Gelhardt - whose successful loan from Leeds United was turned into a £6.5m transfer this summer - are capable of producing more magic moments, which could make them dangerous. The MKM Stadium will be bouncing for the visit of Manchester United and the Tigers will be desperate to prove the doubters wrong again.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

United may not be the trophy-winning machine they were when Hull first entered the Premier League in 2008, but Red Devils fans head to East Yorkshire in optimistic mood ahead of the new campaign.

Their excellent form under Michael Carrick in the second half of last season sealed a return to the Champions League, while the club have refreshed their midfield over the summer, with Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans arriving and Brighton & Hove Albion's Carlos Baleba rumoured to be on his way to Old Trafford.

United will expect to claim two wins out of two to start the season, with next week's opening home game against another newly-promoted side, Ipswich Town, especially as mid-September brings the fixture congestion of the Champions League.

Carrick needs to get off to a strong start after taking the manager's job full-time, but if his side drop points against Hull, the pressure will already be on.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Hull City 1-2 Manchester United

Newly-promoted teams always have an extra spring in their step at the start of the season, so the Tigers could run United close.

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The one we've been waiting for.

It's back, and it's even better than ever before, with plenty of unknowns that will slowly but surely unravel themselves in due course – no, we're not talking about a brand-new Premier League season but No.67 of the FourFourTwo Weekend Crossword. No foolish hand-waving, please.

It's really quite simple but not exactly easy: we've compiled 23 clues all about football, and we just want you to solve our grid. Obviously, the more you solve, the more you learn for the next clue.

Love football crosswords? Here are some handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

Cracking the grid on the Weekend Crossword will keep you sharp for the new season, but once you’ve solved the cryptic clues, it’s time to shift gears from wordplay to pure tactical memory. Stepping out of the puzzle pages and into the wider historical archives, let's test footballing IQ from matchday tests to 90s nostalgia and ultimate international immortality – courtesy of Kwizly.

We’re launching straight into high-stakes quick-fire trivia and retro domestic history: let's travel back three decades to test your memory on the iconic 1996-97 Premier League season – then, if your scouting network excels at statistical longevity and deep domestic mapping, put your consistency knowledge to work by seeing if you can sort these players by Premier League appearances, tracking top-flight stalwarts who racked up hundreds of appearances over their careers.

Following that statistical workout, audit the modern professional pyramid by naming every club in the Football League right now, before taking a pilgrimage to international football's highest altar to name England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. Finally, test your overall match-fitness with Friday Football Quiz: episode 129, aiming for a flawless 20/20 score across a broad spectrum of the beautiful game before sharpening your focus for Pre-Match Poser no.40 to tackle a single, elite-level brainteaser designed to stump even the sharpest terrace scholars.

To keep your analytical edge razor-sharp all year round, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of hand-picked trivia and tactical analysis. To complete your transfer to terrace legend status, join The Club: our free membership hub that serves as your digital dugout, where you can unlock secret hints for our hardest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments section.

The big transfer news this week concerns Rodri’s move to Barcelona being confirmed. It was inevitable, and with only a year left in his contract at the age of 30, it was a good piece of business for Manchester City. But to lose a top-quality player like that when you want to be challenging for the Premier League, is a huge blow.

He gave everything to that football club - Man City won everything, and when he went there, not a lot of people knew about him, and now everyone knows about him. It's a fantastic signing for Barcelona.

Clinton was speaking courtesy of Free Bets, home of the best UK betting sites.

'Ayyoub Bouaddi is the type of player who could come in and help fill the void'

Ayyoub Bouaddi is the type of player who could come in and help fill the void. He’s only 18, but he dictated the play for Morocco at the World Cup and made things happen. I’m not saying that Bouaddi will be as good as Rodri, but if he can be half as good as him, then he’ll have a very successful career.

Moving to the other side of Manchester now, and there’s been a lot of talk about Bruno Fernandes’ future. He was the best player in the Premier League in that number 10 role last season. He'll have competition this year, because there's a good crop of number 10s — Martin Ødegaard started well, while Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer could both have good seasons.

But Bruno's unbelievable — Man United can't afford to lose him. You've got to give him whatever he wants at the moment. He leads by example, and a big reason as to why they returned to the Champions League was down to Bruno Fernandes. Winning both the Premier League and Football Writers’ Association awards shows how much of an impact he had on Man United.

And I don't think, by signing all these midfielders, that they've got one eye on losing Bruno Fernandes, because none of them are number 10 players. I think you need to bring in players so Bruno says, 'yeah, I want to stay and be part of it' — which he does anyway, because Man United is still a big football club.

He's had offers to leave in the past, and could have gone to Saudi Arabia for huge money, but turned it down because he wanted to stay at Man United and play in the best league in the world. At this moment in time, I could ever only see him leaving for somewhere like Real Madrid or Barcelona, because there isn’t anywhere else that’s bigger for Bruno than Man United.

One player who looks set to arrive at Old Trafford is Carlos Baleba. I think it's another good addition to Man United — they needed to strengthen in that midfield area. He’s shown his quality at Brighton & Hove Albion, and is at a really good age too.

Bringing in Baleba would be a good move, and he has been outstanding for Brighton. So for me, that would be a really good signing — and it's a player that they need as well.

He would add to their options alongside Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans, and Kobbie Mainoo, making it a crowded part of the squad. Trying to keep everyone happy might be a bit difficult, but you want competition for places at a club like Man United.

One of the other transfers which caught my eye was Zion Suzuki joining Aston Villa. Where does that leave Emiliano Martínez? Is he going to be ushered out? Because Juventus wanted him, but they’ve just gone and got Guglielmo Vicario from Tottenham.

I can’t see him being a number two, and he's the better of those two goalkeepers. Watch this space, because I think Suzuki has come in to be the number one. So it looks like maybe Martínez might be on his way — we’ll just have to wait and see.

There’s been lots of talk about the players moving between clubs this summer, but let’s not forget, there are nine new managers in the Premier League! Enzo Maresca’s Man City team will probably finish the highest of those teams, but I think Oliver Glasner will have the biggest impact with Nottingham Forest. I think he’s a top manager, and will have a bigger budget at Forest compared to what he had at Crystal Palace to bring in the players he wants.

Out of all those managers, Forest and Glasner will probably be the most successful. I think they'll have a good season, finish in that top eight, and maybe win a trophy this year.

Looking ahead to the weekend now, and it’s great that the Premier League is back. I’m looking forward to a mouth-watering game between Newcastle United and Liverpool. That has the potential to be a cracker, because I’d expect Newcastle to come out fighting after losing so many players, especially with Matthias Jaissle taking his first match in charge. It’ll be interesting to see how Liverpool play too and as I’m not working, I can just sit in front of the TV and enjoy it!

He's one of the world’s highest-rated attackers, a 26-year-old with almost 450 professional games to his name, 252 goal involvements, and nearly won the Ballon d’Or in 2024.

Add that to last year’s Premier League winners, who boast Europe’s best defence, one of England’s best midfielders, but whose only minor Achilles heel protrudes from their left flank.

Vinicius Jr to Arsenal was a match (expensively) made in heaven.

It’s exactly what the rightfully greedy football fan wants. You start spending money precisely when you’re at the top, to consolidate your position and leave your competitors with too much work to do to catch up.

Speaking on The Athletic podcast in July, renowned journalist Adam Crafton said: “I will say on Arsenal, I had a conversation maybe in May with someone who is incredibly well connected in European football, who said that talk of people he was speaking to is that Arsenal were ready to do some seriously disruptive business this summer, in terms of taking the team from where they were up to that next level.”

Seriously disruptive business.

It’s the sort of short phrase that widens the eyes of transfer junkies, and landing Vini Jr would be comfortably deserving of the label.

At this point in the life cycle of a transfer rumour, you head to your favourite stats site and see he’s scored over 20 goals in all competitions in his last five seasons, four of those after playing over 50 games. No injury concerns.

Then you glance through Mikel Arteta’s squad. Gabriel. Martinelli. Jesus. Bruno Guimaraes has just signed. This Brazilian's going to fit right in here.

You realise you’re getting giddy, so you go and check what the Spanish media are saying. He’s rejected two contract renewals at Madrid.

I’m building to a big crescendo here, but you already know what I think. You’ve read the headline. It wouldn’t have worked. It was too big.

This is where I’d like to launch into a technical explanation about why these mega deals don’t work, but the truth is, there is just something intangibly, inherently doomed about them.

Seriously, look down the list of the most expensive deals football has witnessed.

Neymar and Kylian Mbappe top the list, costing Paris Saint-Germain a combined £353,740,000. Yes, they scored a hatful of goals in the French capital, but we all know a Champions League trophy was the driving force behind that immense outlay.

Two did arrive – in the years following Mbappe's exit, with Neymar having departed a year prior.

Ousmane Dembele is next up, costing Barcelona £129.68m in a blockbuster move after a showstopping one season at Borussia Dortmund.

He departed in 2023, and an ESPN headline from that summer succinctly rounds up his time in Catalonia.

“Barcelona are better without Dembele’s unfulfilled potential”.

The premise was bang on at the time, but fast-forward two years later, the Frenchman would be taking centre stage at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, clutching a Ballon d’Or.

His move to PSG 24 months early had cost a much more sedate £43.5m.

Arsenal themselves know this sorry tale all too well, with Nicolas Pepe's ill-fated £72m back in 2019 never living up to the hype.

As a basement-dwelling writer, I’ll never quite understand how these galactic, earth-shattering deals weigh on the human at the centre of them, but it has to at least be a factor in such a high failure rate. Or maybe the mind-boggling sums of money involved just mean the product could never live up to expectations.

Either way, evidence points towards Vini Jr at increased risk of being next, had he rocked up in north London.

Yes, the Brazilian was heading into the last year of his contract at Madrid, but the transfer market is Los Blancos’ second sport. It feels as though, backed up by the contract offer they eventually put in front of Vini, they’d sooner have had him for an extra year and see him leave for nothing, rather than let him go for anything less than a significant sum this summer.

Real are not a selling club. Of that top 100 most expensive players list mentioned earlier, they feature as sellers just four times. Ronaldo to Juventus, Angel Di Maria and Casemiro to Manchester United, and Alvaro Morata to Chelsea. Some worked out well, but you’d say they got the better end of the bargain on the whole.

They don’t sell their best, and Vini Jr is one of them, so the King’s club would have demanded a king’s ransom.

With the ink now dry on the Brazilian’s new six-year contract at the Bernabeu, we’ll never know what the figures involved might have been.

However, just 18 months prior, reports in the Sun suggested that Real would only begin to consider offers near the player’s £830m release clause – a figure interested parties in Saudi Arabia were clearly pondering, given the same report revealed officials in the Middle East had thrown together a proposal that would see Vini earn £168m per year.

Arsenal, of course, would have been nowhere near these numbers – neither are Madrid – but it illustrates some of the bargaining power his agents have.

The Gunners, according to The Athletic, were willing to “break their wage structure” for the winger, with an offer they felt Madrid couldn’t match. A more realistic sum than that on the table in Saudi is the offer finally accepted by Vinicius. The figures have been kept private, but from the same report we know it’s more than the £18,813,300-per-year offer that was turned down last.

That means paying significantly more than £361,794 per week, after tax.

Baked in with the cost of the transfer fee itself, and any agent’s fees, what would Vini have had to produce to make that worthwhile? Would one Champions League have been enough? For it to scorch all wage structures and future negotiations that lay before it?

And that's not to mention the wider narratives – what would it have meant for the likes of Max Dowman's progression? What message would it send to the rest of the academy if a talent like that is blocked further each season in the market?

Vini Jr. to Arsenal was always doomed to fail, because almost nothing is worth what it would have cost in the long run.

Serie A is back for 2026/27 and there are plenty of fascinating storylines to watch out for. Can anyone topple Inter Milan after they streaked to the title last season? How will Ruben Amorim fare at AC Milan after his bruising tenure at Manchester United? And can Cesc Fabregas' Como maintain their top-four place after their incredible Champions League qualification? FourFourTwo has all the broadcast information you need to watch every game live.

The last team to retain the Serie A title was Juventus in 2020, but Inter appear well-placed to follow last season's triumph with another crown. Former Nerazzurri defender Cristian Chivu led the club to a domestic double in his first full campaign in charge and one of the chasing pack will need to produce a serious upturn after Inter's 11-point winning margin last term.

Plenty of managers will fancy tackling that challenge, though. Massimiliano Allegri joins Napoli with the aim of regaining the Scudetto for the 2024/25 winners and Amorim comes in at Milan after they failed to qualify for the Champions League. Elsewhere, Luciano Spalletti and Gian Piero Gasperini will be expected to have Juventus and Roma respectively competing in the top four, while it will be fascinating to see how Fabregas juggles Serie A with Europe at Champions League debutants Como.

In this guide, we'll show you how to watch Serie A live streams in the UK, US, and around the world - including for FREE - and how you can use a VPN to tune in while you're abroad.

• Read More: How to watch Carabao Cup 2026/27: TV Guide, Free Streams & Fixtures

How to watch Serie A from anywhere

Chances are you'll find yourself overseas when some Serie A games are taking place, but does that mean you have to miss the action? No, it doesn't... a VPN will ensure you get your coverage from anywhere.

Serie A live streams are geo-restricted on all streaming services, but a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a neat way around this, unpicking the geo-locks by altering your device's digital location. It's great for accessing your usual streaming services while on the move, and it does wonders for your internet security, too.

NordVPN is the best, so say our good friends across the office at TechRadar.

How to watch Serie A in the UK

The Serie A television rights in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland are shared by DAZN and TNT Sports.

DAZN will continue to show all 380 Serie A games live in 2026/27. A DAZN subscription costs £15.99 per month for a minimum 12-month term, or £25.99 per month on a rolling 30-day contract.

Meanwhile, TNT Sports will broadcast up to two matches every week. TNT Sports plans start from £25.99 per month (minimum 12-month term), with the rolling contract £30.99 per month.

How to watch Serie A in the US

In the US, Paramount+ is the home of Serie A, with all 380 matches available live.

The Paramount+ Essential package costs just $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year, while a premium package is available from $13.99.

How to watch Serie A in Australia

Fans in Australia can watch every Serie A match this season live on beIN SPORTS, with all games available on the beIN SPORTS Connect streaming platform.

Plans start from $15.99 a month or $159.99 a year, with a one-week free trial available.

Prices will increase by $1 for the monthly plan and $10 for the annual plan from 1 September, so purchase now!

Other Serie A live streams around the world

Serie A is one of the most iconic leagues in the world and boasts fans from across the planet. You can watch Serie A live streams in dozens of countries - here are a few providers in select locations:

Africa

StarzPlay has the rights in MENA countries (Middle East and North Africa), while SuperSport is the official broadcast partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Canada

DAZN, Fubo and TLN share the rights to Serie A live streams in Canada.

Hong Kong

Viewers in Hong Kong can tune into Serie A action on bein SPORTS.

New Zealand

beIN SPORTS is also the home of Serie A this season in New Zealand.

South Africa

Serie A fans in South Africa can watch all the action via subscription service SuperSport.

What are the Serie A 2026/27 key dates?

The 2026/27 Serie A season starts on Saturday, August 22 and ends on Sunday, May 30, 2027.

The fixtures on the opening weekend are as follows: (all times BST)

• Saturday, August 22: Udinese vs Como (5.30pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Inter Milan vs Monza (5.30pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Parma vs Cagliari (7.45pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Genoa vs Napoli (7.45pm)
• Sunday, August 23: Venezia vs Lecce (5.30pm)
• Sunday, August 23: Frosinone vs Juventus (5.30pm)
• Sunday, August 23: Torino vs AC Milan (7.45pm)
• Sunday, August 23: Atalanta vs Sassuolo (7.45pm)
• Monday, August 24: Bologna vs Lazio (5.30pm)
• Monday, August 24: Roma vs Fiorentina (7.45pm)

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• Order the new issue here with postage included – just select ‘'Year of the Boss Issue 395’
• Subscribe to FourFourTwo today and save! You’ll get the first issue FREE plus the next 13 as part of your subscription
• Order the Season Preview Supplement on Amazon to get it delivered BEFORE the Premier League kicks off

Order the new issue here with postage included – just select ‘'Year of the Boss Issue 395’. Subscribe to FourFourTwo today and save! You’ll get this issue FREE plus the next 13 as part of your subscription…

First a message from our editor, James Andrew:

This season more than any other in recent years, there seem to be a lot of questions in the Premier League. We’ll get answers over the course of the next nine months, but most of those uncertainties centre on the managers.

Ahead of this season kicking off, nine clubs had new bosses, one more than before the 2016-17 campaign. Add in Manchester United and Spurs last term, and 11 have changed manager since January 1.

In the 34 years of the Premier League, the title has been won 26 times by either Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola. For the first time in the league’s history, none of those five are around, so it’s a new era, and every new appointment has carried an element of risk – even at the top with Manchester City and Liverpool.

The stakes are equally high for clubs who finished further down the league last season, aiming to ascend – Bournemouth, Chelsea, Fulham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest will also be hoping their new manager gets it right, as will newly promoted Ipswich.

Title-winner Mikel Arteta is the only Premier League gaffer who wasn’t appointed this decade – Arsenal fans will no doubt hope and expect that the Gunners can pick up where they left off, so it will be fascinating to watch how this season of change plays out.

Enjoy the mag,

James

Year of the Boss

There are 11 new Premier League managers since the start of 2026 - nine of them coming in this summer. Defending champion Mikel Arteta will have new faces to beat this season - with Enzo Maresca, Xabi Alonso, Michael Carrick and Andoni Iraola all looking to dethrone him. We run the rule over the new gaffers this season.

Cherries head to Europe

For the first time in their history Bournemouth will compete in Europe. It is some journey for the club and fans as they nearly went out of the Football League less than two decades ago. With new gaffer Marco Rose replacing Andoni Iraola he will lead the club on their first European adventure.

From Lion’s Den to Dragon’s Den

Before Theo Paphitis was known for giving wannabe entrepreneurs a chance to achieve their dreams on BBC’s Dragon’s Den - he was chairman of Millwall. Under Paphitis, Millwall went to the FA Cup final and qualified for Europe, the former owner gives his take on his time at the club.

All around the World

Seasoned football traveller and writer Paul Watson brings some of the weirdest and wonderful stories from the wide world of football, we bring you 20 of the best tales.

Agueroooooooooo!

Manchester City hero Sergio Aguero re-lives that iconic goal that won the first Premier League title at the Etihad and the rest of his glittering career.

The Boy’s a Bit Special

Get the lowdown on Brighton’s big-money teenage signing and the Man City player compared to Raheem Sterling.

The man who has done it all

Player, manager, pundit, commentator, national icon - there is not much Chris Kamara has not done in football. He opens up to FourFourTwo about his career and his battle with speech apraxia.

Around the Grounds

Millwall boss Alex Neil talks about last season’s play-off heartbreak and how guiding the Lions in the Premier League would be his ultimate achievement.

Elsewhere, in our new feature ‘Beyond the Turnstiles’ we take a trip to the Matlock Town and tell you why it should be on your bucket list of grounds to visit.

In the Players Lounge this month…

Steve Coppell on befriending Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, Neal Maupay discusses winding up Arsenal and Clarke Carlisle opens up on being Britain’s brainiest footballer.

The Mixer

Our latest merch round-up features a piece of the World Cup final pitch, Juventus and Brentford’s stunning new change strips and the England team as you have never seen them before.

We spy a 1978-1980 Cardiff’s home shirt in Classic Kit and let you know the best website to keep track of your football ground visits.

Kevin Keegan remembered

Following his death, FourFourTwo re-publish our big interview with King Kev looking back on his career and life on and off the pitch

Upfront

Think you’re a football expert? Prove it by getting 100 per cent in our Ultimate Quiz. Columnist Jules Breach looks ahead to three of the big talking points in the Premier League this season.

Demba Ba selects the games that changed his life and The Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue discuss all things Manchester United.

Karen Carney hails sporting geniuses and an actor in the People I Admire.

Perfect XI

Jan Molby picks his ultimate XI from former teammates made up of Liverpool and Denmark legends.

Watch Arsenal vs Coventry City for free as the Premier League champions host the newly-promoted Sky Blues in the opening game of the 2026/27 season, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Just 33 days after the World Cup 2026 final, the Premier League is back and ready to take centre stage once again.

The campaign begins with a meeting of two teams who enjoyed a historic 2025/26 season, as Arsenal ended their 22-year wait for title glory and Championship winners Coventry sealed a return to the top flight for the first time since 2001.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch the opening game of the 2026/27 Premier League season online and from anywhere, as Arsenal host Coventry City.

Watch Arsenal vs Coventry City for FREE

Arsenal vs Coventry City isn't technically available to watch for free, but there is a way that viewers in the US can stream the game at no cost.

Live coverage in the States is on USA Network, which is available on YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV - all of which have free-trial options of varying lengths for new customers.

Outside the US? Use a VPN to access your free Arsenal vs Coventry City stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Arsenal vs Coventry City from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Arsenal vs Coventry City.

The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Arsenal vs Coventry City in the UK

Fans in the UK can watch Arsenal vs Coventry City on Sky Sports.

Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League will have live coverage of the Premier League 2026/27 season opener, with kick-off at 8:00pm BST. Full coverage begins at 6:30pm.

Outside the UK? Watch Arsenal vs Coventry City on Sky Sports via NordVPN.

How to watch Arsenal vs Coventry City in the US

As mentioned above, USA Network is showing Arsenal vs Coventry City in the US. Kick-off is at 3:00pm ET.

Fans in the States can access USA Network on OTT streaming platforms including YouTube TV (10-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial), Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial) and Sling Blue.

Not in the US right now? Use NordVPN to watch Arsenal vs Coventry City on USA Network.

How to watch Arsenal vs Coventry City in Australia

Fans in Australia can stream Arsenal vs Coventry City on Stan Sport. Kick-off is at 5:00am AEST on Saturday, August 22.

Travelling outside Australia? NordVPN is your ticket to watch Arsenal vs Coventry City on Stan Sport.

Tickets

Arsenal vs Coventry City: Preview

After finally ending their long wait for a Premier League title last season, Arsenal kick-off their quest to become the first club not called Manchester City to retain the trophy since 2009.

The Gunners finally shed their 'bottlers' tag in 2025/26, after three successive second-place finishes, and now appear ready to make the step from one-time winners to serial champions.

Mikel Arteta has added Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes to an already-impressive midfield, while Greek winger Christos Tzolis looks a smart addition and Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa is seemingly on his way to North London, strengthening a backline that conceded just 27 Premier League goals last season.

Arsenal's 3-0 dismantling of City in the Community Shield last Sunday cemented their status as the team to beat and they will be expected to win well against a Coventry City side who were playing Championship football just three months ago.

SEE ALSO How to watch Premier League 2026/27: TV Guide, Streams & Fixtures

Sky Blues fans will scoff at Arsenal's 22 years of hurt, having spent the past quarter-century on a roller-coaster that nearly crashed and left them facing oblivion.

Coventry have been down to League Two and back again since their relegation from the Premier League in 2001, a period defined by a series of off-field disputes that saw them exiled from their own stadium and playing home games in Northampton and Birmingham.

That is why last season's march to the Championship title meant so much to the club's long-suffering supporters, as Frank Lampard's free-flowing side scored 97 goals and finished 11 points clear of second-place Ipswich Town.

It will be an emotional night for all associated with Coventry as they celebrate their return to the big time - but you couldn't get a more difficult opening assignment than a visit to the champions.

Team News

Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Ødegaard, Saka, Tzolis, Havertz.

Coventry City XI: Rushworth, van Ewijk, Thomas, Amenda, Dasilva, Grimes, Onyeka, Yirenkyi, Tchaouna, Thomas-Asante, Simms.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Arsenal 2-0 Coventry City

We expect the Gunners to start their title defence with a convincing win.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Liverpool hiring Andoni Iraola came as a curveball to some: Xabi Alonso was available for quite a while, after all.

That was the obvious choice, too. The former Liverpool midfielder had been heavily linked to take over from Jurgen Klopp, before Arne Slot was even in the conversation for the job – so when Alonso to Anfield rumours failed to materialise at the end of last season, it was assumed that the Reds would stick it out with Slot. Alonso even moved to Chelsea.

Which made Iraola an interesting hire. On the pitch, yes, he's perfectly suited to the high press that has come to define the red half of Merseyside over the past decade or so. Off the pitch, few have made the connection just yet.

Andoni Iraola didn't just join any big club - Liverpool offer a collective identity that he wants to work under

The Basque played almost his entire career at Athletic Club before sampling the Big Apple with a season at New York City FC – before heading into coaching.

In 2024, FourFourTwo met up with Iraola to talk about his journey from Bilbao to Bournemouth and how he became one of the most exciting young coaches in the world through a very particular pathway.

Athletic, famously, have a very defined identity: their ‘cantera’ policy focuses solely on developing players of Basque origin or from the region. The fanbase at San Mames, meanwhile, are openly politically active, expressing solidarity with international social and political movements. Regardless of whether you're broadly left or right in Bilbao, however, you belong to something bigger.

Rayo Vallecano – who Iraola managed before Bournemouth – are staunchly socialist. The club's prominent ultra group, Los Bukaneros, is explicitly anti-fascist, anti-racist, and pro-workers' rights. In 2014, the club and fanbase aided Carmen Martinez Ayudo, an 85-year-old local woman evicted from her home, flying banners with “The evictions of a sick state, the solidarity of a working-class neighbourhood” at the very next game.

And when FourFourTwo put it to Iraola himself that perhaps a club's identity was integral to him in football, he nodded in agreement. While careful not to use the P-word (that's politics), he made it very clear that he likes to align himself with clubs who passionately believe in something.

“I’d practically been a one-club man as a player: I stayed 16 years at Athletic Club, and I think at Athletic and Rayo Vallecano, the sense of belonging is really important,” Iraola said.

“In the end, I always ask my players to think first collectively, even if I understand that the players want to achieve a lot of things in their careers. If we work as a collective, I will look like a better manager, they will look like a better player and even the players who are playing fewer minutes will look better – because the ones that are playing will look better. I think we have to prioritise the team, and the team always comes first.

“This has always been the case at Bournemouth.”

It was Bill Shankly who once said, “The socialism I believe in is everybody working for each other and having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life.” Plenty has happened politically, socially and at football grounds – both to Liverpool and within the city – since those words were uttered.

But the feeling of Liverpool's identity has always been palpable. Perhaps nowhere else in the country could a parallel of “Scouse not English” take off. The Reds bought into the collective under Klopp a lot more than some fans have with high-press priests at other clubs. It's perhaps fair to suggest that Liverpool's identity was a big reason for Iraola moving to Anfield.

Liverpool have seen their hope for another big-money signing dashed.

The Reds have had a modest summer after spending well over £400 million last summer – and with the likes of Bradley Barcola and Yankuba Minteh still on the table, new Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has promised that new players will arrive at Anfield.

But the Basque won't be getting his hands on Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace – and that's confirmed.

Adam Wharton's Liverpool move won't be happening, says manager

So far this summer, only Victor Munoz and Jeremy Jacquet have joined Liverpool on permanent deals – but speaking to Reds one-club man Jamie Carragher in an interview for Sky Sports, Iraola confirmed, “We'll definitely sign players”.

“Some deals you have to wait until the end,” the former Bournemouth gaffer stated, adding, “At the end, the important picture is the one we have on September 1, because we are still quite thin.”

The Reds have just parted with academy product Curtis Jones, and CaughtOffside recently dropped an exclusive report on how the 20-time champions of England were “targeting an ambitious move” for Palace controller Wharton to replace his fellow England international.

But in quotes relayed by transfer influencer Fabrizio Romano in a post on X (formerly Twitter), new Palace boss Pierre Sage says that “it's not the moment” for Wharton to leave Selhurst Park.

“Adam can play at a big club but I think one year with us, one year with a new dynamic, will be good for him and we need him,” Sage said.

Wharton signed for the Eagles from Blackburn Rovers in January 2024, after breaking into his hometown club's senior side as a teenager and becoming a regular in the Championship.

A call-up for England and four international caps have followed, with plenty suggesting that Wharton could be one of his country's most important midfielders of the next decade.

The 22-year-old has been linked with moves to Liverpool and both Manchester clubs this summer, after being named as the Man of the Match in the Conference League final for Palace last term.

FourFourTwo understands that Palace view Wharton as almost unsellable this summer, with the Lancastrian likely to become a £100m transfer when he eventually departs South London.

Wharton is worth €70m, as per Transfermarkt. Liverpool play Newcastle United when Premier League action begins again this weekend.

The Turkish giants suffered a damaging 1-0 defeat at home to Ferencvaros in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off tie.

Having come off the bench against Kasimpasa in the Super Lig last weekend, the former Liverpool superstar was handed his full debut at Papara Park, but even the Egyptian's presence could not prevent his new side from faltering.

Trabzonspor dominated large periods of possession, registering a higher Expected Goals (xG) total from the match, but struggled to dismantle a resilient Ferencvaros setup.

Mo Salah waiting on first win in Trabzonspor colours

Operating on his usual right flank, Salah showed occasional flashes of his trademark quality, cutting inside to test the goalkeeper with a curling effort early in the second half.

However, the Hungarian champions stood firm, frustrating the hosts and proving clinical when their moment arrived.

Former Bristol City and Cardiff City winger Callum O'Dowda featured for the visitors, operating on the same flank as Salah.

With a 1-0 advantage secured on foreign soil, Ferencvaros head back to Budapest as favourites to advance to the Europa League league phase.

For Trabzonspor, the defeat carries consequences that extend beyond the pitch. Failure to overturn the deficit in Hungary next Thursday would see the club drop down to the UEFA Europa Conference League, inflicting a potential financial blow on the club.

Reaching the main stage of the Europa League guarantees participating clubs a baseline starting fee of roughly €4.3m, complemented by broadcast revenues and performance bonuses. In contrast, dropping into Europe’s third-tier competition reduces guaranteed entry fees to approximately €3.17m, alongside vastly reduced television market shares.

For a side that invested heavily to bring Salah to Turkiye, missing out on Europa League revenues represents a deficit they can ill afford.

Aston Villa are moving for Tosin Adarabioyo to replace the Arsenal-bound Ezri Konsa.

Villa fans have endured a tough summer, selling the likes of Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne, with Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins seemingly following next out of the door, along with Konsa.

Rogers in particular was a record sale from Aston Villa to Chelsea – and there could be much more business to be done between the two teams.

Tosin Adarabioyo could now move to Aston Villa from Chelsea

Villa have already confirmed the loan signing of Alejandro Garnacho – and with Konsa now heading to Arsenal, the Europa League winners have identified another Blue in Tosin as his replacement.

That's according to Sky Sports, with The Sun claiming that Benfica have also made an offer, as ex-Fulham manager Marco Silva looks to reunite with his former Whites centre-back.

There could yet be even more business between Chelsea and Villa, with Nicolas Jackson said to be on the table – with transfer influencer Fabrizio Romano claiming in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the Midlands outfit have chased the Senegalese for 12 months.

Jackson worked with manager Unai Emery at Villarreal and could be one of three ex-Blues making the trip to Birmingham this summer, as a relationship between Chelsea and Villa develops.

With both clubs needing to do creative business in recent years to satisfy the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), the likes of Ian Maatsen, Jadon Sancho and Axel Disasi have all been signed by Emery.

Chelsea would be able to bank Tosin's sale as “pure profit”, too, given that he signed for them on a free transfer originally.

The former England youth international began his career at Manchester City before a Deadline Day move to Craven Cottage in lockdown of 2020, and a cross-capital move across SW6 four years later, to become one of Enzo Maresca's first signings.

Tosin established himself as a regular in his first season at Stamford Bridge, with 41 appearances in all competitions, but found game-time harder to come by last term – and will likely see that reduced further if he stays at the club, given the acquisition of Maxence Lacroix in his position.

FourFourTwo understands that Villa have sold Konsa for £51 million plus add-ons – meaning that they've made a profit of well over £200m this summer after securing a European trophy and confirming their place in this season's Champions League.

Tosin is worth €16m, as per Transfermarkt. Villa begin their season with a trip to Sussex on Sunday, as they play Brighton & Hove Albion when Premier League action gets underway.

FIFA have issued a series of sanctions against the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and several individual players following disciplinary breaches during the 2026 World Cup, namely the post-match scuffle at the final on July 19.

The AFA have been fined a total of $321,000 (£235k) for breaches involving discriminatory chants and gestures by supporters, non-sporting demonstrations, team misconduct, and failures in match order and security.

FIFA have also ordered Argentina to limit spectator capacity to 50% for their next home match.

Argentina hit with substantial fine over World Cup fracas

A second match capacity limit and $100,000 (£73k) of the fine have been suspended subject to a probationary period, while $100,000 of the total fine must be directed into an anti-discrimination plan.

Individual suspensions have also been handed down to four members of the Argentine squad and staff following altercations at the end of the final. Meanwhile, one Spanish player has been sanctioned.

Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes will serve a 10-match ban and pay a $90,000 (£66k) fine, while defender Nahuel Molina has been hit with a seven-match ban and a $90,000 fine.

Argentina forward Thiago Almada and assistant coach Roberto Ayala were issued one-match and three-match suspensions respectively, with each receiving a $30,000 (£22k) fine.

Spain midfielder Gavi will serve a one-match suspension and has been ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, too.

FIFA have confirmed that all match bans will be served during the respective national teams' upcoming international fixtures this September and October.

All parties have 10 days to request a motivated decision prior to any potential appeal.

It is understood that part of Argentina's sanction relates to the players and supporters' display of a Falklands banner following the team's semi-final victory over England.

Ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso was pictured with the flag in question, deemed by FIFA as an unsporting demonstration, before it was laid on the turf in front of Argentina fans.

Sky Sports' line-up of commentators, pundits and presenters has been revealed for the weekend.

As the broadcaster for the Premier League, Sky has assembled only the best in class over the past three decades of bringing us the English top flight, with several of its stars becoming equally recognisable for their post-playing careers.

With the Prem's grand return this weekend, it's yet another elite group of analysts and experts across the network – and FourFourTwo has the lowdown on everything you need to know to watch football on television.

We've got guides on how to watch the Premier League wherever you are in the world – and if you'd rather go out for the game, we can help, too, with our comprehensive guide of over 300 pubs, bars and live venues for watching football in the United Kingdom.

Be sure to never miss another fixture again with our handy fixtures calendar, where you can toggle competitions, search for specific teams and keep on top of what to watch, whatever time zone you're in.

We've got exactly the same guide of pundits, presenters and commentators for TNT Sports, too – so if you may wish to bookmark both pages to return to every weekend.

And finally, remember to subscribe to our exclusive …And It's LIVE! newsletter, which drops every week with all the details of how and where to watch football every single day – with quizzes, injury news, previews and much, much more included as standard.

Who are the commentators, pundits and presenters on Sky Sports this weekend?

Friday Night Football

Who are the commentators, pundits and presenters for Arsenal vs Coventry City on Sky Sports?

The Premier League season begins with a clash of the champions, as Premier League holders Arsenal welcome Championship winners Coventry City to the Emirates Stadium.

Dave Jones is the host for this one, and he'll be joined by one of the most beloved players in the Gunners' history, Ian Wright, a regular on the Stick To Football podcast, but only an occasional guest on Sky's coverage.

They'll be joined by Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher on co-comms, as the campaign kicks off with the big guns.

Saturday Night Football

Who are the commentators, pundits and presenters for Brentford vs Tottenham Hotspur on Sky Sports?

The first Saturday Night Football of the season comes courtesy of the G-tech Community Stadium, as a Brentford side who only just missed out on Europe last term face Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham at 5:30pm.

Kelly Cates presents this one alongside a punditry pivot of Jamie Redknapp and Izzy Christiansen. Redknapp made 295 Premier League appearances over the years, while Christiansen is a former Women's Super League champion.

Coverage begins at 5pm in the Sky Sports studio, just down the road in Osterley.

Super Sunday

Who are the commentators, pundits and presenters for Super Sunday on Sky Sports?

Super Sunday returns with some tasty clashes this weekend.

Brighton & Hove Albion play Aston Villa, while Bournemouth travel to Manchester City: both clashes are at 2pm, before Newcastle United host Liverpool at St. James' Park from 4.30pm.

Sky are live on air from 1pm in the company of Mark Chapman – who incidentally is presenting the first Match of the Day of the season on Saturday night. Chapman is joined by Team GB team-mates of London 2012, Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge, who between them, made 418 appearances in the Premier League and each won the trophy.

Gary Neville is back on co-commentary duties alongside the voice of the network, one Peter Drury.

Monday Night Football

Who are the commentators, pundits and presenters for Fulham vs Chelsea on Sky Sports?

Monday Night Football sees a West London derby between Fulham and Chelsea, both now led by former Real Madrid managers.

Kick-off is at 8pm, but we have so much more to dissect before them, as Dave Jones introduces the very first MNF of the season at 6:30pm to discuss all the weekend's action and what we glean from Matchday 1 with Sky stalwarts Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville. The pair will then make their season's predictions after the game – something you can do too, with our handy generator.

The footballing revolution will be televised – just not if you live in the UK.

A new direct-to-fan streaming service has been rolled out by the Premier League that offers access to all 380 of this season’s games live and direct for armchair viewers. Launched under the banner of ‘Premier League +’, the English top flight is making tangible strides towards a long-touted Netflix of football model, alias ‘Premflix’, with their new one-stop shop from the comfort of your living room, tablet or wherever else people get their football fix.

Appetite for a similar move on home soil is already growing with YouGov revealing that 42% of 876 football fans polled online last year endorsed the prospect of signing up for a potential Premier League in-house platform.

But the wealth is not set to be shared. Only supporters in Singapore will reap the benefits of the service created in tandem with the league’s longstanding international broadcast partner, StarHub, which will provide it to those in the former British outpost.

Homegrown fans still getting a raw deal on televised football

Even before the new deal’s announcement, Singaporeans and expats alike have long enjoyed the trappings of Premier League football screening outside of those available on home soil. Varying kick-off times over the past two decades helped cultivate devoted armies of night owls and early risers wanting their fill of the so-called ‘greatest league in the world’. They are not alone, either, with fans across the globe able to tune in for games from stadiums up and down the country at all hours of the day. Meanwhile, those based in the league’s domicile continue to be hamstrung by exorbitant costs and other rigid constraints.

Premier League + has been costed at around £25 per month, disproving the theory that watching live football at a premium is unavoidable. It's a similar story in other territories with the United States, South America and the Middle East also offering coverage at significant markdown prices. UK-based viewers, in contrast, will have to stump up as much as three times Singapore's figure for access to games on Sky Sports and TNT Sports, which only accounts for 267 of the 380 games in the forthcoming campaign. However, it doesn’t stop there. Alongside a TV licence, consumers would need to subscribe to eight different services to access to all available matches in the Champions League and Europa League, EFL competitions, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 for an eye-watering minimum of £132.97 per month. DAZN, Premier Sports, ESPN via Disney+, Amazon and even Ligue 1 itself all now have cuts of the pie. What remains goes to free-to-air platforms BBC and ITV, once bastions of mainstream football coverage now forced to settle for little more than crumbs.

Worse still, Ligue 1’s newly launched streaming platform at £17 monthly is the only subscription that covers all bases for games in a single competition with screened matches for the rest of Europe's main five leagues disproportionately split between no fewer than two different providers. Those fixated exclusively on Premier League matters will have to shell out £791.88 just to watch games legally according to research by eSIMatic. There is also is still no legitimate route to watching this season’s remaining 113 matches not covered by its leading broadcast partners. The 3pm blackout remains an ongoing bone of contention that prevents supporters unable to attend matches from seeing their team, or indeed any other football match, in the traditional timeslot. What advocates for preserving the sanctity of the blackout overlook is that it isn’t done out of a goodness for the game, nor was it ever. The concept for a ban on televising top tier games taking place between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays was originally put forward in the 1960s by Burnley chairman Bob Lord, a fierce opponent of football being broadcast live who argued that it would protect attendances at lower-league games. But a potential ulterior motive for the proposal emerged when he declared, much to widespread disdain, in a keynote speech to the Variety Club in March 1974 that, “We have to stand up against a move to get soccer on the cheap by the Jews who run TV”.

Yet broadcasters appear just as in favour of enacting prohibition as those who see it as the last vestige of football tradition which should be preserved at all costs. Jeff Stelling’s impassioned argument against the abolition of the blackout may have come from a genuine place as a lifelong Hartlepool fan but, equally, he will know that a change to the status quo would effectively kill one of its golden gooses. As the former presenter of Sky's Soccer Saturday for 29 years, Stelling will be all too aware of the cult-like following the programme continues to enjoy in offering alternative coverage of the action. Prince William has been a vocal critic of the blackout with the Football Association figurehead and future king describing an inability to watch his beloved Aston Villa in the 3pm time slot as ‘irritating’ on the occasions when he is precluded from observing from the directors’ box.

Cunning supporters continue to bypass the archaic ruling through illegal streaming routes; something that routinely finds itself on the front pages of national newspapers as part of a crackdown campaign by the Premier League and UK authorities. Those prosecuted for facilitating workarounds through jailbroken technology are paraded as public enemies in the fight against of online piracy rather than symptomatic of a wider problem. Football is not a TV show but its riches continue to elevate the Premier League season on season without giving anything back to those on which it made its fortune. New research by working class think tank Democracia84 found that fans aged between 18 and 35 in the game’s traditional heartlands are being squeezed financially due to a 47% increase in the cost of football between 2015 and 2025 while household income has flatlined. Changing habits in how the game is consumed, with a technology-driven shift now more pronounced than at any other stage, further pushes the risk of a wider disconnect with the sport.

Loopholes to the blackout do exist without running the risk of criminality, as all domestic football being made available free from the usual restrictions during Covid attests. A technicality in UEFA’s Article 48, which can only be enforced when 50% of matches in a country’s top two divisions are played simultaneously, was also waived for the EFL's opening weekend earlier this month while the Premier League remained on summer hiatus. Up to 25 matches across the Championship, League One and League Two were screened live, with concerns around dwindling attendance figures seemingly ignored. That particular argument is yet to be fully proven with average figures for last season’s Championship standing at 26,684 while the drop between divisions saw League One’s clock in at 9,912 – a drop of more than two-and-a-half times that figure – and League Two’s deficit was double that at 4,164.

The merits of a continued blackout will be revisited in the next 18 months when the new broadcast rights cycle is set to be finalised ahead of the 2029/30 campaign, but a new contender has already potentially emerged in the battle to implement ‘Prem Flix’ on native shores. Jeff Bezos’s recent arrival at Liverpool as a minority investor with the 1892 Holdings consortium hints at more than a vanity purchase with the Amazon mogul’s Prime Video platform successfully muscling in on Premier League and Champions League games over recent seasons. The e-commerce giant has already won over fans with its innovative yet no-nonsense coverage of the flagship competitions; offering multigame access and the option to replace banal commentary with raw crowd audio. Despite losing access to the English game, Amazon have continued to keep their hand in on live football by also offering selected Nations League matches through a pay-per-view service. An opportunity for Bezos to usurp Sky and TNT as the official home of Premier League TV coverage is likely to prove too strong to resist.

The Singapore deal proves that televised football can be made affordable and accessible to those watching through a screen; something fans in the UK continue to be told is impossible. Removing the current barriers would not only enrich the Premier League’s already sizeable cash cow but also help reduce the rise of illegal streaming by providing a viable alternative.

Until those at the top acknowledge a need to move with the times, though, the needless fleecing for the supposed 'good of the game' will continue apace.

Ezri Konsa is an Arsenal player. The best defence in the world last season just added another excellent ball-playing centre-back and a decent full-back. It's both demoralising for Aston Villa and “what Premier League champions do”.

Much of the conversation is centred on the Europa League winners and the rapid erosion of their spine; Emiliano Martinez replaced, Konsa and Lucas Digne now gone, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers sold, with Ollie Watkins perhaps out of the door, leaving John McGinn presumably running himself even harder into the Villa Park turf next season. For the fans at the very, very least, it's really not fair that a club can win a major European trophy and qualify for the Champions League by finishing ahead of the champions – who spent £400 million, by the way – and sell so many of their top players.

But another corner of the conversation is simply… why? Where does Konsa fit at Arsenal?

The obvious answer is that William Saliba is sidelined for an indeterminate period of time with a back injury, which isn't as simple as just three months on the sidelines and right as rain. The Frenchman might not be back until Christmas. His load will have to be managed.

Gabriel looked tired at times over the summer. If manager Mikel Arteta is to replace his team chronologically, then surely the difficult conversation of when to phase the Brazilian out will rear its head in the next 18 months. January links to Marc Guehi suggest as such.

At right-back, Arteta has had less of a selection headache than a pounding migraine since 2023. Konsa isn't a right-back by trade – but Jurrien Timber is still to return to the fold, having made a brief appearance in the Champions League final before surgery ruled him out of the World Cup. Ben White has had serious struggles with injury over the past few years and cannot be relied upon – thanks, in part, to pushing himself beyond the limits when Timber himself was recuperating from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Cristhian Mosquera is still a solid prospect, but raw. Declan Rice played there at times last season (and for England).

So Arsenal have now stockpiled eight players capable of playing at centre-back: first-choice pairing Saliba and Gabriel; Konsa, Mosquera, Timber and White (who can all play right-back); and Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori (who are the two primary picks at left-back). Myles Lewis-Skelly can play left-back, too (though is primarily a midfielder), while it can't be ruled out entirely that Rice or Martin Zubimendi move to right-back this season, even in a pinch.

Yet the hierarchy is particularly intriguing. Saliba and Gabriel are undroppable, surely; Calafiori and Hincapie are seemingly interchangeable, thanks to the former's injury issues; Timber starts ahead of White, in part, due to the latter's. Mosquera is still just 22 – but he's trusted enough to start a Champions League final, or to be brought on ahead of more experienced players who, as mentioned, are full-backs now but capable centrally.

Which makes the signing of Konsa ever-more intriguing. Maybe he will usurp White and compete with Timber – maybe he'll even replace Timber (though it feels unlikely, given the Dutchman is in talks for a new contract). Maybe he will compete with Gabriel, though the pair are the same age and Konsa isn't left-footed.

Given what Arsenal have done in attack and midfield, however, it seems clearer than ever that stockpiling elite talent is simply the direction that top teams have to move in.

David Luiz recently told FourFourTwo that he felt that Paris Saint-Germain's failures in the Champions League were at least partly down to squad depth. Last season, Ousmane Dembele started just 10 Ligue 1 games last season. Doue started 16; Kvaratskhelia 18. This summer, they've doubled down to sign Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts to improve that attacking depth.

The days of Liverpool having no real backup to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah or Fabinho are gone. Manchester City lost Sergio Aguero and cosplayed with false nines for a bit. Pep Guardiola reportedly told his City bosses last summer that he wanted a smaller squad.

When City and Liverpool accrued 195 points between them, the champions had John Stones, Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi as their collection of centre-backs – and they were favoured in that order. Kompany had overcome his injury issues and wasn't a guaranteed starter in Pep Guardiola's early tenure; Laporte was still adapting to the league, while Otamendi had his doubters pre-Pep. The runners-up, meanwhile, had Virgil van Dijk as their standout; Joel Matip partnered him 31 times in all competitions, Joe Gomez 25 and Dejan Lovren 18.

Arsenal's centre-backs are a little more difficult to organise. They've gone from Gabriel being the main man and Saliba his protege – with a ‘Break glass for Rob Holding’ behind – to Gabriel and Saliba being equal partners. Konsa is not joining to be a backup.

It's similar elsewhere on the pitch. In Arsenal's three-man midfield in 2024/25, Arteta leant on three senior no.8s and a wildcard (Martin Odegaard, Rice and Mikel Merino, with Ethan Nwaneri to develop) alongside two senior options at no.6 (Thomas Partey and an ageing Jorginho, expected to not play much). In the summer of 2025, he replaced Nwaneri with an established marquee signing, in Eberechi Eze (and kept Nwaneri, for good measure, until January), and replaced both Partey and Jorginho with Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard. He has replaced Norgaard with another Premier League captain in Bruno Guimaraes, and Lewis-Skelly has established himself in that position, too.

Arsenal used all four ‘defensive’ midfield players – i.e., Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Rice and Zubimendi – in the Community Shield. Some games will call for Odegaard this season, others for Eze; some will call for both. Merino didn't touch grass. It looks like only Nwaneri will leave (either permanently or otherwise).

On the right wing, Bukayo Saka had no serious back-up for a while. Nwaneri moonlighted there; Raheem Sterling joined on loan. Yet the club invested serious money in Noni Madueke last summer, and Max Dowman has been shown a path at 16 years of age. Likewise, it seems like Viktor Gyokeres was not signed merely to be a backup to Kai Havertz but to compete and complement the German, with the pair featuring alongside each other on more than one occasion.

It's not clear who will play how many minutes this season at Arsenal. While there was a clear hierarchy previously – and at previous Premier League champions – it feels a lot less defined these days.

Who is City's best centre-back, of Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol? In fact, who's the first-choice pairing? Who is Arsenal's best midfield double-pivot? Does Arteta even know where Konsa will slot in, or does he just want depth for depth's sake, because it's better to have that than no one?

None of this is unusual. Arsenal didn't exactly need another right-back when Ben White was in his pomp, but signed Timber anyway; likewise, Kieran Tierney was one of the club's more important players when Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced him. While we speak of football clubs having first XIs and back-ups, it's never really like that: injuries play their part, of course, and managers will always claim that they want two competing players in every position. Even in Arsenal's last great era, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry were the gold standard, but Sylvain Wiltord and Nwankwo Kanu won the league at Old Trafford. All four were established internationals.

But even from then, it feels like we've shifted to super squads now. More than ever, it feels like players are happier to play 70 per cent of fixtures and have elite competition, simply because of how much football there is. Liverpool went out and signed Luis Diaz in a January window to compete with Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota. And that's really normal these days. They signed Alexander Isak when they already had Hugo Ekitike.

One of the best defenders in the country isn't necessarily needed at Arsenal. The Gunners could well have made a Ronald Araujo-type signing, promoted youngster Marli Salmon to more minutes, brought in a clear backup – either a 22-year-old to develop or a 32-year-old to cover. The fact they have made another £50m+ signing is as much a sign of how far they've come as it is an indicator of the depth and investment now needed at the top.

Arsenal could yet pull off a deal for Julian Alvarez to sign before the transfer window closes.

The Premier League champions have chased the Argentine all summer, yet FourFourTwo understands that the player himself would rather remain in La Liga than return to England with Arsenal, favouring a Barcelona move as his dream.

Reports out of Spain, however, suggest that the deal isn't dead in the water for the Gunners, with Alvarez becoming ever-more likely to move to North London.

Julian Alvarez could yet make Arsenal move before deadline

A new report from Spanish outlet Sport claims that “Julian Alvarez’s future will be decided in the coming hours, and all signs point to England,’ with Atletico Madrid “pushing” the striker to N5 over a rival.

The 26-year-old said earlier this summer that “the ​best thing for everyone is ‌a transfer and I want to fulfil my dream,” with Real Madrid reportedly seeing a £129 million move rejected by their city rivals.

Since then, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has phoned Alvarez personally, but it appears that the former Manchester City star only has eyes for Barcelona.

Atletico sporting director Mateu Alemany is currently in London to discuss a deal for Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson, with Sport Witness noting that Alvarez could also be discussed as an option for the Gunners during this trip.

Arsenal could well have another part to play in the saga, with Viktor Gyokeres now linked with Barça and Gabriel Jesus said to be on the Blaugrana shortlist, too – but FourFourTwo understands that Arteta is prepared for the possibility that he doesn't bring in another forward at all this summer.

Gabriel Martinelli has reportedly turned down an offer from Galatasaray, while there is said to be interest in Victor Osimhen from Arsenal.

The Gunners are not involved in the Bradley Barcola pursuit, and have seen pursuits for Vinicius Jr and Morgan Rogers come to nothing, with the former opting to extend his contract in Madrid and the latter choosing to sign for Chelsea in a British record transfer.

Sport Witness have relayed the Sport report from Spain, noting Arsenal's Alvarez offer stands at “€80m plus Viktor Gyokeres,” and that the star “can double his salary at the Emirates and have a key role under Mikel Arteta.”

The Argentine could well replace Martinelli on the left-wing, or feature more as a centre-forward alternative to Kai Havertz – depending on who leaves London Colney in the coming weeks.

Alvarez is worth €120m, as per Transfermarkt. Arsenal face Coventry City as Premier League action returns tonight.

The new season of the Premier League is almost here, but how much do you know about its history? 30 years on, this FourFourTwo quiz will test your knowledge of the 1996-97 season. Let's see what stuck.

Football in England was in a moment in 1996. The European Championship had just been played on home soil and the Premier League was starting to find its voice. Things have changed a lot since then but the league we recognise now was beginning to reveal itself.

This quiz has 15 questions to answer and 8 minutes to answer them. Don't forget to let us know how you get on!

Handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

FourFourTwo has many more football quizzes, all courtesy of Kwizly. To get us warmed up, let's begin with these quizzes that ask you to name every top flight club in England since 1945 and every club in the Football League right now.

We want to know whether you can name every club to have won any one of England's top four tiers and place each of these famous football statues outside the correct stadium.

Naturally, you'll be excellent at Premier League quizzing and we've got some more for you to get stuck into. Can you sort these players in order of their total numbers of Premier League appearances? Next, how about aiming for the lot in our one-season wonders quiz?

FourFourTwo's Weekend Crossword 66 features clues on French managers, fair play awards, overseas cups and footballing lanes. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of football trivia and analysis, and don't forget to join The Club: our free membership portal where you can secret hints and get on the leaderboard.

The new FourFourTwo Quickfire Quiz is here with 10 football trivia questions for you to answer in just 90 measly seconds.

Handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

FourFourTwo has many more football quizzes, all courtesy of Kwizly. The archive includes a surprisingly difficult one-season wonders quiz that will test your knowledge about a few of the Premier League's fleeting former stars.

We have a challenge to name every team in the Football League right now, from the Championship to League Two, and a football statues quiz to get your teeth into too. If you can do that, maybe you'll be able to name these footballers by the titles of their autobiographies as well.

If that tickles your tastebuds for yesteryear, we also want to know whether you can name Alf Ramsey's full World Cup-winning England squad from 1966. You won't get far by guessing at those.

Still going? How about naming every top-flight team in England since 1945 and arranging all these groups of players in order of their Premier League appearance totals?

There's plenty more international football action to enjoy. For starters, we want you to tell us who's completed football by winning the World Cup AND the Ballon d'Or.

We have puzzles too. Our Weekend Crossword is a regular football teaser for your Sunday, and remember to sign up to the newsletter for more quizzes in your inbox. Don't forget to join The Club for free additional membership benefits!

Newcastle United vs Manchester United was the fixture in England football in 1996.

The two sides engaged in a title fight throughout the 1995/96 season, with Manchester United's ultimate elation in triumph only matched by the despair Newcastle United felt at letting the trophy slip from their grasp.

But when it comes to the actual meetings between the two sides around that period, there is one game that stands out in the memory above all others.

"If you beat Man United then it’s great, if you beat them 5-0 it’s absolutely fantastic"

Ten games in to the 1996/97 season, in October 1996, not-yet-Sir Alex Ferguson brought his side to St James' Park with the two teams again expected to fight for the Premier League title.

Newcastle were top, but the Red Devils had gone undefeated thus far and were still high on having beaten Liverpool at Old Trafford in the previous league game

What followed was an absolute shellacking. Darren Peacock and David Ginola had Newcastle 2-0 up inside half an hour; by the 75th minute, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer had got in on the act to make it 4-0.

But it was the sumptuous final goal that meant that when speaking to FourFourTwo in 2007, manager Kevin Keegan had a simple answer to his favourite moment as Newcastle boss.

"Philippe Albert beating Peter Schmeichel to seal that 5-0 win over Manchester United," he said

"If you beat Man United then it’s great, if you beat them 5-0 it’s absolutely fantastic, and if you’ve just lost a league to them the season before, it’s even better.

"I shook Alex Ferguson’s hand afterwards, but [Eric] Cantona was the only one that spoke to me. He shook my hand and said: 'F**king great team'.

"The crowd were really proud of those players.

"We had a side full of players who still had something to prove, the John Beresfords and Rob Lees.

"Fortunately for me, and for Newcastle, they all still wanted to achieve things."

This interview first appeared in the April 2007 edition of FourFourTwo magazine

Friday Football Quiz, anyone?

Happy Friday and Happy New Season, one and all: we're about to embark on a 34th Premier League campaign and the atmosphere is one akin to the first day of term. Anything can happen; everything is new again. The next nine months (or so) of our lives are just waiting to happen.

Your one constant through it all is the Friday Football Quiz: a devilishly difficult delight before the festivities kick off tonight in North London, this week testing your nerve from the Abbey Stadium to the AFCON and everything in between. 20 questions ready whenever you are.

Handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

Moving from matchday trivia of past and present to the deep-seated heritage of global giants and domestic title races demands elite mental conditioning: so with more quizzes courtesy of Kwizly, we've drawn up a fresh selection designed to test whether your memory can span from Spanish transfer blockbusters to the historic archives of English silverware.

We’re launching straight into the highest tiers of global glamour and top-flight prestige: name the 50 most expensive players signed by Barcelona and Real Madrid, tracing the eye-watering fees that brought footballing royalty to Spain. Once you’ve audited those blockbuster deals, pivot to the individual elite of the English game and see if you can name every Premier League player nominated for the Ballon d'Or since 2000.

Next, can you name every team to have won one of English football's top four tiers, celebrating the historic champions who lifted silverware across every level of the professional game? Following that, bring your focus back to the global stage and tackle the Big World Cup 2026 Quiz, testing your recall of the goals, shocks, and breakout stars from North America's historic showpiece over the summer.

To lower your pulse after navigating all that statistical mileage, find a quiet spot in the dugout for FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 66, as we delve into kings, emperors and pharaohs. To ensure you stay top of the table every single day, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily briefing of hand-picked trivia and tactical analysis. To complete your transfer to terrace legend status, join The Club, our free membership hub that serves as your digital dugout, where you can unlock secret hints for our toughest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments.

Ligue 1 returns for the 2026/27 season with a familiar question: can anyone stop Paris Saint-Germain? The back-to-back Champions League winners claimed a fifth successive French top flight crown last term after seeing off Lens' surprise title bid, so who will be the main challenger this term? FourFourTwo has all the broadcast information you need to watch every game live.

PSG will be odds-on favourites to lift their sixth title in a row - which would move them within one of Lyon's national record of seven - but that isn't solely down to the brilliance of Luis Enrique's young side. French football is not in a great place financially, so it is hard to see if anyone can live with the Parisians over the course of a full campaign.

However, there are plenty of interesting sub-plots. Dino Toppmoller comes in at Lens after Pierre Sage left for Crystal Palace, while Davide Ancelotti - son of Carlo - takes charge at Lille, who finished third last term. Elsewhere, Bruno Genesio has been appointed by Marseille after former Newcastle United defender Habib Beye was sacked after just five months, and ex-Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior is back in France with the ambitious Paris FC. Meanwhile, Le Mans return to Ligue 1 after 16 years away, backed by some famous co-owners including Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, tennis legend Novak Djokovic and former Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa.

In this guide, we'll show you how to watch Ligue 1 live streams in the UK, US, and around the world, and how you can use a VPN to tune in while you're abroad.

• Read More: How to watch Carabao Cup 2026/27: TV Guide, Free Streams & Fixtures

Can you watch Ligue 1 for free?

CazéTV on YouTube in Brazil will continue to show selected Ligue 1 games for free this season.

Outside of Brazil? You need a VPN to unlock your stream — find out more below.

How to watch Ligue 1 from anywhere

Chances are you'll find yourself overseas when some Ligue 1 games are taking place, but does that mean you have to miss the action? No, it doesn't... a VPN will ensure you get your coverage from anywhere.

Ligue 1 live streams are geo-restricted on all streaming services, but a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a neat way around this, unpicking the geo-locks by altering your device's digital location. It's great for accessing your usual streaming services while on the move, and it does wonders for your internet security, too.

NordVPN is the best, so say our good friends across the office at TechRadar.

How to watch Ligue 1 in the UK

French football fans in the UK can watch Ligue 1 this season on Ligue 1+, the division's direct-to-consumer in-house channel.

Every game of the 2026/27 campaign will be available live or on demand, with added content such as highlights packages and episodes dedicated to iconic former players, season reviews and the best of Ligue 2 - all for £9.99 per month.

You can also watch select games via Prime Video's pay-per-view feature for Ligue 1. Each game available on the platform will cost £2.49, making it the perfect package for someone looking to catch the odd game.

How to watch Ligue 1 in the US

In the US, beIN SPORTS is the home of Ligue 1, with games live on beIN SPORTS channels and streaming service beIN SPORTS Connect.

A subscription costs just $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.

Can I watch Ligue 1 in Australia?

Unfortunately, there is currently no official broadcaster in place to show Ligue 1 matches in Australia, after beIN SPORTS ended their agreement.

The good news is that fans Down Under can still access their Ligue 1 streams via NordVPN.

Other Ligue 1 live streams around the world

With PSG arguably the best club side on the planet right now, it is no surprise that Ligue 1 attracts viewers from across the world. You can watch Ligue 1 live streams in dozens of countries - here are a few providers in select locations:

Africa

BeIN SPORTS is Ligue 1's official broadcast partner in MENA countries (Middle East and North Africa), while SuperSport and Canal+ Afrique share the rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Canada

beIN SPORTS has the rights to Ligue 1 live streams in Canada.

Hong Kong

Viewers in Hong Kong can also watch Ligue 1 on beIN SPORTS.

New Zealand

As with Australia, there is currently no official broadcaster for Ligue 1 in New Zealand.

South Africa

Ligue 1 fans in South Africa can watch all the action via subscription service SuperSport and Canal+ Afrique.

What are the Ligue 1 2026/27 key dates?

The 2026/27 Ligue 1 season starts on Friday, August 21, with Marseille hosting Strasbourg on opening night.

The campaign ends on the weekend of Saturday, May 29, 2027.

The Ligue 1 fixtures on the opening weekend of the season are as follows: (all times BST)

• Friday, August 21: Marseille vs Strasbourg (7.45pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Lens vs Auxerre (4.15pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Troyes vs Paris FC (7.45pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Le Mans vs Brest (7.45pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Nice vs Lorient (7.45pm)
• Saturday, August 22: Toulouse vs Lyon (7.45pm)
• Sunday, August 23: Angers vs Lille (2pm)
• Sunday, August 23: Le Havre vs Monaco (4.15pm)
• Sunday, August 23: PSG vs Rennes (7.45pm)

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Roberto De Zerbi. One step. Winning the race for Mateus Fernandes. Another step. Breaking up Newcastle United's midfield unit with an audacious Sandro Tonali swoop. Another.

Tottenham Hotspur have taken three huge strides away from the nadir of their banter era – namely back-to-back 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League, a wound that, at points, even a Europa League triumph failed to strap up.

But one moment this summer threatened to plunge them right back to the unedifying start.

We’re talking, of course, about the mooted transfer of Cristian Romero to sworn enemies Arsenal.

The Argentinian centre-back, while clearly one of their more gifted talents in these dark years, had been a thorn in the side of Spurs for some time off the pitch.

Unafraid to call out higher-ups, Spurs fans quite liked some of the spikier elements of the defender's personality. But when he was missing in action for the Lilywhites’ relegation-decider against Everton at the end of last season, positive feelings soon evaporated. From then, the writing was on the wall.

A parting of the ways was somewhat telegraphed, but that one sensational transfer link to the other side of north London threatened to take a knife to Spurs’ patchwork quilt of a reputation.

It’s not that Romero would have vastly improved a rival. In fact, he’d have probably struggled to break the Gabriel-Saliba duopoly over the Gunners’ backline, dependent on the latter's fitness.

Football is a patch of grass and 22 players chasing around a bag of air. But in the modern day, with the vast sums of money involved, it is also a game of hubris.

Its exponents can try to rise above that petty truth, but it is a truth. These things matter. They feed into how a club views itself.

Luis Figo. Ashley Cole. S*l C******l.

These transfers not only come to define the career of the individual involved, but also entire eras in football teams and their cities.

Joan Gaspart, Barcelona’s president as Figo made that move, said it “destroyed” the club. And that’s Barcelona.

In a frenzied race to try and save face amid the backlash, the former executive admits he rushed to get new faces through the door.

It didn’t work. The Catalans didn’t lift another major trophy for another five years, when 2004/05 brought LaLiga back to Camp Nou.

Five years. An entire peak of a player’s career gone in the click of one transfer. That’s how damaging these moves can be.

Now, it would be hyperbolic to suggest Romero rocking up at the Emirates would have been anywhere near as seismic as Figo’s move – pigs need never have feared for their heads in the English capital – but it illustrates a point: history has shown it’s a game to be avoided at all costs.

Thankfully, those at Tottenham recognised this, with concrete talks seemingly never countenanced. Each and every report carrying the same disclaimer that they wouldn't even enter the discussion.

As the Sky Sports News ticker unfurled with the story, it threatened to swipe Spurs’ recent progress with it. Instead, in this new-era, cold-faced Spurs, the drama fizzled out as soon as it had sparked.

It was replaced by news that Romero was heading to the stage for that Figo scandal 26 years earlier, to Madrid. Only it was Atletico rather than Real for the 28-year-old.

A match made in heaven, Romero will be at home under Atleti’s legendary Argentinian coach, Diego Simeone, and his Dark Arts enthusiasts – an apt resolution for all parties involved, even if the defender's exit from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium did his legacy in N17 no favours.

A development that at one point may have derailed Tottenham, their progression train continues to chug ahead without a scratch.

Spurs look serious and decisive this summer. And they might just mean it this time.

William Osula is set to remain at Newcastle United for the upcoming campaign, bringing an end to months of speculation surrounding his future at St. James' Park.

The Danish forward was heavily linked with a move to the Bundesliga throughout last season, with Eintracht Frankfurt identifying him as a top target.

A January transfer to the German club almost materialised in the closing days of the winter window, but the deal ultimately collapsed, keeping Osula on Tyneside to fight for his place.

Will Osula expected to play central role for Newcastle this season

That perseverance paid off during the run-in, as Osula enjoyed a strong end to the season, finishing the campaign with seven goals from eight starts.

He has built on that momentum throughout pre-season under new head coach Matthias Jaissle, featuring prominently throughout summer preparations.

Most notably, Osula delivered an eye-catching performance during a 1-1 friendly draw against Strasbourg, where his direct running and pressing caused problems for the French side's defence.

Jaissle’s tactical preferences could also suit Osula's physical profile, too. In previous managerial stints, the German manager has implemented a system featuring two centre-forwards designed to unsettle opposition backlines.

This setup relies on pairing an athletic, line-stretching runner like Osula, who can stretch play and press aggressively, with a supporting forward like Nick Woltemade, who drops into pockets of space to link play between midfield and attack.

"We've already learned [Jaissle's] play styles in and out of possession and how he likes to play tactically. It has been good," Osula told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"I want to continue to show what I can do, remain confident. I know what I can do on the pitch so it's just keeping doing that."

Newcastle are without European football this season but could prioritise going deep in the cup competitions; the club's cohort of strikers will be expected share the bulk of the goalscoring load.

FourFourTwo understands Osula could play a central role for Newcastle from the start this season, as opposed to the bit-part function he has carried out in previous campaigns, beginning this weekend against Liverpool.

With his immediate future settled and a head coach who values his specific tactical qualities, Osula now has the platform to establish himself as a key fixture in Newcastle's attack under Jaissle.

What are your Premier League predictions?

Here at FourFourTwo, we've made a helpful graphic creator for you to share with your friends, with your followers on social or just in the group chat: so whether you reckon that Erling Haaland is going to win the Premier League Golden Boot (boooring) or that Hull City are going to shock us all and ‘do a Leicester’ (OK, now we're listening), this is the platform to do it.

Simply input your answers below (surnames will do for players), and the graphic will generate for you to copy and paste wherever on earth you'd like.

Get involved, and tell us your Premier League predictions with our generator

Remember, we at FFT HQ would love to hear your opinions – so get involved and generate your own image.

You can tag us – it's @FourFourTwo on X (formerly known as Twitter) and @FourFourTwoUK on Instagram – and remember to leave the hashtag #FFTpredictions.

Need some help to choose? Here are some odds…

Premier League winners

Arsenal: 6/5
Manchester City: 7/2
Liverpool: 11/2
Chelsea: 8/1
Manchester United: 8/1
Tottenham: 25/1
Aston Villa: 40/1
Brighton: 150/1
Newcastle: 200/1
Bournemouth: 200/1
Brentford: 200/1
Everton: 250/1
Leeds: 500/1
Nottingham Forest: 500/1
Crystal Palace: 500/1
Fulham: 500/1
Sunderland: 750/1
Coventry: 2000/1
Ipswich: 2000/1
Hull: 3000/1

Premier League Golden Boot

Erling Haaland: 4/6
Alexander Isak: 8/1
Igor Thiago: 12/1
Joao Pedro: 14/1
Ollie Watkins: 25/1
Viktor Gyokeres: 20/1
Antoine Semenyo: 25/1
Cole Palmer: 33/1
Dominic Solanke: 33/1
Bryan Mbeumo: 33/1
Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 40/1

Player of the Season

Erling Haaland: 4/1
Bruno Fernandes: 11/2
Declan Rice: 8/1
Bukayo Saka: 12/1
Alexander Isak: 14/1
Rayan Cherki: 14/1
Antoine Semenyo: 16/1
Cole Palmer: 16/1
Elliot Anderson: 16/1
Martin Odegaard: 16/1
Bruno Guimaraes: 16/1
Phil Foden: 20/1
Florian Wirtz: 20/1
Dominik Szoboszlai: 25/1
Gabriel: 25/1
Virgil van Dijk: 25/1
Morgan Rogers: 33/1
Sandro Tonali: 40/1

^{Odds courtesy of Bet365}

Surviving in the Premier League as a newly promoted club is never easy, but Hull City have decided to approach the challenge like a game of Monopoly - because they don't have any other choice.

The Tigers have dumped their wallet onto the board, rolling the dice on a number of summer arrivals.

It is an ambitious, high-risk strategy that will either prove to be a masterstroke of recruitment or send them straight back from whence they came, without passing go.

Hull City are playing Premier League Monopoly

To understand why Hull’s hierarchy felt compelled to completely overhaul the dressing room, you have to look back at how they got here.

Statistically speaking, Hull were one of the poorest sides to ever secure promotion from the Championship. Their underlying metrics painted the picture of a team dramatically over-performing their Expected Goals (xG) and points tallies, relying on special individual moments to drag themselves over the line.

Standing still with that exact core in the top flight would have left Sergej Jakirovic woefully ill-equipped. The squad desperately needed surgery, and so the club have opted for a partial reboot.

The profile of incoming talent tells its own story. Hull have raided the market for players of a calibre that could be considered top-end of the Championship like Joe Gelhardt, Luke Herrington, Jack Butland, and Matt Targett.

They've sprinkled Jakirovic's squad with wildcards like Konstantinos Tzolakis and Nobel Mendy - unknown quantities in English football but could come to be considered lower-end Premier League players.

Through no fault of their own, Hull City are betting heavily that second-tier stars can make the step up, while lower-end top-flight names can hit the ground running, simultaneously.

There is a simple reality at play here: if any of these players were the finished article, clubs much higher up the footballing food chain would have snapped them up.

They are only available for a club in Hull's position because the more accomplished sides have question marks about their ceiling, consistency, or physical durability.

No signing encapsulates this approach better than Lucas Gourna-Douath. Once heralded as one of European football’s premier young midfield prodigies, the Frenchman’s career trajectory has stalled in recent seasons.

Taking a gamble on him as a newly-promoted side is the ultimate draw from the 'Chance' deck.

If Gourna-Douath unlocks his potential at the MKM Stadium, Hull might have landed on Mayfair for a bargain price. But if those early career scouting reports were overhyped and he simply isn't cut out for the Premier League, it becomes an expensive flop that leaves their midfield exposed.

What cannot be disputed is the spirit within the camp. Battling through adversity to snatch promotion proved that the squad possesses remarkable togetherness and complete buy-in for their manager.

But in the brutal environment of the top flight, grit and team harmony only act as a temporary 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Eventually, it's quality, tactics and squad depth that decide your fate.

For Hull City, success this season is straightforward: survival. Achieving that would represent an extraordinary accomplishment given the sheer scale of the squad's transition.

On the flip side, the nightmare scenario is irredeemable. If these gambles crash and burn simultaneously, Hull could potentially threaten Derby County’s infamous 11-point record as the poorest side in Premier League history. Mauled by the Tigers? Mauled by the rest of the league, more like.

Arsenal star Viktor Gyokeres is pushing to leave – just a year after signing for the Gunners.

That's according to an explosive new report from Spain, which claims that the Swedish hitman is in “daily” conversations to leave Arsenal for Barcelona, who are interested in his services.

Gyokeres netted 21 goals in 56 appearances in all competitions last term as Arsenal won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final – though he didn't win over everyone.

Viktor Gyokeres apparently pushing for Arsenal exit

According to Spain outlet Cope, the striker “wants to leave” N5, with his agent in conversation with Barça sporting director Deco – who isn't interested in the player just yet.

Though Gyokeres spearheaded a first Premier League title for Arsenal in 22 years, manager Mikel Arteta often preferred Kai Havertz in attack in the biggest games, thanks to the German's superior hold-up play.

Gyokeres himself has been criticised for his all-round game: though he has scored plenty back in English football, his record against last season's top 10 was patchy, leading to Arteta pivoting to pursue Julian Alvarez as a potential replacement.

Right now, however, the suggestion that the 28-year-old isn't happy simply doesn't tally with what he's said of late – with Fotbollskanalen relaying comments earlier this summer.

“Of course it’s flattering to see that clubs are interested, but I feel extremely comfortable at Arsenal,” Gyokeres said, adding, “After the season we have had, I only have positive feelings.”

FourFourTwo understands that Gyokeres is further down the pecking order than others when it comes to potential outgoings before the end of the transfer window, with fellow forward Gabriel Jesus also said to be of interest to Barcelona.

Gyokeres has relished the competition with Havertz in Arsenal's squad up until this point – with the German spending swathes of the Gunners' title-winning campaign on the sidelines through injury.

The Athletic reported last year that Gyokeres' agent had waived his fee for the transfer to help facilitate an exit from Sporting, where the striker hit 97 times in 102 appearances in Portuguese football.

It remains highly unlikely that he is pushing for an exit just yet – despite struggles at times last term.

Gyokeres is worth €65m, according to Transfermarkt. Arsenal face Coventry City when Premier League action returns.

A Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has agreed an exit, with his departure now at an advanced stage.

That's according to a new report, which claims that the Lilywhites are starting to accelerate outgoings, having committed well over £160 million on bringing Matheus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali into the engine room.

With Tottenham also said to be interested in signing both Omar Marmoush and Savinho, they may have to trim the deadwood a little more to avoid heading into the season with a bloated squad.

Pape Matar Sarr on the cusp of Tottenham Hotspur exit

According to a report from Africa Foot, Galatasaray are closing in on signing Pape Matar Sarr.

Sarr has reached an agreement for a three-year contract, having been offered what is described as a “lucrative contract”.

The 23-year-old played 26 games in the Premier League for Tottenham last term, but only played just over an hour of football under De Zerbi.

The Senegalese international joined as a highly-rated young prospect from Metz in 2022 and has impressed sporadically – but with De Zerbi favouring a double-pivot, Sarr may not be one of the first few options in the pecking order.

Fernandes and Tonali will likely be Spurs' most-favoured pairing this term, with Conor Gallagher, Archie Gray and Rodrigo Bentancur all options in the centre of midfield.

Lucas Bergvall – another young player from before De Zerbi's era – is also an option, though FourFourTwo understands he could well leave, too.

Mohammed Kudus, James Maddison, Xavi Simons and Dejan Kulusevski are all options in the no.10.

Turkish outlet Takvim noted earlier on this year that Fenerbahce were in for Sarr, though they appear to have dropped out of the race completely now.

Africa Foot states that talks are progressing well between the North Londoners and Galatasaray over Sarr, with the move now expected to happen.

The midfielder is worth €14m, according to Transfermarkt. Tottenham kick off their Premier League season against Brentford this weekend.

The Premier League is back for 2026/27 and the new season could scarcely be dripping in more narrative. Arsenal defend their title, Man City deal without Pep Guardiola, Andoni Iraola begins life at Liverpool, Coventry return after 25 years away and Tottenham try not to finish 17th. FourFourTwo is here with all the broadcast information you need to watch every game live.

The Premier League's 35th season could be its most intriguing since Sky Sports invented football in 1992. No Arsenal side since the great Herbert Chapman vintage of the 1930s have won back-to-back top-flight English titles, but the recruitment of Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis – with more to come – give Mikel Arteta's side a strong look. They kick the whole thing off against Frank Lampard's Coventry on Friday night as the Sky Blues return after a quarter-century away.

For the first time in a decade, Man City begin a new season without Guardiola in the dugout. Tonsorially similar Enzo Maresca brings his interpretation of Pep-ball to the Etihad, with Elliot Anderson the key arrival as Rodri seems set to join Bernardo Silva in heading for the exit. They start against Bournemouth on Sunday.

The Cherries' former boss Iraola will take charge of his first competitive Liverpool game on Sunday, as the Reds take on a stripped-back Newcastle side after the sales of Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali. Anfield wants a return to heavy-metal football but pre-season results have been mixed.

Matchweek 1 comes to a close on Monday night with a west London derby at Craven Cottage. Chelsea have spent big on Morgan Rogers to link up with best-bud Cole Palmer as the Xabi Alonso revolution takes hold. Fellow former Real Madrid boss Alvaro Arbeloa takes charge of his first Fulham game in that one.

In this guide, FourFourTwo break down all the Premier League viewing options globally, with all 380 games available in many countries. We'll have in-depth details on UK, USA, and Australia broadcaster, along with a full list of outlets internationally.

• Read More: Three brand-new wonderkids FourFourTwo can't wait to see in the Premier League this season

Premier League — Matchweek 1 Fixtures

This week's Premier League fixtures:

Can you watch the Premier League for free?

Unfortunately, free Premier League 2026/27 streams are scarce but there are a couple of options.

The Premier League will have select games available free-to-air in Brazil via CazéTV's YouTube channel.

Those in the US can stream USA Network and NBC on YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV and DirecTV.

Abroad for Matchweek 1 of the Premier League 2026/27? You need a VPN to unlock your stream — find out more below.

How to watch the Premier League from abroad

Chances are you'll find yourself overseas when some Premier League 2026/27 games are taking place, but does that mean you have to miss the action? No, it doesn't... a VPN will ensure you get your coverage from anywhere.

Premier League live streams are geo-restricted on all streaming services, but a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a neat way around this, unpicking the geo-locks by altering your device's digital location. It's great for accessing your usual streaming services while on the move, and it does wonders for your internet security, too.

NordVPN is the best, so say our good friends across the office at TechRadar.

How to watch the Premier League in the UK

In the UK, Premier League TV rights for the 2026/2027 season are shared between two broadcasters: Sky Sports, and TNT Sports. It's the second year of the EPL's latest £6.7bn deal that lasts until 2029. At least 267 of the 380 fixtures to be shown live.

► Sky Sports has broadcast English top flight matches since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, and it continues to air more live action than anyone else. The service will show at least 215 games in 2026/2027 across Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports+.

► TNT Sports and its streaming platform HBO Max have rights to 52 live Premier League matches in 2026/27, usually Saturday lunchtime kick-offs and a couple of midweek matchdays.

Why aren't all Premier League games live on TV in the UK?

Yep, the Saturday 3pm 'blackout' remains in place, which means that no games that kick off at that time can be broadcast live. This is enshrined in law and is designed to protect match-day attendances further down the football pyramid.

Like last season, though, any Premier League game not taking place at 3pm on a Saturday shown live on TV. Good news for fans of clubs on the Thursday-Sunday timetable of the Europa League/Conference League grind.

More: Sign up to our ... And It's Live! weekly newsletter for the skinny on football streams

How to watch the Premier League in the US

NBC Universal holds the Premier League broadcast rights in the US, splitting the coverage across various channels and platforms: NBC, USA Network, and Peacock.

► NBC is the flagship cable TV channel, which hosts only the marquee fixtures.

► Peacock is NBC's streaming platform which not only hosts a live stream of the NBC games but also exclusively shows a number of other games each week – roughly half of Premier League games.

► USA Network is another cable TV channel that houses roughly the other half of the fixtures. As we've mentioned above, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV all carry the channel and have free-trial options, while Sling Blue has USA Network and NBC but not Peacock.

How to watch the Premier League in Australia

Aussie soccer fans have it easy, and pretty cheap. Every single Premier League game is available to stream live on Stan Sport. Yep, all 380 of them.

Better still, it's even cheaper to watch the EPL 2026/27 Down Under because Stan have introduced a new Basic tier at AU$9.99. You'll also need the AU$20 Sport add-on, but you get every Premier League game, plus the Champions League, FA Cup, and more, all for AU$29.99 a month.

Other Premier League live streams around the world

The Premier League is the world's biggest, brashest, most popular league, so it's no surprise you can watch live streams in pretty much any country you like. Here are a few providers in select locations:

Europe

• Albania - Digitalb
• Andorra - CANAL+/DAZN
• Armenia - Saran Media
• Austria - Sky Deutschland
• Belarus - Saran Media
• Belgium - Telenet
• Croatia - Telekom Srbija
• Cyprus - Cytavision
• Czech Republic - CANAL+
• Denmark - Viaplay
• Estonia - TV3
• Finland -  Viaplay
• France - CANAL+
• Georgia - Saran Media
• Germany - Sky Deutschland
• Greece - IMG (sublicensed to Forthnet)
• Hungary - TV2
• Iceland - Syn
• Israel - Charlton
• Republic of Ireland (Eire) - Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Premier Sports
• Italy - Sky Italia
• Kosovo - Telekom Srbija
• Latvia - TV3
• Lithuania - TV3
• Luxembourg - CANAL+
• Malta - TSN
• Moldova - Saran Media
• Montenegro - Telekom Srbija
• Netherlands - Viaplay
• North Macedonia - Telekom Srbija
• Norway - Viaplay
• Poland - CANAL+
• Romania - Saran Media
• Portugal - Eleven
• Serbia - Telekom Srbija
• Slovakia - CANAL+
• Slovenia - Telekom Srbija
• Spain - DAZN
• Sweden - Viaplay
• Switzerland - CANAL+ (French-language), Sky Deutschland (German), Sky Italia
• (Italian)
• Turkey - beIN Sports
• United Kingdom - Sky Sports, TNT Sports
• Ukraine - Setanta

Asia-Pacific

• Afghanistan - Saran Media
• Australia - Stan Sport
• Azerbaijan - Saran Media
• Bangladesh - JioStar
• Bhutan - JioStar
• Cambodia - Jasmine International
• China - Migu
• Chinese Taipei - ELTA
• Hong Kong - PCCW
• India - JioStar
• Indonesia - EMTEK
• Japan - U-Next
• Kazakhstan - Saran Media
• Kyrgyzstan - Saran Media
• Laos - Jasmine International
• Malaysia - Astro
• Mongolia - Unitel
• Myanmar - CANAL+
• Nepal - JioStar
• New Zealand - Sky NZ
• Pacific Islands - Digicel
• Pakistan - JioStar
• Singapore - StarHub
• South Korea - Coupang
• Sri Lanka - JioStar
• Tajikistan - Saran Media
• Thailand - Jasmine International
• Turkmenistan - Saran Media
• Uzbekistan - Saran Media
• Vietnam - K+

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Africa

• Middle East and North Africa - beIN Sports

Americas

• Brazil - ESPN
• Canada - Fubo
• Caribbean - ESPN
• Costa Rica - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico 
• El Salvador - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico
• Guatemala - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico
• Honduras - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico
• Mexico - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico 
• Nicaragua - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico 
• Panama - Fox Broadcasting Corporation, TNT Sports Mexico
• South America - ESPN
• United States - NBC Sports

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Liverpool’s decision to sanction Curtis Jones’ imminent £30 million transfer to Inter Milan is understandable from a purely financial standpoint.

The midfielder has already entered the final 12 months of his Anfield contract, meaning this summer represents the club’s last opportunity to recoup a significant fee rather than risk losing a homegrown asset for nothing next year.

Cashing in on an academy graduate delivers a neat £30m boost to the balance sheet. But, from a sporting perspective, taking a red pen to the squad's engine room midway through August is...certainly a decision.

Curtis Jones could hold the key to Liverpool's success or failure in 2026/27

Unless an immediate, top-tier replacement is lined up and has been kept under wraps from the press, it raises a glaring question: what on earth are Liverpool doing?

The expected sale leaves Liverpool’s central midfield looking rather thin, relying almost entirely on a core trio: Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, and Dominik Szoboszlai.

While those three have top level Premier League quality, the depth behind them is less so.

Wataru Endo remains in the squad, but the Japanese international is fundamentally a functional, defensive backup rather than someone equipped to start three matches a week.

Nineteen-year-old Trey Nyoni has featured throughout pre-season, but it's a big ask to expect him to replace one of the more senior players in that position.

Going into a campaign with essentially three senior central midfielders for two starting spots is...certainly a decision.

This level of depth, or lack thereof, is especially baffling when considering Andoni Iraola’s demanding, high-pressing style of play.

Iraola’s setup requires energy, relentless off-the-ball counter-pressing, and continuous box-to-box engine work in central areas.

Expecting Mac Allister, Gravenberch, and Szoboszlai to sustain that level of intense physical exertion across four competitions is, in FourFourTwo's opinion, asking for trouble.

In the modern game, muscle fatigue and soft-tissue injuries are an inevitability over a 50-plus match season.

Making matters worse is Liverpool’s habit of drafting central midfielders into emergency roles elsewhere on the pitch. In recent seasons, defensive shortages have repeatedly forced central players, most notably Szoboszlai, to plug holes at right-back.

If a full-back injury forces Iraola to slide Szoboszlai out wide again, Liverpool’s central midfield options are diminished overnight.

Granted, almost a fortnight remains before the transfer window shuts, but the transfer rumour mill offers precious little comfort.

Liverpool’s current recruitment drive is firmly focused on bringing in a wide attacker, according to reports, rather than bolstering the middle of the park. While speculative links to Adam Wharton persist, any late approach will be strongly rebuffed by Crystal Palace, who have no intention of parting with their prized asset so late in August.

Even if a deal were possible, Wharton himself may hold out for a rumoured move to Manchester City in 12 months' time. By choosing to bank £30m for Jones on the brink of contract expiry, Liverpool may have solved an accounting issue, only to leave themselves one injury away from a full-blown crisis.

In isolation, banking £30m for Jones who is on the brink of contract expiry is a good bit of business. But in current circumstances, it can only be deemed good business if Liverpool have someone else lined up in that position, who will meet Iraola's needs and elevate the profile of the squad. Even then, it mightn't be enough and Liverpool could find themselves running on fumes by March, coasting to the finish.

Newcastle United are ready to make another major sale, as the Toon exodus continues.

Despite making some exciting young signings, the Magpies have endured a tough summer on the whole, losing Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes, as well as manager Eddie Howe.

It appears as if the departures haven't stopped either, with Nick Pope leaving before another Newcastle midfielder.

Newcastle United to sell another first-team midfielder

SporDepor reporter Musafa Karatas has claimed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Besiktas have made a move for Joe Willock.

The Istanbul outfit have made a €7 million offer for the midfielder with €5m of add-ons, some €8m less than the Toon are demanding.

Willock has been on the radar of Besiktas since July, according to journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, but Newcastle have only reduced their demands by a couple of million pounds.

The former Arsenal man originally moved to Tyneside on loan in 2020 and struck eight Premier League goals in 14 appearances in the second half of the season, helping propel the Magpies away from the drop zone.

Appearances haven't been a problem for the Englishman, who has played 80 games in all competitions over the past two years – but with Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali ahead of him in the pecking order, Willock hasn't kicked on and developed into a more influential player at St. James' Park.

Now 26, he may have expected to feature more this season with two of Newcastle's first-choice midfield of last term having left, though given that the club have brought in replacements in Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba, Willock may still be competing for a place.

Newcastle will also likely favour Lewis Miley in midfield, too, as one for the future worth developing.

Newcastle have also brought in the likes of Amar Dedic and Bazoumana Toure this summer, while giving Will Osula the no.10 shirt and making Dan Burn club captain.

Willock is worth €14m, according to Transfermarkt. Newcastle kick off their Premier League season against Liverpool this weekend.

Arsenal are looking to bring in a €100 million superstar, but may have to wait until next summer to do so.

The Gunners kick off their Premier League campaign this Friday night, having only added Bruno Guimaraes and Christos in terms of first-team regulars likely to feature in that fixture, with Ezri Konsa now on the way.

But while Arsenal are still on the hunt for a difference-maker in attack, they now seem unlikelier than ever to bring one in before the deadline.

Arsenal looking to next summer for Kenan Yildiz

Sport Witness have relayed TuttoSport's back page today, which states that the Gunners are still looking to bring in Kenan Yildiz.

The Juventus man is a long-time target for the Gunners, who have also pursued the likes of Vinicius Jr and Morgan Rogers for their left-wing spot.

With the Old Lady handing Yildiz a new contract earlier this year, it's always been a long shot that the Gunners could convince the Turkish international to join this summer.

This new report states, meanwhile, that he could well become a €100m option for next summer, with manager Mikel Arteta wanting to make the right signing rather than simply panic-buying before the window ends.

FourFourTwo understands that Arsenal only want to improve the squad if they can sign a player that they deem to be a genuine upgrade on Gabriel Martinelli – who remains for sale.

“With not long to go for the window to close, it would be difficult for Juventus to sell Yildiz,” Sport Witness says, adding, “They don’t have long to find a replacement, which will make things complex for Arsenal.”

Additionally, Arsenal are looking to get Gabriel Jesus on the wage bill, with Barcelona and Napoli reportedly sniffing around for the Brazilian's signature.

Barcelona apparently want Jesus as an alternative to Julian Alvarez, who the Catalan outfit still want to bring to Camp Nou.

With the Alvarez saga likely to drag on until the end of the window, however, Jesus may stick around until then, too.

Yildiz is worth €75m, according to Transfermarkt. Arsenal kick off their Premier League season against Coventry City.

It's May 2025 and Ajax fans are reeling.

In one of the biggest collapses in Eredivisie history, their side has just thrown away a nine-point lead in just six matches, handing the title into the incredulous arms of PSV Eindhoven.

Scapegoats to apportion blame are instantly sought. And very quickly, one conspicuous difference between the sides during the season rears its head - scoring goals.

Across 34 games in the campaign, PSV found the net a substantial 36 more times than their main title rival. And a significant reason for that was the struggles of Ajax's forwards, in particular one Brian Brobbey.

The Dutchman had ended up with just four league goals - fewer than the top scorers at two of the relegated sides, Almere City and RKC Waalwijk. This stretched to merely 7 in 44 appearances in all competitions.

The fact that this pitiful return came just one year after the best goalscoring season of his career perfectly encapsulated Brobbey’s time in Amsterdam, which repetitively veered from exciting potential to frustrating inconsistency. In a mixed time with his boyhood club, Brobbey often sparked without truly setting alight.

It meant that, when Brobbey was, as expected, sold that summer, the overriding feeling was that it was right for both club and player. If there was any major emotion, it was surprise that he had secured a Premier League move, with newly promoted Sunderland coughing up a reported £21.6 million fee.

Fast-forward a year and the Life of Brian looks totally different.

Few could have predicted that just over a year after that tepid end to his Ajax career, Brobbey would not only be starting for the Netherlands at the 2026 World Cup but wreaking havoc upon opposition defences. For a long period, fans of the Oranje viewed Brobbey at best as a muscular impact sub and a squad player. Now, after scoring three goals in three starts at a tournament where he also linked the play brilliantly and showed his pace and power in abundance, he is the undoubted first-choice no.9 for the foreseeable future.

It has proven to be one of the more remarkable redemption arcs of the past year. And it all started with the foresight of those at the Stadium of Light.

The Brobbey Paradox

Those who watched Brobbey a lot in the Eredivisie would have perhaps considered that if the Black Cats were after that vital ingredient to ensure Premier League survival - a goalscoring striker - then Brobbey was better off being left on the shelf for someone else.

The academy graduate had previously returned to Ajax after a difficult half-season with RB Leipzig, initially on loan and then permanently in 2022. Even factoring in the leniency given to players with time on their side, there was a clear Brobbey paradox over the course of the next three and a half seasons.

One game he would look like a young player with all the attributes to become one of the world’s best old-school centre forwards. The next like one of those bigger kids who’d get picked for the school football team, but then give the distinct impression that they had never properly seen a football in their life.

As fans of Sunderland will now attest, Brobbey is able to combine fantastic strength and hold-up play with speed and a predatory instinct to get himself into the right positions in the box. The problem was, too often at Ajax he would do everything right but then fail to supply the necessary finish. It was as if a scientist had constructed the perfect young centre forward but then got distracted when applying the final and most important touches.

Blossoming in the North East

It turns out there was a real striker in there. He just needed the North East, not North Holland, to blossom.

With his physical attributes, there was no doubt Brobbey was going to be able to cope with the rough and tumble of Premier League football. Nevertheless, it has been a surprise - including to those across the North Sea - at how quickly he settled into life on Wearside.

A total of seven Premier League goals and one assist aren’t exactly big numbers on their own to get excited about, yet it was the nature of these contributions and the wider improvements in his game that have been so impressive.

After a slow start where he was initially brought in off the bench, two moments kick-started his career in England - one showed the player he has been, the other the player he is quickly becoming. In an away win at Chelsea, it was Brobbey’s superb strength, hold-up play and lay-off that enabled the cavalry to arrive in the form of Chemsdine Talbi to score a late winner. It was textbook Brobbey. Then, two weeks later we saw a far rarer side to his game with an acrobatic 94th-minute finish to earn a point against Arsenal. It was the sort of instinctive play that was often missing at Ajax.

At present, Brobbey looks like a man increasingly able to deliver at crucial moments. Last season included late equalisers against Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, the equaliser that sparked an away win against Everton, plus winning goals against Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and of course in the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park. Throw in the aforementioned assist against Chelsea, and Brobbey directly played a part in securing 11 points for his team. Without them, Sunderland wouldn’t have been qualifying for Europe but ending just four points outside the relegation zone, nestled in between Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.

The capacity Brobbey has for drawing in defenders and being a physical nuisance is also invaluable for Sunderland when looking to get up the pitch, freeing up space for others. His quick turn of pace to break into the box - often after laying the ball off and spinning in behind - is frightening when he gets it right. The best example of this was his opening goal against Sweden at the World Cup, when he looked more like a 100 metre sprinter than a footballer.

On his day, watching Brobbey can feel like being taken back in time to an era of old school strikers getting their hands dirty, backing into defenders and revelling in the physicality of it all. A player happy to run the channels and to simply get in the box to cause some mayhem. He looks like he was made to play in the noughties, running out to ITV Football’s ‘Beautiful Day’ theme tune.

The really exciting thing about Brobbey is that theoretically there is still so much more to come from a player who is only 24 years of age. The challenge for the Amsterdammer is to now take his output to another level, and prove that he can get over the fallow periods that have previously knocked his confidence. Some strikers give an aura that they know they were made to score goals. Sometimes you feel Brobbey needs a calm tap on the shoulder to remind him of his potential.

According to XG Stat, compared to other Premier League strikers, he was in the top 16% for goal conversion last season but in the bottom 25% for non-penalty expected goals, demonstrating that if he can refine his decision-making in the attacking third, his ceiling for goal numbers is high. And for a player who does his damage within the penalty area, being in the bottom 22% for touches in the box per 90 minutes clearly needs improvement. Furthermore, as outlined by FotMob, a player who is one of the best in the whole division for aerial duels should definitely be having more than just six headed efforts on goal across a whole season.

An enigma no more

For much of his short career, Brobbey has been a bit of a footballing enigma. Could he actually be a good striker or not?

The question marks over his capacity to play in the Premier League were also understandable. Especially when, as has been proven in recent years, Dutch strikers in England - a bit like their country’s local Bitterballen cuisine - have been hit-and-miss. For every Ruud van Nistelrooy, there’s been a Memphis Depay.

There is room for improvement, but the doubters have been proven wrong. And the humble pie for those who doubted him, is still being eaten.

The different pieces needed for Brobbey to become a high-level centre forward were always there. Perhaps all it needed was the right environment to place them correctly together.