SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 | SPORTS | By Obie King-Bagley (Staff Writer)
Liverpool: A
Liverpool hasn’t been dominant to start the season, but they’ve logged three wins from three matches, including a massive win over Arsenal, last year’s runners-up. Their transfer business has been excellent, luring Newcastle’s star striker Alexander Isak to Anfield, alongside major moves.
Sunderland: A
Newly-promoted Sunderland has spent heavily, with promising results so far. They will regret their loss at Burnley, but convincing wins over West Ham and Brentford are promising signs for their first Premier League season since 2017.
Crystal Palace: A
The 2024-25 season was arguably the best in Crystal Palace’s history. The South London club won the FA Cup, marking its first major trophy in 119 years of existence. This summer, they doubled that tally with a Community Shield win over Liverpool before navigating a tricky playoff game to qualify for a European competition for the first time. They are still undefeated in the Premier League after a tough set of games, and managed to keep hold of star center-back Marc Guéhi despite Liverpool pushing hard to sign him.
Chelsea: A-
Despite having a short offseason due to their triumph in this summer’s Club World Cup and several injuries to key players, Enzo Maresca’s side remains undefeated and arguably has the strongest depth in the league. The team’s transfer business has been eclectic as always, with ten new signings and more than twenty outgoings, but this has been the most stable offseason for Chelsea since their 2022 takeover by Dodgers owner Todd Boehly.
Everton: A-
While Everton opened with a disappointing opening day performance and loss to Leeds United, wins over Brighton and Wolverhampton and great showings from their new signings, especially winger Jack Grealish, have lifted the Toffees all the way to fifth. With new owners, a new stadium, and an upturn in form since manager David Moyes took over midway through last year, the vibes around Everton are the highest they’ve been in years.
Tottenham Hotspur: B+
After winning their first trophy in 17 years last year, Tottenham started this season by faltering in the UEFA Super Cup final. Under new manager Thomas Frank, the Spurs have been impressive, but a home loss to Bournemouth shows that they are far from a finished product.
Bournemouth: B+
Bournemouth lost four of last year’s starting five defenders in the lead-up to this summer. Despite this, Andoni Iraola’s side has started the season well, with wins over Tottenham and Wolverhampton, while losing a close, back-and-forth game against Liverpool. The early results look good as they try to build on the momentum of last year’s ninth-place finish.
Leeds United: B+
Last year’s second-tier EFL Championship winners strengthened their defense heavily to try to stay in the Premier League this season. Leeds’ opening day 1-0 win over Everton looked to be a great sign of things to come, but they were promptly battered 0-5 by Arsenal in their second outing. A 0-0 draw at home to Newcastle is a much better result, and their form at home has been solid so far.
Arsenal: B
Arsenal have significantly strengthened their squad this summer, but their loss to Liverpool will slightly dent their title hopes, even this early in the season. Despite a comprehensive victory over newly promoted Leeds, Arsenal looked poor in their season-opening victory against a tumultuous Manchester United squad. Time will tell if Mikel Arteta can finally end his trophy drought this year.
Brighton: B-
The Seagulls narrowly missed out on European qualification last year, and other than the notable departure of striker João Pedro, have retained most of their squad. A tough slate of early fixtures has left mixed results, but an impressive win over Manchester City could be a springboard for them to once again challenge towards the top half of the table.
Burnley: B-
Scott Parker’s newly promoted team has had a so-so start to the season. A 2-0 win over Sunderland in matchweek two was a good result, but despite a strong performance against Manchester United and a decent showing against Tottenham, they lost both games. The difference in quality between the Championship and Premier League has been apparent; Burnley conceded 16 goals across the entirety of last season, the second-best defensive record across an English league season ever, yet they’ve already conceded six in just three matches this year.
Fulham: C+
As always, Fulham left their transfer business until deadline day, signing three players, most notably winger Kevin for a club-record transfer fee. The results don’t look good on paper, but it’s been a tough set of games to start the season, and points against Brighton and Manchester United, two teams they traditionally lose to, are respectable.
Nottingham Forest: C
After finishing an impressive seventh last season, Nottingham Forest has higher expectations than usual. They tailed off at the end of the year as injuries, fatigue, and lack of squad depth took their toll, but Forest have reinforced well in the transfer market and have been relatively impressive to start the season. A win over Brentford and a draw with Crystal Palace are both good results, but a one-sided 0-3 loss at home to West Ham is concerning.
Brentford: C-
Having lost their manager, all but one assistant manager, captain, goalkeeper and their two best players, expectations are low for Brentford. Their manager, Keith Edwards, has never managed at the senior professional level, and so far, it’s shown. A win over a very disappointing Aston Villa is the only saving grace of their season so far, and it looks like it might be a long year for the Bees.
Manchester City: D
An injury crisis and prolonged rebuild led to a disappointing 2024-25 season for Manchester City, and going into the new season, they invested heavily with the intention of competing for the title once again. That hasn’t gone to plan after losses to both Brighton and Tottenham, and their new signings continue to look far off from the quality of the team that won four straight titles between 2021 and 2024.
West Ham: D
The results so far: a 0-3 loss on opening day to a newly promoted Sunderland team, a 1-5 loss to Chelsea, which could’ve, and probably should have, been worse, and a 2-3 loss to Wolves in the FA Cup, where they started up 2-0. A 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in their last game has helped to improve the vibes around the team marginally, and a flurry of late transfer activity could turn their season around, but it’s been rough watching so far.
Newcastle United: D
The big story from Newcastle’s summer was star striker Alexander Isak, who eventually moved to Liverpool for an English transfer record on deadline day. After missing out on what seemed like every player they wanted to sign, Newcastle have finally managed to bring in new players, but they don’t seem to be better than what they’ve lost. A spirited performance against Liverpool ended in a heartbreaking 2-3 loss, and two goalless draws in their other games don’t inspire much confidence.
Manchester United: F
United were hoping to bounce back after an atrocious season where they finished in sixteenth, their lowest position ever in the Premier League. Head coach Rúben Amorim had his first pre-season in charge, and though they lost their opening game against Arsenal, they looked positive. That has since been overshadowed by an embarrassing loss to Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup, a team whose entire squad value is 1/203rd of United’s. A win last weekend over Burnley hasn’t relieved much of the pressure off of Amorim, nor the players, and early signs point to yet another tough season for the Red Devils.
Aston Villa: F
Unai Emery’s team has had a horrible start to the year. With three games played, they still haven’t gotten a goal, let alone a win. Villa did eventually get some transfer business done at the end of the window, but they’ve been far below their standard so far.
Wolverhampton: F
The only team to lose all three games, the Wolves have predictably struggled following the departure of several key players from the club this summer. Their replacements, as always, are relative unknowns, and time will tell if they’ve done enough to once more survive, though their margin for error feels much smaller this year.