Premier League 2026/27: What to watch out for ahead of the new season

The Premier League is back this weekend with fans of England’s top-flight clubs hoping for a season of joy following yet another summer of disappointment for the national team.

Champions Arsenal get the new campaign underway at home to newly promoted Coventry City on Friday (21 August), with Mikel Arteta's side aiming to defend their crown and hold off a pack of rivals that all head into the season with new managers in the dugout.

Liverpool will be desperate to bounce back after a disappointing 2025/26 campaign and get their hands on the trophy again. Manchester City, meanwhile, face a fascinating new chapter as they adjust to life after Pep Guardiola and chase their first league title since completing an unprecedented four-in-a-row in 2023/24.

And then there's Manchester United. It's been more than a decade since their last Premier League triumph, but after a strong finish to last season, there's renewed optimism that they can finally mount a genuine title challenge.

We've taken a look at the summer's biggest transfer moves, who strengthened where it matters, and what it all could mean for the race to be crowned Premier League champions next May.

Just like the 2025/26 season, Sky Sports will once again show a minimum of 215 Premier League games exclusively live during the 2026/27 season, including the first pick of fixtures each week and multiple Sunday 2pm matches on selected weekends.

TNT Sports is also a key destination for Premier League football, with 52 live matches across the season, including exclusive Saturday lunchtime kick-offs and selected midweek fixtures.

Between Sky Sports and TNT Sports, you'll be able to watch hundreds of live Premier League matches throughout the campaign.

And remember, you can follow every twist and turn of the season on the go as well as on TV. All you need is the Sky Sports app and the HBO Max app for TNT Sports.

Skip to how to watch Sky Sports and TNT Sports on Virgin TV

From the race for the title to the battle against relegation, you can watch all the action happen across Sky Sports and TNT Sports. The big kick-off is on Friday and there’s loads of tasty-looking televised fixtures to look forward to in the first five matchweeks of the season.

• Arsenal vs Coventry City
  Friday 21 August, 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Hull City vs Manchester United
  Saturday 22 August, 12.30pm, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 521)

• Newcastle United vs Liverpool
  Sunday 23 August, 4.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Aston Villa vs Arsenal
  Monday 31 August, 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502) 

• Arsenal vs Chelsea
  Sunday 6 September, 4.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Manchester United vs Manchester City
  Sunday 13 September, 4.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502) 

• Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa
  Saturday 19 September, 12.30pm, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 521)

With three different champions in the last three seasons and managerial changes galore, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top in the upcoming Premier League campaign. Here’s the lowdown on the likely challengers:

Ridiculed for years by rival fans as being the perennial bottlejobs, Arsenal finally got themselves over the line last season and were crowned champions for the first time in 22 years. The Gunners have been active in this summer’s transfer window as they bid to retain their title, with the £75 million signing of Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United arguably the most significant of all.

Further new additions already confirmed include Greece forward Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge, experienced goalkeeper Illan Meslier from Leeds United and Ecuador defender Piero Hincapie, who’s signed a permanent deal having spent last season on loan from German side Bayer Leverkusen. Belgium forward Leandro Trossard is the most notable departure with boss Mikel Arteta looking to mould his squad into one that’s capable of winning the Premier League again and also going one step further in the Champions League having lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the final in May. Despite claiming the title three times under legendary manager Arsene Wenger (in 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2003/04), Arsenal have never gone back-to-back – a sure sign of a truly great side when going back through the history books. Could it happen at the fourth time of asking?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. The 1971 song by the late, great David Bowie perfectly encapsulates the feeling at Liverpool this summer. Arne Slot was sacked having followed up a title win in his debut season with a disappointing fifth-place finish, and the Dutchman has been replaced in the Anfield hot seat by Andoni Iraola – the 44-year-old Spaniard who led Bournemouth into Europe for the first time in their history after ending up just one place behind Liverpool in the 2025/26 table.

Add to that the departure of club legend Mohamed Salah as well as long-time club servants in the shape of Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate, and there’s no denying that this is the start of a completely new cycle in the club’s history. Spain forward Victor Munoz, France under-21 defender Jeremy Jacquet and young Colombian midfielder Samuel Martinez are the three new permanent additions thus far, while Uruguay defender Ronald Araujo has arrived on a season-long loan from Barcelona. Iraola is expected to dip into the transfer market again before the window shuts, but we’re certainly not going to see a repeat of the amount of activity last summer when the club spent a massive £446 million – the most ever by a Premier League club in a single window.

Shoes don’t come much bigger to fill. Enzo Maresca has the mammoth task of guiding the trophy-winning juggernaut that is Manchester City to even more success as the post-Pep Guardiola era gets underway. It’d be completely unrealistic to expect the Italian to better Guardiola’s major trophy haul of 17 – achieved across a memorable 10 years – while in charge, but with City having gone two seasons without winning the Premier League title, there’ll certainly be a more immediate pressure on the 46-year-old to reclaim the crown they won four times in a row from 2020/21 to 2023/24.

England midfielder Elliot Anderson has signed from Nottingham Forest for £116 million, initially making him the most expensive British player in history until Chelsea signed Morgan Rogers for £117 million, and exciting young winger Jeremy Monga is another notable addition to an already immensely talented group of players. With Nathan Ake joining Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones – three hugely influential players during Guardiola’s tenure – in leaving the club for pastures new, Maresca has the opportunity to quickly put his own stamp on the squad and try to return them to the top of the English game.

Brains over bling. Manchester United are continuing to rebuild smartly with the powers that be at Old Trafford refusing to pay what they perceive to be over the odds for any players. That stance led to the club pulling out of deals for Elliot Anderson and Portugal midfielder Mateus Fernandes – signed by Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively – when the price got too high for their likening.

However, they have since bolstered their midfield with the signings of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos from Aston Villa and Chelsea, respectively, and further incomings could be on the cards as Michael Carrick – appointed permanent head coach before the final game of last season having delivered Champions League qualification as interim boss – looks to get United back to the Premier League’s summit. Thirteen years have passed since the Red Devils last won English football’s biggest prize, with Carrick a member of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final title-winning squad before the legendary Scotsman retired. Will the former England midfielder be the man to finally return them to former glories?

Aston Villa secured Champions League qualification for the second time in three seasons with a fourth-place finish in the 2025/26 campaign. The next challenge for them will be striking the right balance when it comes to playing in both the Premier League and Europe’s elite competition. The last time they faced the same challenge, in the 2024/25 season, they had to settle for a sixth-place finish in the Premier League and qualification for the following campaign’s Europa League – a competition which they went onto win in May. Whether the Villans can put themselves in contention for the title remains to be seen, but it’ll largely depend on how well they reinvest the £117 million they’ve received from the sale of England midfielder Morgan Rogers to big spending Chelsea.

Speaking of Chelsea, the Blues had a season to forget in 2025/26, finishing 10^th in the Premier League table below Bournemouth, newly promoted Sunderland, Brighton and Brentford. The campaign finished with Calum McFarlane in interim charge following the sacking of Liam Rosenior, whose short tenure ended in April having replaced Enzo Maresca less than four months earlier. Former Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso is the latest manager to take the reins at Stamford Bridge and could well benefit from Chelsea missing out on European qualification as they look to secure a significantly better league finish.

• Brentford vs Tottenham Hotspur
  Saturday 22 August, 5:30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Brighton and Hove Albion vs Aston Villa
  Sunday 23 August, 2pm, Sky Sports Premier League (CH 502)

• Manchester City vs Bournemouth
  Sunday 23 August, 2pm, Sky Sports Main Event (CH 501)

• Fulham vs Chelsea
  Monday 24 August, 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Crystal Palace vs Manchester City
  Friday 28 August, 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest
  Saturday 29 August, 12.30pm, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 521)

• Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United
  Saturday 29 August, 5.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Chelsea vs Brighton and Hove Albion
  Sunday 30 August, 2pm, Sky Sports Main Event (CH 501)

• Leeds United vs Brentford
  Sunday 30 August, 2pm, Sky Sports Premier League (CH 502)

• Sunderland vs Fulham
  Sunday 30 August, 2pm, Sky Sports+ (CH 504)

• Manchester United vs Ipswich Town
  Sunday 30 August, 4.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Ipswich Town vs Liverpool
  Friday 4 September, 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

• Newcastle United vs Bournemouth
  Saturday 5 September, 12.30pm, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 521)

• Hull City vs Aston Villa
  Saturday 5 September, 5.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502) 

• Everton vs Manchester United
  Sunday 6 September, 2pm, Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League (CH 501/502)

You can watch most Premier League matches on Sky Sports Main Event (CH 501) and Sky Sports Premier League (CH 502) on your Virgin TV box.

You can also watch some games on Sky Sports+, either by tuning to CH 504 or pressing the red button on any Sky Sports channel included in your package.

If you watch on our TiVo^® box or V6 box (powered by TiVo), you can watch Sky Sports+ on CH 504 in HD or the Sky Sports app, but you can’t get full access to Sky Sports+ on the red button. If you want to, it’s super easy to upgrade your Virgin TV box. Just get in touch.

Customers with Virgin TV 360 or our Stream box can watch TNT Sports via the HBO Max app in the Apps section of their home screen or on the usual channels in the channel guide. They are:

• TNT Sports 1 (CH 521)

• TNT Sports 2 (CH 522)

• TNT Sports 3 (CH 523)

• TNT Sports 4 (CH 524)

• TNT Sports Ultimate (CH 525)

If you watch TV on our V6 or TiVo® box, you won’t be able to access the HBO Max app. But if you already subscribe to TNT Sports on Virgin TV, all your live TNT Sports channels will be available as usual in the TV Guide on compatible devices.

You can also stream TNT Sports on the go using the Virgin TV Go app.

Never miss a kick-off, knockout or chequered flag. Add Sky Sports and TNT Sports to your package for live coverage of the biggest sporting events, plus dedicated channels and expert analysis as the drama unfolds.

Best of all, everything is available through your Virgin TV box, making it easy to find, watch and enjoy the sport you love in one place.