Premier League

The 2026-27 season

Arsenal come into this season as champions. They took the 2025-26 title by a margin that was settled well before May, ending a wait of 22 years since their last English championship and taking their tally to four Premier League titles and fourteen overall. That leaves them third on the all-time list, behind Manchester United and Liverpool on twenty each.

Three clubs came up from the Championship. Coventry City won it by eleven points, a gap that made the second half of their season a procession. Ipswich Town finished second with eight defeats and returned at the first attempt. Hull City took the harder route, beating Middlesbrough in the play-off final with a 95th-minute finish from McBurnie, and are back in the top flight after a decade away.

The season England plays that nobody else does

The 2026-27 campaign opened on 21 August and runs to 30 May. Germany, Spain and Italy stop for two or three weeks around the new year. England does not. Clubs play on Boxing Day and again within seventy-two hours, then again at the new year, a programme no other major league attempts.

That fortnight decides more English seasons than any other stretch. Squad depth stops being a talking point in late December and becomes a table position, and a club carrying two injuries into Christmas can lose a European place before the January window opens. It is also the best fortnight of the year to watch English football from abroad, because there is a match on almost every day of it.

The clubs to know

Manchester United and Liverpool share the record of twenty English titles each, though neither has been the dominant force of the last decade. Manchester City turned the 2010s and early 2020s into a run of championships, and Arsenal ended it last season. Between them those four clubs have taken almost every title of the Premier League era.

The fixtures that carry weight beyond three points are the Manchester derby, Liverpool against Manchester United, the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham, and the Merseyside derby, which returns to the calendar whenever Everton stay up. Below them, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Chelsea compete for the European places, and the three promoted clubs, Coventry, Ipswich and Hull, are trying to avoid the immediate return that has claimed most promoted sides in recent seasons.

The money, and what it buys

English football earns on a different scale from the rest of Europe. In 2021-22 the Premier League took 37.4 per cent of all revenue across the big five leagues, which was more than La Liga and the Bundesliga earned between them. The gap has not closed since.

The money buys depth. A mid-table English club can outspend a title contender in Portugal or the Netherlands, which makes the seventeenth-best team in England a serious side. Away wins land more often than the reputations of the big clubs suggest, and a result that would be an upset in France is a Tuesday here.

The crowds match the income. English grounds averaged 41,663 last season, the highest of the major leagues, against 34,974 in Germany and 30,945 in Spain. English tickets also cost several times what a German one does, which is the other half of the same arrangement.

Not the highest-scoring, whatever the highlights suggest

The Premier League produced 1,045 goals in 380 matches last season, 2.75 a game. That is more than Spain on 2.69 and Italy on 2.43, and clearly less than Germany on 3.24 or the Netherlands on 3.18. English football has a reputation for chaos that the scorelines do not support.

What it does have is closeness. The goals are spread more evenly across the division than in leagues with two dominant clubs, so a Premier League fixture chosen at random is more likely to be competitive than one chosen at random in Spain, Portugal or France.

Following the season week to week

Rounds run Friday evening to Monday night. The table on this page updates as results are confirmed, and the round preview covers every fixture in the coming matchday with both clubs' form and recent results. Kick-off times show in your own timezone.

If you are working out where to watch, the guide lists the confirmed broadcasters by country and explains the Saturday afternoon rule that keeps a large share of matches off British television entirely.

Premier League: common questions

When does the Premier League season start and finish?

The 2026-27 season opened on 21 August 2026 and runs to 30 May 2027. Twenty clubs play 38 rounds each, and unlike Spain, Italy and Germany there is no winter break: English clubs play through late December and early January at a rate no other major league attempts.

How many Premier League matches are there in a season?

380 in total, 38 for each of the twenty clubs. Every side plays every other twice, home and away.

Who won the Premier League last season?

Arsenal took the 2025-26 title, their fourth Premier League championship and fourteenth English title overall, ending a wait of 22 years. Manchester United and Liverpool share the all-time record on twenty each.

How can I watch Premier League matches?

In the United Kingdom you need both Sky Sports and TNT Sports to see the full televised season, and even then the Saturday three o'clock fixtures are not shown live. In the United States NBC covers all 380 matches across Peacock, NBC and USA Network. Our viewing guide lists the confirmed broadcasters by country.

What time do Premier League matches kick off?

Rounds run from Friday evening to Monday night. The regular slots are Saturday at 12:30, 15:00, 17:30 and 20:00, and Sunday at 14:00 and 16:30, all UK time. Every time on this site converts to your own timezone automatically.

How do you bet on the Premier League?

This is the most heavily traded league in the world, so the prices are sharper here than anywhere else and the obvious angles are corrected before you find them. Value tends to sit in the goal and card markets rather than in match results. Our betting guide covers how odds work and what welcome offers actually require.

Not sure where a match is on? The viewing guide lists the confirmed rights holders by country.