Premier League 2025-26 fans’ verdicts: stars, flops, and funniest moments

In this age of the managerial revolving door, I’m enormously proud that the Premier League champions (man, does that sound sweet!) stand as the antithesis to that. Admittedly, “trusting the process” aged a lot of us massively, but the agony of the past three campaigns evaporated with the final whistle at the Vitality. Sure, it would’ve been great to have enjoyed the sort of free-flowing football that the Cherries produced, but you won’t find a Gooner anywhere who gives a monkey’s how Mikel got us over the line. 19 great clean sheets. In the words of Fergie, attack wins games, but defence wins titles. Season rating: 10/10

Stars/flops Raya, Gabriel, Saliba and Rice were so consistent. But Martinelli managed only one league goal, Madueke lacked composure in front of goal and, while Eze’s one-man demolition of Spurs guarantees him cult status, he’s often struggled to influence proceedings.

What we need in the summer To shed some of the deadwood (Nørgaard, Vieira), and add dynamism to our attack (Barcola, Gibbs-White, Anderson, Tonali?)

Best/worst away fans Atlético Madrid’s staunch support in the face of defeat was impressive. Spurs fans are always worst.

Moment that made me smile The exposure of Hincapié’s backside against Burnley. But the biggest ear-to-ear grin came from the unbridled joy of Tuesday night’s celebrations in the streets around my Highbury home. And I’m hoping there’s more to come. My first question to the oncologist when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 was whether I’d live long enough to witness Arsenal winning the Champions League. Her response might have been: “Will any of us?” but having schlepped the length and breadth of Europe these past 30-odd years in search of that elusive trophy and, having felt like we were robbed by Barça in Paris in 2006, if we can triumph against PSG in Budapest then I’ll be able to shuffle off this mortal coil a contented man!

Bernard Azulay onlinegooner.com; @GoonerN5

Well, it’s not been plain sailing, but there have been so many brilliant highs this year culminating in a joyous party in Istanbul this week. “In Unai we trust” has been a crucial underpin to certain months in which we looked a moderate side, but Emery’s ability to get us to perform when it matters is becoming legendary. As has this team, this connection of seemingly really good blokes who love the club and have a great relationship with the fans. They have grown into senior pros together and, while fresh blood will be required, let’s focus on them: it’s been a great year and we really should smile and enjoy it. Villa fans, go and buy a shirt with your favourite’s name on, it’ll never go out of fashion. 9/10

Stars/flops McGinn is the sort of bloke you want to be your son’s best mate, your golfing partner and your club’s captain. His leadership and game management is genuinely remarkable and his finishing, ball control and general contribution have improved every year when the sports scientists would predict decline. What a player. The list of “big ups” is too long but Konsa has also become tattoo material for Villa fans.

What we need in the summer I don’t want to identify weaknesses in a team that have just given us everything, so I’ll just ask for a player in each zone, to match the obvious outgoings.

Best/worst away fans Liverpool and the absent Maccabi Tel Aviv fans matched each other for noise generated. Young Boys were wild, Sunderland good limbs.

Moment that made me smile They had the last laugh, but Buendía’s winner with the final kick against Arsenal and their subsequent pitch-pounding takes some beating.

Astonishing. Magnificent. Historic. Like no other season ever. We will be playing in Europe for the first time next season: a massive, monumental achievement for our club. Undefeated now for 17 games, we’ve beaten Arsenal at the Emirates (again), dominated City to kill off their title hopes and gone out in every game to play a brand of football that is energetic, exciting and fearless. All this after our defence was picked apart last summer, and our best forward departed in January. Andoni Iraola is a much-loved genius who will be sorely missed – but what a legacy he leaves Marco Rose. And what foundations Bill Foley, the staff and the players have built. We’re so looking forward to the next chapter. Others may call us tinpot. But we are proud. We are the mighty Cherries and we’re in Europe! 10/10

Stars/flops Alex Scott has been superb, he can do it all. Junior Kroupi and Rayan have been spectacular. Truffert is an unbelievable upgrade at left-back. Senesi has been sensational. Tavernier, Adam Smith, Tyler Adams, Petrovic all excellent. My top choice, though, would be James Hill, a £1m signing from Fleetwood in 2022. He replaced Diakité in December and has proven himself the best English centre-half in the country.

What we need in the summer Squad strengthening and better contracts for the stars: critical so we can keep hold of them for as long as possible. We must also replace Senesi, no easy task.

Best/worst away fans Best fans, probably, Leeds. They never shut up. Worst fan Noel Gallagher. Leaving 10 minutes before the end. With the title on the line. Embarrassing, some might say.

Moment that made me smile The final whistle against Man City. Tears of joy. We’re all going on a European tour!

Jeff Hayward Back of the Net, the AFC Bournemouth Fan’s Podcast.

What a season. When Thomas Frank left and rookie Keith Andrews stepped up, plenty of people wrote Brentford off. I felt positive about the change but still only tipped us for 14th. So to be in the mix for Europe now is a huge achievement. There were a few disappointments along the way: the League Cup defeat to City, and losing to West Ham after that awful Panenka penalty was painful. But overall, 8.5/10.

Stars/flops Igor Thiago starred, scoring 22 league goals in his first full campaign, with the fans belting out “Thiago” to the tune of Spandau Ballet’s “Gold” – an instant cult hero. I’m off to the USA for the World Cup with England this summer and after his call-up to the Brazil team I fully intend to wear my newly designed Beesotted Thiago Brentford T-shirt while mixing with my Brazilian mates. Michael Kayode was also superb: there’s way more to him than long throws. If there’s one player who has frustrated at times, it’s Kevin Schade. The raw attributes are all there – blistering pace, power and the ability to completely change a game – but his form has been inconsistent.

What we need in the summer If we want to compete for Europe again – or, if results go our way, avoid being derailed by the demands of European football – the squad needs more finished-product players. Depth is vital. And so is replacing Wissa. We didn’t have time to do it this season because of how he and Newcastle engineered his move; if we had, we could have been pushing for the Champions League.

Best/worst away fans Wolves fans were remarkably up for it on a cold Tuesday night in west London. Honourable mention to the 30 PSG fans over from Paris who didn’t stop singing for the whole 90 minutes in a recent B-Team friendly. Worst – I always say Fulham but this time I’ll give it to Spurs. We barely heard a peep from them all game in a pretty dreadful 0-0 draw.

Moment that made me smile Seeing Igor Thiago’s family react to his first Brazil call-up. As soon as his name was announced, the whole room just erupted. A brilliant reminder of just how much football still means to people.

Billy Grant Beesotted podcast and blog; @Beesotted; @BillyTheBee99

Forget the strange case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. This was the strange season of Brighton & Hove Albion. Fifth at the end of November. One win in 13 matches over December, January and February with football so atrocious 80% of fans voted Fabian Hürzeler out in an online poll. And yet Brighton go into the final day on the verge of qualifying for Europe. That was the club’s publicly stated aim at the start. Hürzeler is therefore close to delivering on expectations. He has just taken a roundabout route to get there. As for a rating? 5/10 for the start. 1/10 for the winter. 9/10 for the finish. 8/10 overall.

Stars/flops Ferdi Kadioglu has been a revelation. Not as flamboyant as Marc Cucurella or Pervis Estupiñán and therefore goes under the radar – but he is every bit as good as his left-back predecessors. Carlos Baleba has been a disappointment. So much talent. So good last season. He just hasn’t looked the same player since interest from Manchester United.