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When Mikel Arteta leads Arsenal out at home to Coventry on Friday evening, he will do so as the longest serving manager in the Premier League. Fresh from getting Arsenal over the line to their first league title in more than two decades, Arteta is now the elder statesman of the league after Pep Guardiola decided to call time on his 10 years with Manchester City. The next trick for Arteta is to defend the title and win back-to-back Premier Leagues for the first time in the club's history, surpassing even the achievements of Arsene Wenger. Arsenal go into the season as the heavy favourites. A sense of uncertainty and flux settles in over their rivals, while Arteta’s steady hand, long-term squad building and continued improvement means they’re the team to beat. As to who is going to challenge them, that’s still anyone’s guess. The 2026/27 Premier League season starts with so much managerial change among the top clubs that outside of Arsenal, the top four seems entirely up for grabs. Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United all go into the season under new management with various levels of experience and expertise in the league. Meanwhile the likes of Tottenham and Newcastle, who will still maintain hopes of breaking into the Champions League places, enter the new campaign not just with new management but with huge squad upheaval. Of the teams that finished in the Champions League places last term only Arsenal and Aston Villa start the season with the same manager they had in place this time last year and it’s difficult to see any kind of title challenge come from Villa. Unai Emery has worked wonders at Villa Park, leading them to European silverware along with a top four finish and doing so with a thread-bare squad. Injuries hampered their early season and post-Christmas form. Once again it looks like Emery’s squad could struggle with the rigours of a European and domestic season. They’ve lost key players, including Morgan Rogers and Ezri Konsa, while Ollie Watkins’ future remains uncertain. New arrivals Johan Manzambi, Zion Suzuki and Matteo Ruggeri offer reasons for optimism but given the time they’ll take to bed in, and Villa’s more demanding European schedule, the top four will again be the extent of their aspirations this season. Down the road at Old Trafford, Michael Carrick is almost an old veteran among the current crop of Premier League managers, having now been in situ for almost eight months. Carrick went down the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer route of Manchester United management, being the available man who played under Alex Ferguson at the same time as the wheels fell off a more leftfield appointment. Initially coming in as the caretaker after Ruben Amorim was sacked, Carrick steadied the ship and genuinely did an impressive job in taking them to a third place finish. Now his challenge is proving that he’s more than a Solskjaer vibe’s manager and pushing United on. They’ve strengthened their midfield with Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos with Carlos Baleba on the way, while Bruno Fernandes remains the creative heartbeat of the team, even if the transfer whisperings continue. Carrick benefited from a lack of European football last season and was able to focus on just one weekly game, a luxury he won’t have this campaign, while big questions remain over defensive depth and whether the squad is strong enough to mount a serious challenge. Exceeding low expectations got Carrick the job in the first place, but to stay there, he’s going to have to show that he’s not another Solskjaer and more than a flash in the pan. United under Carrick were the form team in the league, finishing with a better record than Arsenal in the time he was in charge. Keeping that kind of form going would mark them out as genuine title challengers. Meanwhile there are big question marks over their city rival Manchester City who, faced with replacing their best ever manager, have turned to a look-a-like who is taking on the biggest role of his career. Enzo Mareseca’s links to City were partially responsible for him being sacked from Chelsea in January, as a poor run of form and disagreements with the medical department coincided with him speaking to Manchester City about potentially succeeding Pep Guardiola. Six months later and he’s handed the unenviable job of succeeding Guardiola. Initial signs aren't positive as City’s summer transfer dealings has seen them lose a vast amount of experience and talent with minimal replacements. Ballon d’Or winner Rodri has joined Barcelona, while Tijjani Reijnders has moved to Al-Qadsiah for a large fee. Dressing room stalwarts Bernardo Silva and John Stones have also left, with Nathan Ake departing for Fenerbahce. City’s headline arrival is Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for a club-record and potentially unwise €135m, while teenage winger Jeremy Monga has also joined from Leicester. Maresca does inherit plenty of quality, particularly Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki, but their summer transfer dealings have left them with an unbalanced looking squad that lacks serious depth outside of the first 11. It’s hard to see how they can improve on their second placed finish last season and, with so much upheaval, there’s the potential for the wheels to fall off entirely for City. That’s even without the 115 charges of alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules. Also looking going into the new season under new management are Liverpool who moved swiftly to replace Arne Slot with Andoni Iraola at the end of a disappointing campaign which they went into as champions. It’s by far the highest profile job of Iraola’s career and his appointment is a risky one. While he was eventually a success at Bournemouth, it took him ten matches to get his first league win as the Cherries boss, time he just wouldn’t be afforded at Anfield. Tasked with the restoring the intensity and attacking style associated with the Jurgen Klopp era, Irola looks to have the ingredients on the pitch to do so. Liverpool have added hugely promising young defender Jeremy Jacquet to their backline, while Victor Munoz gives them added attacking depth. Their pursuit of PSG pair Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye continues and landing Barcola in particular would represent a major coup. With Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Ibrahima Konate and Curtis Jones all moving on, there has been a changing of the guard but if Iraola can get the new arrivals settled and work out a way to successfully deploy Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, Liverpool can challenge. With a former Liverpool star in charge of them now, Chelsea will be looking to do likewise. Xabi Alonso was long thought of as the natural replacement for Jurgen Klopp but he opted for an unsuccessful stint at Real Madrid and is now seeking to rebuild both his career and the team at Chelsea. Alonso is already making major changes at Stamford Bridge, signing Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for a British-record €136m. He has also upended years of Chelsea’s 'youth only’ signing policy by bringing in Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck. The arrival of Henderson and Welbeck is perhaps the most interesting aspect of Alonso’s early dealings as he looks to right what he sees the as the wrongs of the past at Chelsea and bring in some older and calmer heads into a squad already stacked with raw talent. It’s a gamble that needs to pay off quickly. Chelsea are wracked with financial problems with their parent holding company posting a pre-tax loss of €897m for the year to 30 June 2025, as American billionaire businessmen Todd Boehly and Mark Walter are in talks to sell their stakes in the club. Having spent so freely on signing the best young players available over the last four years, with scant return on the pitch, the Blues need to return to the Champions League and the finances that provides. If Alonso can’t manage that, the club could be in big trouble. A title challenge looks unlikely from the Blues, but during his time at Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso showed he can upset the odds with an unfancied team. There's a huge amount of talent on the books at Chelsea and if Alonso can manage to build a coherent team with the parts he has, they could be the surprise package of the season.