Record number of new managers for season like no other
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Nine Premier League clubs will start the 2026-27 season under a new permanent manager, surpassing the previous record of eight set in 2016-17 and marking the largest opening-weekend turnover since the league's 1992 inception.
- Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea headline the changes, with Andoni Iraola replacing the sacked Arne Slot at Anfield, Enzo Maresca succeeding the resigned Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, and Xabi Alonso taking over after Liam Rosenior's dismissal at Stamford Bridge.
- Arsenal's Mikel Arteta, appointed in December 2019, becomes the Premier League's longest-serving manager despite holding the post for less than seven years, while the average top-flight tenure has shrunk to roughly 20 months.
- For the first time since 1985-86, the Premier League begins without Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho, Klopp or Guardiola in a dugout — managers who collectively won 26 of the league's 34 titles.
- Liverpool's opening run is unprecedented: Iraola's first six Premier League fixtures all come against teams led by new permanent managers — Newcastle, Forest, Ipswich, Fulham, Bournemouth and Manchester City.
- Only six managers have ever won the Premier League title in their first season at a club since 1992 — Mourinho, Ancelotti, Pellegrini, Ranieri, Conte and Slot — a benchmark any of the nine new bosses would need to match to dethrone Arteta.
- The 2025-26 season already saw 11 managerial changes, with Forest employing three managers and Tottenham two during the campaign, illustrating how fleeting top-flight tenures have become.
Why it matters: Mikel Arteta is now the longest-serving Premier League manager at under seven years while the average top-flight tenure has collapsed to roughly 20 months — Arsenal's continuity becomes a structural edge in a season where nine of twenty clubs are navigating simultaneous tactical resets, and where Liverpool's Iraola faces the bizarre scenario of beginning his reign against six opponents who are also breaking in new systems.
