2025 goals for all 20 English Premier League clubs

It’s too early to give up hope. The Premier League title race is essentially down to two teams, Liverpool and Arsenal, though Nottingham Forest remain in a close third. Arsenal are looking up at Liverpool, and have become outright underdogs in that battle. The Gunners should still consider it a battle, though, and go all out to try and take the title over the Reds.

Aston Villa will be hard pressed to finish in the top four again, though a spot in the Champions League or Europa League is still definitely in play. However, Villa is already in this year’s Champions League, its first appearance since the 1982-83 season. On top of that, Villa has been surprisingly good in this year’s tournament and a spot in the round of 16 seems likely. After that, maybe the quarterfinals are in play, and maybe even the semifinals. That would be huge, and that is where Aston Villa should focus its energy.

Bournemouth transferred Dominic Solanke out of town, but the club has more than managed. The Cherries have a good chance to finish in the top half of the table, but they can aim a little higher. Though a spot in the Champions League would be hard to manage, Europa League is plausible. There’s also the Conference League, but nobody cares about that.

Brentford is known for its analytical salary and the ability to find success even with relatively-limited resources. How does a club like Brentford flex its acumen on-and-off the pitch when contending for the Premier League title is essentially out of the equation? Finishing in the top half of the table is a good place to start. Being far away from relegation and above some of the big-name clubs in England would be strong optics to be sure.

When Pascal Gross went back to Germany and Robert De Zerbi left to manage Marseille, many wondered if the fun was over at Brighton. The club hired a 31-year-old manager in Fabian Hurzeler, after all, which speaks to a revamp. Brighton has been solid, is not in any threat of relegation, and sits in the middle of the table. The difference between finishing 10th and finishing 11st may be marginal, but being able to say “top half of the table” still has some heft to it.

Chelsea spent millions of dollars on transfers to finish sixth last season. Cut to another new manager and even more transfers. This time, things seem to be working a bit better. Chelsea opened 2025 as the favorite to finish third, which gives them breathing room to finish in the top four. That, of course, would ensure a return to the Champions League.

Crystal Palace was sweating relegation for much of last season, but then Oliver Glasner took over as manager and the club finished 10th. Well, that proved to not be terribly instructive for future reference, as the London club has been in the thick of the relegation race again. What’s done is done, but Palace should be aiming higher than simply not being relegated. This is even about more than finishing higher than 17th, which is one spot out of relegation. The goal should be that by the penultimate game week of the season the club is safe from the threat of dropping down a level.

Everton can’t be quite as ambitious in its goals. It has the worst offense in the Premier League outside of clubs that were playing in the Championship last season. The Toffees can’t blame point reductions this time around, either, and the club has already relieved former manager Sean Dyche of his duties. Everton needs to avoid relegation and then focus on finding the right person for the job on the blue side of the Mersey.

Coming into the year we wondered if Fulham might be in a relegation battle as 2025 kicked off. Nope! That’s no worry at this point, allowing Fulham to set its sights higher than that. Europe is a bit of a pipe dream, but finishing in the top half of the table is definitely doable.

Ipswich is the only one of the three clubs who were promoted for this season not to sack its manager. That’s not because the club has been soaring. There’s a good chance Ipswich is relegated, but this is a club that was playing in League One two seasons ago. Many expected Ipswich to be one-and-done, so if it can avoid that, it will be a legitimate accomplishment.

Leicester being down in the relegation battle again is a bit more surprising. It had been a Premier League club for years, and so when it went down and finished atop the Championship, it felt like an aberration. Well, maybe not. The Foxes are fighting an uphill battle and has fired a manager. To be fair, the manager that got them promoted, Enzo Maresca, had already left for Chelsea. For Leicester, it’s all about not becoming a yo-yo club.

Liverpool is the favorite to win the Carabao Cup, nobody would be surprised if it won the FA Cup, and it is right in the mix for the Champions League as well. Finishing second in the Premier League would be no disappointment, either. That being said, Liverpool under Arne Slot has been running roughshod over the Premier League. If it doesn’t win the league at this point, some people are going to consider that a disappointment.

Speaking of disappointment. City is unlikely to take home any trophies this year, and winning the Premier League yet again is out of the picture. Even finishing third will be tough, but that should be the goal. Why, if finishing fourth (and possibly fifth, as we will get into) gets you into the Champions League? Well, if Manchester City finishes third, we’re imagining only Liverpool and Arsenal above it. Those clubs were considered title contenders heading into the season, so finishing just behind those two would feel less like a disappointment.

United has given up on Erik ten Hag. The club won’t qualify for Europe through league positioning this season. It won’t finish in the top half of the table even. Winning the FA Cup? Yeah, not happening. What’s left for Man U then, other than playing out the string? They are still alive in the Europa League, where it is one of the more-talented clubs. Asking them to win it all might be rich, but Manchester United could give fans some good times if it can at least be one of the last four teams standing.

The richest team in the world by some estimations was hot before the new year. Newcastle will be vying to finish in the top four, or at least the top five. This is where we return to the topic of the Champions League. England has four spots allotted to it, but the two football associations with the most UEFA coefficient points each get another spot. The expectations are that England will be getting one of those spots, which means Newcastle may not need to finish in the top four to return to the Champions League.

Forest was the feel-good story of the first half of the season. Now, feeling good won’t suffice. Asking a club like Forest to hold off the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, and Newcastle to stay in the top four will be hard, but the club should definitely be gunning for the Europa League, and this is the level of club that might actually be enthused by the Conference League as well.

This is the only club that we feel can go ahead and wave the white flag already. Southampton is going to be relegated. That’s a given at this point. Ivan Juric has left Italy to come manage the club. From the top down everybody should be focused on getting Southampton primed to finish in the top two in the Championship next season so it can bounce right back up without sweating the playoff.

Yes, Spurs is still in the FA Cup, and winning that would be good for the club. Better than winning the Carabao Cup, to be clear. However, we already know that Tottenham is in the Carabao Cup semifinals. Sure, it will have to get through Liverpool and then Arsenal or Newcastle, but maybe those clubs will be focused on bigger fish to fry. Spurs aren’t finishing in the top four, and may not even finish in the top half of the table. Winning a trophy would cover for a lot of ills, though.

The Hammers are out of the relegation fight, so what should be the goal now? Finishing in the top half of the table might be hard. However, both United and Spurs have been a bit disappointing. West Ham could finish, say, 11th or 12th but finish ahead of those two fabled clubs. That would make things feel much more palatable for West Ham and its fans.

Through sheer dint of the alphabet, we find ourselves ending with a club in the relegation battle. Hey, if Wolves gets relegated, that won’t be the case for articles such as this next season! Right now, it kind of feels like either Wolves goes down, or the three teams that got promoted prior to this season all go back down. The Wanderers certainly would prefer to see the latter. By the way, West Bromwich Albion is the team lowest alphabetically with any chance of getting promoted, so West Ham will be the stopping point for articles next season if Wolves go down. That would make for slightly-rosier endings.