Premier League Preseason Winners and Losers: Key Insights

The Premier League never does reruns. Last season Arsenal finally edged out Manchester City, Tottenham flirted with disaster, and nine clubs decided they needed a new man in the dugout. Now, with World Cup hangovers, big-money signings and fresh faces on the touchline, trying to predict 2026-27 off the back of July and August friendlies feels like guesswork dressed up as science.

Still, preseason always leaves clues. Some players ride the wave into the opening weekend. Others are already swimming against the tide.

Here are the early winners and losers.

WINNERS

Wonderkids light it up: Dowman, Ngumoha, Madjo

Preseason is built for teenagers with no fear and everything to prove.

Max Dowman is already a cult figure at Arsenal. He was a shock nominee for last season’s PFA Young Player of the Season despite starting just one Premier League game, a quirk of his age as much as his minutes: he’s 16 and has only just finished his school exams. The noise around him hasn’t died down.

Against Girona in a 4-1 win this month, the winger finally gave that hype some fresh fuel. A goal, an assist, and long stretches where he looked like the most dangerous player on the pitch. Arsenal fans have seen this movie before, though. He dazzled in friendlies against AC Milan and Newcastle United last summer and still barely sniffed the league. Preseason hasn’t guaranteed him anything yet, but it has kept the door open.

At Liverpool, Rio Ngumoha is trying to kick that same door off its hinges. The 17-year-old became a fan favourite late last season, with supporters loudly calling for more minutes. Andoni Iraola has given him a serious look: three starts in four preseason games, helped by Cody Gakpo’s late return from the World Cup but earned on merit.

Ngumoha’s big moment came in the U.S., where he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Wrexham. It was a simple finish, but the bigger story was how often he demanded the ball and drove at defenders. He looks ready. Whether Liverpool’s season lets him be is another question.

Then there’s Brian Madjo, who has gone from paperwork problem to preseason phenomenon at Aston Villa.

Signed from Metz for £10 million on his 17th birthday in January, Madjo wasn’t even allowed to play for Villa due to FIFA rules on international transfers for under-18s. That changed this summer after a successful appeal, and he has wasted no time making up for lost time.

Four goals in preseason: a brace against Walsall, one against Real Sociedad, another versus an Indonesia league All Stars side. Then came the UEFA Super Cup in Salzburg, where he scored Villa’s only goal in a 2-1 defeat to PSG and could easily have had more. All this while first-choice striker Ollie Watkins has been on an extended post-World Cup break.

Emery now has a teenager who looks ready for the Premier League. Whether he trusts him once Watkins is back will tell us plenty about Villa’s attacking hierarchy.

Igor Jesus: Forest’s late bloomer keeps scoring

Nottingham Forest changed managers four times last season. One thing didn’t change: Igor Jesus kept getting picked.

The Brazilian forward finished with six goals in 37 Premier League appearances, hardly a headline figure. The context matters. Four of those goals came in the final eight games, when Forest badly needed someone to step up.

That upturn has carried straight into preseason. Jesus has scored in four consecutive matches, including in a 2-1 defeat to Sporting CP, and looks like a striker finally playing with conviction.

Forest still need more goals across the squad, but if Jesus has truly turned a corner, one of the league’s most chaotic clubs might have found a little stability up front.

Antoine Semenyo: City’s creator-in-chief

World Cup fatigue? Not for Antoine Semenyo.

The Manchester City winger played in all four of Ghana’s matches before their run ended in the round of 32 against Colombia. He barely took a breath before jumping into City’s preseason schedule and immediately took control of their attack.

Across four friendlies, Semenyo assisted five of City’s six goals. Inter Milan (1-1), K-League All-Stars (3-1), Atlético Madrid (3-1) — different opponents, same pattern: Semenyo on the ball, City scoring.

He was already a revelation last season, scoring 17 league goals across his time with Bournemouth and City and adding four assists. Now he looks like the man who will knit together Enzo Maresca’s new-look attack, not just a useful option on the flank.

If this is his baseline in July, Premier League full-backs know what’s coming in August.

Xabi Alonso settles into Chelsea early

Most new managers arrive at chaos. Xabi Alonso has had something closer to a runway.

Appointed in May and officially starting on July 9, the new Chelsea boss has enjoyed something rare: time. Time to assess his squad, time to install ideas, time to build relationships with players who actually turned up for preseason on schedule.

While other clubs scrambled to reintegrate World Cup returnees, Alonso had a core of senior players at his disposal. João Pedro, Cole Palmer and Estêvão have all featured prominently. So have Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Jorrel Hato and Robert Sánchez.

Pedro has been the standout. Five goals in preseason, including a hat trick against Western Sydney Wanderers and a brace against AC Milan, have underlined why Chelsea moved for him. His movement has clicked quickly with Palmer and Estêvão, giving Alonso a clear attacking axis to build around.

It hasn’t all been a smooth tour. A 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in Sydney and a 1-0 loss to Juventus in Hong Kong were reminders that this is still a work in progress. But Alonso goes into his first Premier League campaign with more clarity than most of his peers. That’s a luxury managers don’t often get at Stamford Bridge.

LOSERS

Liverpool’s defence creaks before a ball is kicked

Andoni Iraola walks into Liverpool with one big problem: his back line is already held together by hope and tape.

First-choice right-back Conor Bradley is still sidelined with a knee injury. Joe Gomez picked up a muscle problem in preseason. Jérémy Jacquet, the €60 million signing meant to reshape the defence, hasn’t played since returning from a long-term shoulder injury.

Liverpool have moved to plug the gap with Ronald Araújo on loan from Barcelona, a smart piece of business that gives Iraola an aggressive, front-foot defender in the mould he likes. But the foundation of it all remains Virgil van Dijk — and Van Dijk has just come through a frankly absurd workload.

The 35-year-old started all 68 of his games for club and country last season, including the World Cup, racking up 6,051 minutes. At some point, even the most reliable centre-back in the league hits a wall. Liverpool are banking on the idea that it won’t be this season.

Right now, that feels like a gamble rather than a plan.

Preseason’s brutal side: injuries bite hard

Every summer, the same argument surfaces: does preseason do more harm than good? This year’s injury list offers a grim answer.

Junior Kroupi might be the unluckiest of the lot. The Bournemouth striker broke out last season and was being linked with a big-money move to Europe’s elite. Instead of a transfer, he got a boot cast.

On tour in Austria, Kroupi suffered a foot injury that required surgery. He now faces up to four months out, likely pushing his Premier League return to January. For a 20-year-old on the brink of a career-changing move, the timing could hardly be worse.

Aston Villa have their own nightmare. Midfielder Amadou Onana ruptured his ACL in July, ruling him out for the long term. John McGinn gave the club another scare when he landed awkwardly on his knee in a friendly, though scans later cleared him and he is expected to be fit for the start of the season. New signing Johan Manzambi is also sidelined with a knee problem picked up at the World Cup with Switzerland and could miss the opening stretch.

One moment of relief came at Newcastle. Anthony Elanga was stretchered off after a horror tackle from Valencia’s José Gayà, who was immediately sent off. It looked serious. It wasn’t. Elanga escaped with a bruised shin and should be ready for the league opener.

Preseason is supposed to sharpen legs, not wreck them. Tell that to the players already watching the new campaign from the treatment room.

Enzo Maresca and City’s missing stars

Replacing Pep Guardiola is daunting enough. Doing it without half your best players for most of preseason is another level of difficulty.

Enzo Maresca has walked into a Manchester City squad drained by the World Cup. City players collectively logged just under 5,000 minutes at the tournament, and many of the key names went deep. Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku, Rodri, Marc Guéhi, Nico O’Reilly and new signing Elliot Anderson all had long summers.

Most of them only reported back this week. Their first real taste of competitive football under Maresca will come in the Community Shield against Arsenal.

To his credit, Maresca still found a way to win two of City’s three preseason games. The disruption isn’t his fault, and nobody will remember July if City start fast. But for a coach trying to step out of Guardiola’s shadow, it’s an awkward way to begin: new ideas, familiar pressure, and very little time with the players who matter most.

Grealish and Maddison: fitness questions linger

In another timeline, Jack Grealish and James Maddison are easing their way back into club duty after starring for England at the World Cup.

In this one, both watched the tournament from afar and are still fighting their way back to full fitness.

Grealish missed the final four months of last season with a foot injury, which led to his loan spell at Everton from Manchester City being cut short. He returned to training last month but was left out of City’s preseason tour of Asia, staying in Manchester to work on his conditioning.

His future remains unresolved. As of July 29, no decision had been made on where he will play next season. His contract at the Etihad runs until 2027, but right now he sits in limbo: not fit enough to feature, not yet central enough to plan around.

Maddison’s situation is even more stark. He lost almost the entire of last season to an ACL injury and has not played a single preseason minute due to a minor hip issue. Clubs can talk about caution and long-term thinking, but for a creative midfielder who thrives on rhythm and repetition, this extended stop-start spell is a major concern.

Both players should still have time to reshape their seasons. The question is whether the Premier League will wait for them.