Premier League Daily Report - 2026-05-25

Arsenal were crowned 2025/26 Premier League champions after a 2-1 final-day victory over Crystal Palace, ending a 22-year wait for the title and sealing Mikel Arteta's first league triumph since the club's 2003/04 'Invincibles' season. The Gunners finished above Manchester City, who could no longer catch them at the top of the table, and the celebrations stretched well beyond north London.

The scale of the achievement is reflected in the reaction across the football world, from President Yoweri Museveni joking about being invited to the title party to supporters in Uganda and Nigeria treating the triumph like a national event. Arsenal's success matters because it resets the Premier League power balance after City had dominated the era, and it also underlines how Arteta has turned a long rebuild into a championship team.

Tottenham Hotspur escaped relegation on the final day with a 1-0 win over Everton, preserving their Premier League status and avoiding a first drop to the second tier since 1977. The result also condemned West Ham United to the Championship, leaving Spurs' 2025/26 campaign as one of the most turbulent in the club's modern history.

The most damaging detail is the admission from senior leadership that football was not the priority in key decision-making, with chairman Peter Charrington saying the club would not dress up the season as anything other than falling well short of expectations. With Spurs finishing only two points above West Ham in a survival scrap, the story is significant because it points to an off-field reset as much as an on-field one.

West Ham United were relegated after Tottenham's 1-0 win over Everton and despite finishing the season with a 3-0 home victory over Leeds United. The combined results left West Ham on the wrong side of the line, ending their Premier League stay and sending them down after 14 years in the division.

The collapse matters because it marks a major reset for a club that had become established in the top flight, and it also sharpened the sense of crisis around the London Stadium project. Several round-up pieces on the season note that West Ham's relegation was one of the defining shocks of the campaign, especially given how close Spurs and West Ham were in the table on the final day.

Manchester United's transfer planning is gathering pace, with one report saying the club are close to an agreement for Sandro Tonali while another says Carlos Baleba is ready to sign for the Red Devils. The pair of links suggest United are targeting a major midfield overhaul as they look to build on a season that has already put them back into the Champions League places.

Bruno Fernandes' future is also being discussed after Fabrizio Romano shared a fresh update that hinted at 'movements' around the captain. With United also linked to Aurelien Tchouameni, the significance is clear: the club appear to be attacking the market aggressively rather than waiting for the summer to drift.

Arsenal have opened talks to sign Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid in a deal that could exceed £100 million, adding another marquee target to a title-winning squad. The move comes immediately after Mikel Arteta's side ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League crown, which makes the pursuit feel like a statement of intent rather than routine squad planning.

Alvarez is described as the 'best player in the world' in the report, and the fee alone shows the scale of Arsenal's ambition after beating Manchester City to the title. If completed, it would reinforce the idea that Arsenal are trying to turn a championship into a sustained era of dominance.

Liverpool's post-title hangover continues to dominate the agenda, with one report saying Alisson is ready to follow Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson out of the club. Another says Jarrod Bowen does not want to leave West Ham, denying Liverpool an 'elite' target, while a season review describes the Reds' 2025/26 campaign as a fifth-place collapse after entering the year as reigning champions.

The broader significance is that Arne Slot's side are being forced into a major reset at both ends of the pitch. With Salah and Robertson already gone and Liverpool also being told to sell Cody Gakpo after a poor Brentford display, the club's summer looks less like fine-tuning and more like damage control.

Nottingham Forest are accelerating their move for Hayden Hackney, with one report putting the deal at around £25 million as the club move quickly in the market. The transfer push comes at a moment when Forest are also dealing with unwanted headlines after owner Evangelos Marinakis was involved in a public fight, with shocking footage circulating on the same day.

That combination matters because it shows a club trying to keep football business moving while the ownership story threatens to dominate the narrative. Forest's urgency over Hackney suggests they want to strengthen early, but the off-field noise risks overshadowing any recruitment progress.