The start of the 2025/26 Premier League season is just days away and those teams battling for European football will be hoping to get off to a strong start.
A top-four finish will be the aim for many of the Premier League’s top clubs and is a minimum expectation for the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea this season.
We do not yet know whether it’ll be the top four or the top five teams that will qualify for the following Champions League campaign, so the competition to finish in the first four will be fierce.
Here we take a look at the leading candidates to finish in the top four this season.
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Liverpool 1/10
It is no surprise to see last year’s champions as short as 1/10 to finish in the top four this season as they look to defend their title. Liverpool have strengthened again after winning the league and finishing in the top four is the very least the fans will expect from their team.
Arne Slot never finished outside the Eredivisie top four when in charge of Feyenoord and the club’s first time out of it came last season, which happened to be their first season without Slot at the helm since 2020/21.
With the right manager and squad in place to challenge for the title again, Liverpool look as close as you’ll get to a shoo-in for the top four.
Arsenal 1/7
Gone are the years of Arsenal being mocked for consistently finishing in the top four without winning the title, but the fans are beginning to become restless again at their club’s lack of silverware.
The Gunners have finished second for the past three seasons, having failed to finish in the top four for the previous six years. They look set to secure Champions League football again this year at 1/7, but the Emirates faithful will have their sights firmly set on the league title, for which they’re 2/1 second favourites.
Man City 1/6
Manchester City have spent the past decade aiming solely for the Premier League title and have finished top of the pile in six of the last eight seasons. However, last season didn’t go quite to plan as they ended up finishing in third.
Pep Guardiola will no doubt have a return to the top on his mind, but the first objective will be to remain in the top four, a tougher task for them than in previous years, especially given how other teams have strengthened around them.
If City are back to anywhere near their best then they will make a mockery of their 1/6 odds to finish in the top four, but they can’t afford to take anything for granted this year.
Chelsea 8/13
Of the first four in the betting, Chelsea have the longest odds to finish in the top four at 8/13. Enzo Maresca’s side earned their Champions League place on the final day of last season and will want to make easier work of things this year.
Many are expecting Chelsea to be even better than last year, while their closest rivals in Newcastle and Aston Villa seem a touch weaker. With that in mind, the 8/13 could represent good value for a side who many people fancy as underdogs to mount a serious title challenge.
Blues fans will have high expectations for this season but may not be as expectant of winning the league as supporters of Liverpool, Arsenal and City. They would probably be happy with a top-four finish, but with a bigger gap to the rest this time around.
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The rest
The top four fight went down to the wire last season and neutrals will be hoping for a similar scenario this time around. Newcastle just missed out, but still got Champions League football as the Premier League’s top five made it into Europe’s premier competition. Eddie Howe’s side are next in the market to break into the top four at 3/1.
Aston Villa finished sixth last season after a loss to Manchester United on the final day saw them miss out on Champions League football. They have been relatively quiet in the transfer market and as such are seventh in the betting for a top-four finish at 4/1.
Just ahead of Aston Villa are the team that finished 15th in the league last season, but that team is none other than Manchester United. They have splashed the cash on big names in attack, with Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benajmin Šeško all heading to Old Trafford. Those deals have many people expecting United to show vast improvement on last season and they’re 3/1 to secure a top-four finish.
