Mikel Arteta is understandably pleased with his team's recent performances, especially given injuries to key players and challenging fixtures that the team has faced in recent weeks. However, football leaves little room for complacency, and resting on your achievements often leads to being humbled by another side. With another tricky fixture ahead this weekend, Arsenal will aim to secure maximum points before the international break. Let's take a glance at three instances when Southampton disrupted Arsenal's momentum in past seasons.

Read Also Players with Most Goals in Top 5 European Leagues in the 21st Century

Southampton(4) vs Arsenal(0)- December 26, 2015

Boxing Day fixtures are notoriously unpredictable, as teams are often either on a strong run or struggling, and squads are typically stretched thin during this period. However, this wasn't expected to be the case for a high-flying Arsenal, who were in great form, having gone 11 games unbeaten. A victory at St Mary's would have sent them to the top of the table in a season where they were considered title contenders. Unfortunately for Arsenal, Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic delivered impressive performances in front of their home crowd, Shane Long's brilliant goal added further misery, dashing Arsenal’s hopes of ending the year at the top of the table.

Read Also:Players who scored 4 or more goals in one half of a Premier League match: Cole Palmer joins an elite list

Southampton(1) vs Arsenal(0)- April 16, 2022

It was another tough moment for Arsenal. After a slow start to the 2021/2022 season, Arteta's improvements had Arsenal on course for Champions League qualification by April. Despite dominating possession, Arsenal failed to capitalize on their chances and a Southampton corner led to Jared Bednarek's goal. Southampton held onto their lead and secured all three points.

Read Also:Most goal contributions in every season since 2001

Arsenal(3) vs Southampton(3)- April 21, 2023

Read Also:Ranking every player to wear No.9 for Real Madrid since 1992

Arsenal's first serious title challenge in years came that season. In a must-win game to strengthen their title chances, a draw with Southampton sparked a run of poor results that ultimately cost them the Premier League title. Southampton started strong, with Alcaraz scoring in the first minute and former Arsenal player Theo Walcott doubling the lead by the 14th minute. Martinelli responded in the 20th minute, but Southampton added another in the 66th through Caleta-Car. Fortunately for Arsenal, late goals from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka salvaged a point for the team.

Hello and welcome to our LIVE blog coverage of the thrilling Premier League showdown between Liverpool and Arsenal tonight.

I’m Barnali Debnath, here to bring you live updates, expert analysis, and all the key moments as these two football giants clash on the pitch.

Both teams are eager to secure vital points that could shape their season, with Liverpool aiming to dominate at home and Arsenal looking to challenge fiercely for the top spot.

Stay tuned for minute-by-minute commentary, tactical insights, and post-match reactions right here.

Hello and welcome to the Manchester United vs Arsenal Premier League 2025/26 LIVE Blog!

Today, we bring you all the action from Old Trafford as these two English football giants clash in the season opener. Manchester United, coming off a difficult 15th-place finish last season, are eager to turn things around with a refreshed squad featuring exciting new signings.

Meanwhile, Arsenal enter the match with high hopes of ending their consecutive runner-up streak and finally capturing the Premier League title, bolstered by key additions to their lineup.

Read Also: Premier League jerseys of each club for the 2025-26 season

With a historic rivalry that includes 243 meetings, this fixture promises intense drama, tactical battles, and thrilling football moments.

Stay tuned here for minute-by-minute updates, live reactions, and expert analysis as both teams aim to kick off their campaigns with a memorable victory.

Although fans have some time to wait before the Premier League 2025/26 season, the preparation for the teams is definitely underway. All the teams in the league have already revealed their home and away kits for the upcoming season.

While each kit will keep the team colours, there are always new ways to play with the look for both home and away.

Read Also: Why Do Serie A Players Have Weird Jersey Numbers?

2025-26 Premier League jerseys for Each Club

Here are all the 2025-26 Premier League jerseys for each club in alphabetical order.

Arsenal

Arsenal’s new kit for their men’s and women’s teams leans into nostalgia with the red shirt, trimmed with white shoulders and red detailing, featuring the letter 'A' on the badge at the forefront, in a reference to the 1990-91 title-winning season.

Aston Villa

The design includes nods to the home city of Birmingham, with design details inspired by the iconic Bullring, where the team has a new fan store.

AFC Bournemouth

The red and black stripes are a little broader than usual and the metallic gold trim adds a sprinkling of glitz. It's unlikely to make much of an impact outside of the immediate vicinity of the Vitality Stadium.

Brentford

Brentford's latest home shirt celebrates the 100th anniversary of the team adopting red and white stripes as their official club colours. Naturally, the design is just that, with the heritage faux lace-up collar being the only real retro appointment of note, a nod to the first batch of home jerseys worn by the Bees in 1925.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Rather than the standard yellow trim, this season's familiar blue-and-white stripes are accompanied by accents of minty turquoise, like the rails that run along the city's seafront.

Read Also: Football jersey numbers: Significance of jersey numbers in football

Burnley

The new kit has been designed to visually encapsulate the rugged landscape that surrounds Burnley and celebrate the beauty of Lancashire.

Chelsea

Chelsea have revealed their sleek away kit, with a largely white look, accented with red and green. Meanwhile, the home kit has its standard blue colour with dark blue texture all over the kit.

Crystal Palace

After a few years of more experimental and off-piste designs, the Eagles' new home jersey features clean red and blue stripes with all the extra detailing picked out in white.

Everton

This one comes in a beautiful shade of creamy yellow and includes subtle references to the industrial heritage of the Bramley-Moore docklands, the site of the club's new stadium. The pattern on the sleeves references the old railway lines that ran in and out of the area and have since been reinstalled as a heritage attraction. 

Fulham

Fulham's association with Adidas has brought a beautiful, bright white kit with black stripes on the shoulder and crest. 

Liverpool FC

Liverpool started their partnership with Adidas this year. Their home kit with the red and white combo looks like one of the best jerseys of the season. Their away kit will have white as the dominant colour with red stripes on the shoulders. 

Read Also: Diogo Jota: Liverpool FC retires Jersey No. 20

Leeds United

The blocky, tessellating pattern found on the collar and cuff is actually a replication of the yellow and blue tile pattern found in the Lowfields Tunnel near Elland Road.

Manchester City

Keeping the typical sky blue colour, Man City have adopted a new look, with a white slash across the front and minimalistic emphasis on its sponsors.

Manchester United

This design is fairly traditional, with a solid red base and sparse black-and-white trim. However, the material does contain a subtle reference to Old Trafford via a smattering of dots and stripes.

Newcastle United

Newcastle United’s 2025/26 kit doesn’t just look good, but also does good, with £5 per shirt sold going to the Newcastle United Foundation.

Nottingham Forest

With a folding collar and immaculate white pinstriping inspired by the revered home shirt of 1992-1994.

Sunderland

A lovely bit of retro-infused handiwork from Danish brand Hummel here, who have used Sunderland's cult classic 1989-91 away kit as inspiration for a demure maritime-themed jersey that is covered in a pattern made up of local coastal landmarks, including the Roker Beach lighthouse.

Also Read: Most goal contributions in every season since 2001 [Updated]

Tottenham Hotspur

Released with the dramatic tagline "In darkness, we dare," the blackout design has a dark-grey grid pattern overlaid to add some texture. 

West Ham United

The new away kit is the particular shade of creamy off-white that only seems to exist in British football kits of the mid-to-late-1990s. 

Wolverhampton Wanderers

A sharp kit that also features a mini history lesson in the form of the pattern that is debossed into the fabric of the jersey. 

UEFA Women's Champions League winners Arsenal are set to break all the past transfer fee records for 20-year-old Canadian forward from Liverpool, Olivia Smith. Smith is now on the verge of becoming the world's first women's player to break the £1m transfer fee record. 

If the deal gets completed, Olivia Smith will break the record for the most expensive transfer fee in women's football history, beating the record of Naomi Girma, who was bought by Chelsea FC Women for £900,000.

Who is Olivia Smith?

Olivia Smith is a 20-year-old centre forward from Canada, born on August 5, 2004. Olivia started her football career in Ontario, Canada, playing youth soccer before joining college football in the United States at Penn State University.

Club career so far

To pursue her career in football, Smith left college early and joined Sporting CP in Portugal in 2023, where she played the first professional season of her career. After a sensational season with Sporting, where she netted 13 goals and produced nine assists in 18 league games.

Smith went on to win the Best Young Player and Revelation Player as Sporting finished second in the league, behind Benfica. 

Her extraordinary skill as a teenager caught the eyes of Liverpool, and she was signed by the Reds in July 2024. In her first season in the Women's Super League, Smith scored 7 goals in 20 appearances. In the whole season for the Reds, she scored 9 times and provided an assist in 25 games. 

Smith was even nominated for the WSL Player of the Year 2025 award. She was named the LFC Women's Player of the Season 2024/25.

Read Also | Who is Tobin Heath? Two-time World Cup champion retires from football

International career

Smith debuted for Canada at just 15 years and 94 days old, becoming her country's youngest player ever in 2019. She also played in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. 

Till now, she has appeared 18 times for Canada, scoring 3 goals. 

Why are Arsenal willing to pay the most expensive transfer fee for Olivia Smith?

Well, the truth is that Olivia Smith might find it hard to find a place in the playing XI for Arsenal FC Women. The UEFA Women's Champions League winners have Mariona Caldentey, Beth Mead, Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly in the team, and this will make it very hard for Olivia to start in every game.

So, why are they willing to pay such a high amount for her?

Just like all the men's football teams in the world are thinking, the women's teams are also thinking the same. With Olivia Smith, Arsenal are thinking long-term goals, and that is why they are willing to pay big bucks for the Canadian. 

"I don't necessarily know how easily she walks into that Arsenal team, obviously they won the Champions League last season, which makes them extremely lucrative, but they've got a great attacking threat already," Rachel Corsie, former Scotland captain, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"It will be a challenge for her, but probably an addition for Arsenal that they'll expect is maybe one of those signings who could be at the club for a number of years," she added.

Read Also | Best 10 Women's Footballers in the World Right Now

Most expensive transfers in women's football history

The English Premier League, or the Premier League, has been the best football league in Europe for a long now. As per UEFA Club Coefficients, the Premier League is the best football league on the continent, with the best standard of football and competitiveness. 

The competitiveness not only makes it tough for teams to finish at the summit of the points table, but the battle for the UEFA Champions League spot also intensifies. This season, Liverpool FC, Arsenal FC, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League from the Premier League. 

This is the first time six teams from any league have qualified for the Champions League. Not only that, there is also a chance that another team can qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season, depending on Chelsea's performance in the Conference League final this season. 

Read Also | Ranking all 33 UEFA Champions League finals

How do teams qualify for the Champions League from a league?

Till the 2022-23 season, every top-four team from the European Leagues used to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Along with the top four teams, the Europa League winners also qualified for the Champions League next season. 

But, from the 2024 season, along with the top four teams and Europa League/Conference League winners, leagues started getting an additional European Performance Spot. EPS is awarded to the league with strong UEFA coefficient performances, which the Premier League earned this season as well. 

Read Also | Every Premier League club’s biggest Free Transfer Exit

Premier League teams to qualify for the Champions League every season since 2016

2015-16

In the 2025-16 Champions League season, Chelsea qualified as the champions of the Premier League 2014-15. Manchester City and Arsenal qualified as the second and third finishers of the league. 

Meanwhile, Manchester United qualified for the Champions League play-off round as the UEFA Europa League 2014-15 winners.

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester City
3. Arsenal
4. Manchester United

2016-17

Leicester City surprised everyone to win the 2015-16 Premier League after a historic season. They entered the Champions League as the champions of England. Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester City qualified as the second to fourth spot finishers. 

• Leicester City (Champions, 1st)
• Arsenal (2nd)
• Tottenham Hotspur (3rd)
• Manchester City (4th)

2017-18

Chelsea qualified for the Champions League by winning the 2016-17 Premier League. Spurs, who were very close of a title, finished second to qualify for Europe. Manchester City and Liverpool qualified as the third and fourth place finishers. 

Meantime, Manchester United, who were sixth in the league qualified after winning the 2016-17 UEFA Europa League. 

• Chelsea (Champions, 1st)
• Tottenham Hotspur (2nd)
• Manchester City (3rd)
• Liverpool (4th)
• Manchester United (6th, qualified via Europa League win)

2018-19

Manchester City's domination in the Premier League started with winning the 2017-18 season, as they entered the Champions League 2018-19 as the champions of England. Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Liverpool were the other teams to qualify for Champions League.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur played an all-England final where Liverpool defeated Spurs by 2-0 to win the title. 

• Manchester City (Champions, 1st)
• Manchester United (2nd)
• Tottenham Hotspur (3rd)
• Liverpool (4th)

2019-20

After winning the Champions League, Liverpool finished second in the Premier League, just one point behind the champions, Manchester City. Chelsea and Spurs qualified as the third and fourth team from Premier League.

• Manchester City (Champions, 1st)
• Liverpool (2nd)
• Chelsea (3rd)
• Tottenham Hotspur (4th)

2020-21

Liverpool finally broke City's Premier League domination as they lifted 2019-20 Premier League title with 18 points lead over Manchester City, who finished second. Manchester United and Chelsea were the other teams to qualify for the Champions League.

Manchester City and Chelsea played an all-English Champions League in 2021, where Chelsea won their second UCL title. 

• Liverpool (Champions, 1st)
• Manchester City (2nd)
• Manchester United (3rd)
• Chelsea (4th)

2021-22

Manchester City again won the Premier League title to qualify for Europe, with Manchester United finishing second in the league. Liverpool and Chelsea were the other tequalified as the third and fourth teams from the Premier League. 

Liverpool lost the Champions League final against Real Madrid in the 2021-22 season.

• Manchester City (Champions, 1st)
• Manchester United (2nd)
• Liverpool (3rd)
• Chelsea (4th)

2022-23

City defended the Premier League title in the 2021-22 season and entered the Champions League 2022-23, which they eventually won, beating Inter Milan in the final. 

Liverpool, who lost the Premier League race by just one point, qualified alongside Chelsea and Spurs.

• Manchester City (Champions, 1st)
• Liverpool (2nd)
• Chelsea (3rd)
• Tottenham Hotspur (4th)

2023-24

City won their third consecutive Premier League title helped them earn the Champions League spot. Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United qualified for the Champions League 2023-24. 

• Manchester City (Champions, 1st)
• Arsenal (2nd)
• Manchester United (3rd)
• Newcastle United (4th)

2024-25

Back-to-back four Premier League titles for City ensured them another go at the Champions League. Arsenal, Liverpool, and Aston Villa were the other teams from Premier League to qualify for the new format Champions Legaue. 

Arsenal were the only team from the Premier League to play semi-final that season.

• Manchester City (Champions, 1st)
• Arsenal (2nd)
• Liverpool (3rd)
• Aston Villa (4th)

Read Also | Most English Top Flight Titles: Liverpool equal with United

2025-26

A record six teams qualified for the 2025-26 Champions League season from the Premier League. Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea qualified as the top four teams. The EPS allowed an added spot as Newcastle United qualified as the fifth team.

Spurs qualified as the Europa League 2024-25 winners. Chelsea can also become the seventh team to qualify from the Premier League, if they win the UEFA Conference League final against Real Betis on 28th May. 

• Liverpool (Champions, 1st)
• Arsenal (2nd)
• Manchester City (3rd)
• Chelsea (4th)
• Newcastle United (5th)
• Tottenham Hotspur (17th, qualified via Europa League win)