A Guide to Picking a Premier League Club: Which EPL Team Should You Support?

The reigning EPL champion Arsenal is one of the most popular English clubs both inside the country and abroad. The team has a rich history, with multiple successful periods since the 1920s. The first one came with the revolutionary system developed by Herbert Chapman between the World Wars.

They found more titles and FA Cups under Bertie Mee, delivered one of the greatest Premier League title wins under George Graham with the famous 1989 Anfield win, and defied logic by going unbeaten for a full EPL season under Arsene Wenger in 2003-04.

The only notable absence in Arsenal’s trophy cabinet is the Champions League, as they’ve lost both of their finals in the competition.

On the bright side, one of those lost finals came on penalties against PSG last season, clearly showing Arsenal is among the best soccer teams in the world right now.

They’ve become a juggernaut under Mikel Arteta, who led them to three straight runner-up finishes in the league before getting the job done last year. The core of this team is young. and they invest heavily every summer, so Arsenal will be competitive for the foreseeable future.

If you pick Arsenal, you get excellent history, a high likelihood of success right now, and a huge global fanbase.

On the downside, many neutrals hate them right now, mostly because of their style. Arsenal is not always easy on the eye, often winning by a single goal. The team’s physical approach often stretches the rules and can be frustrating to watch.

If that’s a problem for you, Arsenal might not be the best pick right now. However, if you want to cheer for a strong team a lot of people hate, this is the club for you. Supporting the Gunners will bring an emotional rollercoaster, but the highs are usually worth suffering through the lows.

Aston Villa is one of the original powerhouses of English soccer. Founded in 1874 in the heart of Birmingham, England’s second-biggest city, they were the dominant force in the country during the late Victorian and Edwardian era, winning six league titles between 1894 and 1910.

They added a seventh league title in 1981, followed by the club’s greatest achievement a year later. Aston Villa lifted the European Cup after beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in the 1982 final, with Peter Withe scoring the only goal.

Unfortunately, that return to the top was short-lived, with Villa entering a decline for the next 30 years. By the mid-2010s they had fallen into the Championship and were closer to relegation to League One than to Premier League contention in the 2016-2017 season.

Villa survived and a breaking point came in 2018, when American Wes Edens (co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks) and Egyptian Nassef Sawiris bought the club. They immediately invested in the squad, helping Villa go back to the EPL in 2019-20.

The next big jump came in 2022, when the team hired Unai Emery, a serial Europa League winner. Under the Spanish manager, Villa have been on the rise in the past several years. The team qualified for the Champions League multiple times and even lifted the 2026 Europa League.

Furthermore, American soccer has real ties to this club: Brad Friedel, the Hall of Fame USMNT goalkeeper, spent nearly five years at Villa Park and set a Premier League record of 310 consecutive appearances, a mark that still stands.

On the downside, the ownership group is increasingly focused on compliance with financial fair play rules that limit investments. Villa often have to sell their best players (like Morgan Rogers to Chelsea this summer), which is preventing the club from taking the next step.

As a result, the team is unlikely to win the Premier League or the Champions Leagues in the next several years. Still, you can expect strong runs in Europe and close games against the top dogs in European soccer.

If you pick Villa, you get a team with rich history, two Hall of Fame USMNT connections, and a daring present project that’s trying to push the best out there to the limit.

Bournemouth are a small club from the south coast of England that punches well above its weight in the modern era. Founded in 1899 in the Boscombe area of Bournemouth, a beach town on England’s south coast, they spent most of their history outside the top flight and slid all the way to League Two as recently as 2008.

The modern story starts in 2011, when a long-running legal dispute over the name ‘Bournemouth’ against local rivals was settled, and they became AFC Bournemouth. Eddie Howe took them from League Two back into the Premier League in 2015.

That kind of fairytale barely exists in English soccer anymore, but the best part is that Bournemouth are still going strong.

American businessman Bill Foley bought the club in 2022 through his Black Knight Soccer group, which also owns FC Cincinnati, Auckland FC in New Zealand, and other European soccer clubs. Foley has spent on the stadium (now the Vitality Stadium, the smallest top-flight ground in England at around 11,000 seats) and on the squad, but he is widely viewed as an unusually careful spender for a Premier League owner.

The squad rebuilt nicely under Andoni Iraola, a Basque coach who joined in 2023 and has been linked with some of the biggest jobs in Europe (currently, Liverpool’s new manager).

The 2024-25 season produced their highest-ever Premier League finish, as Bournemouth was 9^th. The club lost a bunch of top players next season but returned even stronger to finish 6^th last year and earn a place in the Europa League.

Bournemouth is a very likable underdog that showed the world you don’t need to spend a ton to be competitive in the Premier League. The big question is what happens next.

The team lost the very influential Iraola to Liverpool and some key players once again, so a rebuild is on the cards. Even if it’s successful, the team is capped by the small stadium and limited global fanbase.

If you’re looking for trophies and success, you probably shouldn’t become a Bournemouth fan. Still, their new manager Marco Rose comes with a solid pedigree. The German coach previously led Borussia Monchengladbach and RB Leipzig, where he played attractive soccer.

Bournemouth should still be nice to watch and they play in Europe now, so the potential of a deep run in the Europa League is enticing.

Brentford are a West London club founded in 1889, that spent the bulk of their history yo-yoing between the third and fourth tiers of English soccer.

Everything changed in 2012 when Matthew Benham, a professional gambler and founder of Smartodds, bought the club. Benham’s mathematical approach to recruitment and the use of analytics became a template for lower-budget clubs around the world.

Another step in the right direction was moving Brentford into the brand-new Gtech Community Stadium in 2020. The team won promotion to the top flight a year later, ending a 74-year absence from the first division. Many expected Brentford to get quickly relegated, but that wasn’t the case.

The team appointed Thomas Frank, a Danish coach, who led them to three consecutive mid-table finishes that exceeded all expectations.

Brentford’s success showed how the Moneyball approach could work in the Premier League, consistently overperforming teams with a higher budget. The sporting success was complemented by intelligent moves off the pitch.

The Bees have made a habit of developing and selling on elite talent for good money: Ivan Toney departed in 2024, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa followed, while the side kept finishing in the top half on a much smaller budget than its rivals.

This team is built around hard work on and off the pitch, and a physical style of play that could trouble even the best in the world. The foundations are excellent, as we clearly saw last season.

Even after manager Thomas Frank was hired by Tottenham in the summer of 2025, Brentford remained one of the most consistent teams in the Premier League.

The overall structure is working wonders for the club, as they have been losing elite talent without missing a beat. Brentford looks bound to stay in the EPL for a while and find new quality players that other clubs overlook.

On the downside, Brentford is unlikely to compete for a major trophy anytime soon because their budget is much smaller than the top six. They are also a ‘selling club’, so the player you fall in love with will likely leave for a bigger team within a year or two.

Still, if you want to support an underdog that will often give anyone a run for their money and is unlikely to drop out, Brentford is an excellent choice.

Most of the things I listed about Brentford apply to Brighton as well, mostly because the two teams are owned by former business partners. The club has been in the lower leagues of English soccer for most of its history, most recently falling as low as League One in the mid-2000s.

Everything changed in 2009, when Tony Bloom, a professional poker player and lifelong Brighton fan, became the dominant shareholder. The former gambler had built a sports betting company based on sophisticated data analysis.

He used the algorithms to boost Brighton’s scouting network: every player is evaluated from a unique statistical standpoint, and the result is a club that consistently brings in top talent for peanuts.

After years in the Championship, Brighton won promotion to the Premier League in 2017 under Chris Hughton and hasn’t looked back since. The manager was followed by Graham Potter, Roberto De Zerbi, and now Fabian Hurzeler.

Despite frequent changes in the coaching personnel and losing their best players to EPL’s biggest clubs, Brighton has been very consistent on the field. The entire club operates with a clear concept of what’s required to succeed, so they always have a plan. In fact, they have multiple plans for the same situation, making sure nothing’s left to chance.

Current head coach Fabian Hurzeler is a prime example of Brighton’s planning. He inherited a team built around relentless attacks, high press, and possession-based soccer. Many expected him to struggle early, but German has kept the team ticking since his arrival.

And that’s despite constantly losing key squad members. Brighton’s transfer model is extraordinary. Just two quick examples: Marc Cucurella was bought for £15m, sold to Chelsea for over £60m; Moisés Caicedo was signed for £4m and sold to Chelsea for a British transfer record (£115m).

Brighton know how to sell their top players well and use the money to rebuild the squad. This is a well-drilled organization with clear goals, structure, and values, so you can expect strong seasons in the future as well.

On the downside, Brighton have never won the league and, despite their elite academy and model-club reputation, have never seriously threatened to. They are also a selling club, so the best performers are bound to leave for bigger challenges and more money.

And yet, there’s something very appealing in a club owned by a fan, who also happens to be a multi-millionaire math genius who built his wealth by betting on soccer! Especially when the team plays such a cool and aggressive style.

Chelsea has been one of the biggest soccer clubs in the past couple of decades, after winning multiple Premier League and Champions League titles since 2004. The key to this run started with Roman Abramovich.

The Russian oligarch bought the club in 2003 and turned Chelsea into England’s most decorated team of the 2000s and 2010s, before selling in 2022 due to UK government sanctions tied to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

American Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over, with the new ownership pouring money in young and talented players. While the results on the pitch have been questionable in the past few years, the squad has immense potential.

Adding the right head coach and some experience could easily transform Chelsea from a contender to a favorite. With Xabi Alonso’s arrival this summer, the process might have already started. His first targets are reportedly veterans like Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, so the Spaniard has identified the lack of experience as the main issue.

Overall, picking Chelsea would mean supporting a competitive team, but there are some caveats with that. For a start, the team’s early success will always be tied to Abramovich, and his questionable wealth.

Furthermore, the new ownership has been very chaotic so far, quickly changing managers after the results are not as good expected. If Alonso has a poor start, he might be shown the door, so the process will start all over again.

Following Chelsea is a chaotic experience, but at least some level of success is almost guaranteed.

Coventry City is a fascinating case study in English soccer. Founded in 1883 in Coventry, a West Midlands city devastated by World War II bombings, they reached the First Division for the first time in 1967 and stayed in the top flight for 34 straight seasons.

The club was among the founding members of the Premier League in 1992-93, when the competition transitioned from First Division to the EPL. Coventry remained in the top flight until 2001, when everything went wrong.

The club bounced between the Championship and League One and faced a brutal stretch of ownership under the SISU Capital era from 2007 to 2023 that fans still look back on with anger.

The lowest point was probably playing home matches in Northampton because they had been locked out of their own stadium in a rental dispute. It looked like Coventry may never return to the Premier League, but the team’s fortunes changed in 2023.

British businessman Doug King bought the club outright and started putting things right, including purchasing the Coventry Building Society Arena (the CBS Arena) in 2025.

The Frank Lampard hire in late 2024 was the last step need on the road back to the EPL. Lampard, one of England’s greatest ever midfielders, took a struggling Coventry side to the 2025-26 Championship title, sealing promotion back to the Premier League in April 2026.

Haji Wright, the California-born USMNT striker, had a season to remember in the same campaign, breaking an EFL record for most goals by an American-born player in a single English league season, then earning a place in the 2026 World Cup squad for the United States.

There are many reasons to back this team, but it’s certainly a risk. Newly-promoted teams often get relegated in the first or second seasons, with many of them failing to return to the top division for years or even decades.

Crystal Palace spent most of their history in the lower divisions of English soccer, floating around the old Third and Fourth Divisions. Very few people even knew about the club outside of England, but the last decade or so has changed the team’s status.

Head coach Tony Pulis dragged them up into the Premier League in 2013, and it’s been amazing to support Palace ever since. The team went through multiple relegation battles and looked poised to just exist in the league, but a major change was coming.

The board appointed Oliver Glasner in 2024 after the Austrian manager impressed with Freiburg. He built a team that defended with resilience and was lethal in transition, thanks to players like Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze.

Despite losing Olise to Bayern, Glasner led Palace to their first trophy in 2025. They won the FA Cup, beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the final, a 1-0 upset that ended the longest wait for a major trophy in senior English soccer.

Palace’s Europa League qualification was briefly blocked by UEFA because of a multi-club ownership conflict involving former co-owner John Textor. The team eventually was demoted to the Conference League and responded by winning it in 2026, despite selling Eze in the summer.

Now Glasner is gone, and Palace are supposed to suffer. However, this team has come back stronger every single time people expected it to falter, so you never know.

Picking Crystal Palace as your team is risky and dangerous, as the team lost multiple top players and an excellent manager recently. However, the resilience shown in the past few years suggests that Palace will be ready for the new season that also includes a place in the Europa League, by the way.

Everton are one of the most successful teams in English soccer and the definition of a sleeping giant. Their history goes back to the 19^th century, as the club was one of the founding members of the English First Division (the Premier League predecessor) in 1888.

A few years later, Everton became only the second club to win a league title. The team added 8 more titles up to 1986-87 but has struggled for trophies since.

On the bright side, the Toffees haven’t been miles off the best. They’ve been part of the elite in all but four seasons in their history and even came close to qualifying for the Champions League on multiple occasions.

Poor ownership has been part of the issue, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. The American Friedkin Group completed its takeover in December 2024 and immediately set to work, restructuring the finances and pushing through the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium.

While the old Goodison Park is one of the most iconic grounds in English soccer, the new stadium should improve the club’s finances significantly.

For now, though, Everton needs stability and David Moyes has delivered. The experienced Scottish manager led the team to a strong season last year, despite injury issues to key players.

Everton are not going to fight for the biggest trophies in the near future, but the trajectory is positive. The team should be fighting for spots in the UEFA competitions, and I won’t be surprised to see deep runs in the FA and League Cups.

Very few people know that Fulham is actually the oldest professional soccer club in London! That’s right, it’s not Arsenal, Spurs, or Chelsea, Fulham arrived first in 1879, under the name Fulham St Andrew’s Church Sunday School F.C.

Someone sensible decided to shorten that to Fulham, which was followed by a move to Craven Cottage (the current stadium) and gaining a pro license before the new century.

For most of its history, the team was bouncing between the second and third English soccer divisions, with a few brief cameos to the top flight that didn’t last long.

The darkest point in the club’s history came in the 1990s, when Fulham briefly played in the fourth division. The team’s fortunes changed when Mohamed Al-Fayed purchased the club in 1997.

Fulham returned to the elite in 2001 and shortly after won the Intertoto Cup in 2002. The big breakthrough came with manager Roy Hodsgon, who took the team in 2007 and led them to the UEFA Europa Cup final in 2010.

The team changed ownership and was relegated a few times after that but always found a way back to the Premier League. The last promotion came in 2022, and Fulham has been in the leading division since.

You can’t really expect big trophies from Fulham, but the team has been solid and usually around the middle of the table. Furthermore, this might be the most welcoming team to Americans in England.

Fulham is currently owned by US investors, regularly features Antonee Robinson in the starting lineup, and has a long list of former US players. Clint Dempsey is the club’s Premier League top scorer, while the likes of Brian McBride, Tim Ream, and Carlos Bocanegra also left a trail in the club’s history.

You will feel at home if you decide to join the Fulham fanbase, but you should have modest expectations for the performances on the pitch. If you can live with that, Fulham is actually an excellent choice.

Hull City are a working-class club from the east coast of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The team spent more than 100 years bouncing around the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th divisions of English soccer, before finally tasting the Premier League in 2008-09.

The stint in the elite was short, as Hull City got relegated the next season. The team bounced back to return once again in 2013-14, but surviving for long wasn’t on the cards.

Hull City circulated between the EPL and the Championship for a few years, before suffering a relegation to League One, the third division of English soccer.

The situation was quite bleak on and off the pitch, but the arrival of Acun Ilicali in 2021 changed everything. The Turkish-American media mogul brought plenty of chaos to the club, as he was hiring and firing managers, spending on new players, and making wild interviews with the media.

Initially, his actions mostly brough instability and Hull City was almost relegated to the third-tier of English soccer on a couple of occasions. Then, they barely missed the Premier League playoff spots, followed up by another relegation battle that was barely won in 2024-25.

Ilicali’s passion and chaotic behavior was sometimes detrimental to the team, so very few expected to see Hull City fighting for promotion before the start of the 2025-26 season.

The team had plenty of ups and downs during the season, looked out of contention at some point, came back dramatically to reach the playoffs in the last round, and then somehow won the playoffs to qualify for the Premier League.

It was a wild ride and now might be the best time to join it. Many believe Hull City are the worst team in the Premier League and will go down again immediately, but they have defied the odds before.

If you want to follow a team that will be in a dogfight for every point and faces almost impossible odds to survive, Hull City’s your team. It’s a niche that’s not for everyone, but imagine how cool it would be if they actually make it?

Leeds and Sunderland did it last year from a comparable position, so who knows? Just don’t blame me if you do pick Hull City and end up watching them in the Championship next season.

Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 in the Suffolk town of Ipswich, one of the smaller league towns in England. Clubs coming from towns like this one rarely leave a trail in English soccer history, but not Ipswich.

The team’s history has been shaped by two of the most memorable managers and personalities in English soccer.

First, Sir Alf Ramsey built the championship team of 1961-62 and then went on to lead England to their only World Cup title at home soil in 1966.

Shortly after, the legendary Sir Bobby Robson took Ipswich, leading them to an FA Cup title in 1978 and the UEFA Cup trophy in 1981. Ipswich Town’s run in the latter was nothing short of iconic, as the team lost four games on the road to the title and faced adversity on multiple occasions.

These were the glory days for Ipswich, but they have other exciting moments, such as Paul Gascoigne’s arrival in 1989.

The new century has been mostly tough on Ipswich, with the club bouncing around and struggling to find stability. Still, they returned to the EPL in 2024 and, despite getting relegated, are once again back this season.

This team is a likeable underdog that will give everyone in the league a good fight. That’s simply the personality of both the squad and the manager. Gary O’Neil already has experience in relegation battles with Wolves and Bournemouth, so that will be useful.

His teams usually play a surprisingly open style given the limited talent and often deliver good performances even against much stronger teams.

Ipswich will be interesting to watch and are a live underdog. Also, the team has delivered special moments in the past, so can they recapture the magic again? It’s a risky choice, as they can certainly go down again this year, so it’s not for everyone.

Leeds United were founded in Yorkshire in 1919, shortly after World War I. For almost 50 years, the club was switching between the First and Second English Divisions, without leaving a trail in the elite.

The team also failed to achieve meaningful runs in the FA Cup, but the 1960s were different. Don Revie became manager in 1961, when the team was still in Second Division.

He slowly built a formidable team that almost won the First Division title right after its return to the elite in 1964-65 after finishing second. The same happened next year, but it was obvious that Leeds United was becoming a powerhouse.

Under Revi, they won two First Division titles, the FA Cup and the League Cup once each, as well as two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (later becoming the UEFA Cup and currently known as the Europa League).

For Leeds United supporters, this is one of the greatest runs in English history. For many neutrals, though, this is the “Dirty Leeds” era.

The team was playing aggressively, often stretching the rules. Players like skipper Billy Bremner and Norman Hunter had the reputation of bad boys on the pitch, kicking and hitting opposing players.

It must be mentioned that all English teams were significantly more physical back in the day, but Leeds really took it to another level.

The team had more exciting moments later on, winning the 1992 title and providing some entertaining games against European giants with their young squad that reached the Champions League in the early 2000s.

Unfortunately, poor financial decisions ruined Leeds United around that time. The club even went into voluntary administration in 2007 and was relegated from the Championship.

The team spent three years in League One before returning to the Championship. They reached the Premier League again in 2021 before going up and down once more before last year.

The current squad actually looked solid in the EPL last year, reaching 14^th in the table and staying up rather comfortably. This season should be a similar story, as Leeds look poised to defend their place in the elite.

The best reason to support this team is the potential positive trajectory. It looks like Leeds United are prepared to reach mid-table stability and who knows what comes next.

At the same time, Leeds is in that weird spot that meaningful trophies are borderline impossible right now, but the team is also unlikely to be in a relegation battle.

On top of that, many neutrals hate the team, especially in Yorkshire, because of their style in the past and their fans’ negative reputation.

I try to provide an overview of all teams by highlighting their most successful periods, but I can’t do that for Liverpool. There are too many trophies, too many names, and too many periods of dominance that need to be mentioned, so I need to keep this brief.

Liverpool have won 20 league titles (tied record with Manchester United), 6 Champions League trophies, 8 FA Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, and many other less significant trophies.

Some of the best players and managers in soccer history have played for the team, including the likes of Steven Gerrard, Mo Salah, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, John Barnes, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen, and many more.

They all left a mark, delivering incredible performances on the highest stage to help Liverpool accumulate so many trophies.

Of course, the list of legendary managers that have led Liverpool is also hard to comprehend. From Bill Shankly, who lifted the club and built its winning culture, to titans like Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish, and more recently, Jurgen Klopp.

The continuous success has helped Liverpool acquire one of the largest fanbases in the world. Fans rally under the famous song and motto “You’ll never walk alone”, and honestly, Anfield’s atmosphere might be the best in the league.

One of the reasons fans are so united are the tragic moments experienced by Liverpool throughout the years. Many lost their lives in the Heysel and Hillsborough Disasters, and most recently, Diogo Jota died in a car accident.

The fans and everyone around the club has responded with solidarity and resilience, supporting everyone devastated by tragedy.

You really can’t go wrong with supporting Liverpool, as the club is among the best in the world both historically and in the present.

Still, some might find this too easy. There’s also some risk involved, as Iraola has never managed at this level. He needs to find a way to fix last year’s issues, but it will be without club legend Mo Salah.

The squad feels a bit light, Van Dijk is not getting younger, and players like Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz need to improve. Iraola might need a year or two to get them playing as he wants them to, so some patience will likely be required.

Manchester City’s history can be split into two, there’s no way around it: before and after Sheikh Mansour’s arrival in 2008.

People believe the team was nowhere to be seen before that, but that’s not entirely true. Man City climbed to the top flight of English soccer in 1899 for the first time and spent most of history there.

The club only dropped down below the second level of English soccer only once, but City did have some stints outside of the elite.

While many of City’s season were forgettable, the team was occasionally contendeing in the league and the FA Cup. City won the title in 1936-37 and then again in 1967-78, also adding four FA Cup titles in 1925-26, 1932-33, 1954-55, and 1968-69.

That last triumph was followed by a European Cup Winners’ Cup in the next season, so saying Manchester City has no history before the Abu Dabi ownership simply isn’t true. The club can’t compare with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, or Manchester United, but it was still significantly more successful than most English teams.

Still, the change in ownership in 2008 elevated the team to a new level. Sheikh Mansour and the team around him invested heavily in Manchester City (maybe too heavily, but more on that later).

They attracted top talent on and off the pitch, which led to multiple trophies in the 2010s. Arguably their best deal was getting Pep Guardiola, who won 6 Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy in his 10 seasons at the helm.

The Spaniard left this summer, but he will be succeeded by one of his disciples, Enzo Maresca. The team is still full of world-class players, including the best goalscorer in the world in Erling Haaland.

City will be winning trophies and attracting great players, even if Maresca doesn’t bring success. That part of supporting them is easy. However, there are some question marks around the club’s recent success.

Many believe the team bought their titles and broke a ton of rules in the process. The accusations certainly have some merit, as Manchester City is currently investigated for 115 charges related to breaking the EPL’s financial fair play rules.

If you decide to support Man City, there’s a reasonably high chance your team will be confirmed as cheaters in the next few years. However, they might be exonerated and success is virtually guaranteed.

Manchester United is one of the biggest and most recognizable clubs in the world. It was founded in 1878 and found early success by winning First Division titles in 1907-08 and 1910-11.

The club then struggled to deliver big trophies in the next several decades, before the legendary Sir Matt Busby was appointed as the manager in 1945. Manchester United were dominant under his guidance in the 1950s and 1960s.

Most impressively, Busby overcame the Munich Disaster of 1958, one of the biggest tragedies in soccer history that took the lives of 23 people, including multiple young players, known as the “Busby Babes”.

Sir Matt Busby rebuilt the team and won the European Cup in 1968, with Manchester United the first English club to do so.

The Red Devils struggled after Busby’s retirement, but a certain Scottish manager turned English soccer upside down after his arrival in 1986. Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure started slowly, but he eventually won 13 league titles and 2 Champions League trophies, surpassing Liverpool as the team with most titles at the time (currently both teams are tied).

The club used the success on the pitch to build a global brand that is still going strong today, despite the struggles after Ferguson’s departure in 2013. The team is yet to win another title after appointing multiple managers throughout the years.

Most of them failed, which led to tensions in the fanbase and questions of whether Man United can return back to the top of English soccer.

No one knows the answer, but the fans are optimistic after Michael Carrick’s arrival. The former Man Utd player stabilized the team and earned multiple big victories on the road to third last season.

Now, Carrick needs to find some consistency in a season when the team will play a lot more games. I don’t think he has the squad depth to win one of the big trophies, but a solid season with deep cup runs and a top 4 finish could pave the way for something bigger.

If you want to support one of the biggest clubs in the world in its quest back to the top, Manchester United is an excellent choice. Still, big trophies are nowhere near guaranteed right now.

Newcastle United is one of the proudest teams in England, with loud fans and players who leave everything on the pitch. Passion is the defining characteristic of this club, making it very appealing to many soccer fans from all over the globe.

The team is really hard to define nowadays, as it has the financial power to compete with anyone but the financial fair play rules of the EPL prevent Newcastle from spending properly on elite talent.

In that sense, Newcastle are not exactly one of the big boys, but you can’t really call them underdogs either. They attract great players but also often lose them, as we saw Alexander Isak force a move to Liverpool last summer and Bruno Guimaraes looking to join Arsenal this year.

Historically, the club is also hard to categorize. Newcastle’s early years were tremendous, as the Magpies won three titles and an FA Cup in the 1900s. That early success was never matched, though, as Newcastle added another title in the 1920 and more cups but failed to consistently challenge for the league.

In fact, many seasons were spent bouncing between First and Second Division, as Newcastle rarely had the means to go for the top. Still, the team was often among the most entertaining to watch, thanks to the full commitment on and off the pitch.

This has always been and still is the main reason to support Newcastle. The fans, the players, and everyone around the club cares about the team and the game as a whole.

On top of that, now might be among the best times to be a Newcastle supporter. Sure, the team is losing top talent almost every year, but they also attract new big names consistently.

They also have Eddie Howe, one of the best English managers, so you can expect them to compete in the next few years. The League Cup title from 2025 broke a 70-year trophy drought and the club has played in the Champions League twice already under Howe.

Newcastle United should keep building and will be interesting to watch. Still, they are neither a true underdog or one of the top clubs (at least, yet), if that’s what you’re looking for as a fan.

Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865, making it one of the oldest clubs in the world and currently the oldest in the Premier League. Most of the team’s history was spent in the First and Second divisions, without much success.

There’s one glorious exception, though, thanks to the unreal Brian Clough. The stubborn manager took Forest in 1975, when they were struggling in the Second Division and fighting against relegation. Two years later, the team was back in the elite.

Not only that, but Nottingham Forest won their first title in 1977-78, which was incredibly followed by back-to-back European Cups. Given the club’s resources and status in English soccer, this might be the best Cinderella run in history.

When Clough retired, Nottingham Forest was unable to replace him and spend more than 20 years outside of the top English soccer league.

The arrival of controversial owner Evangelos Marinakis in 2017 changed Forest’s fortunes. The Greek businessman instantly started investing in the team, helping Forest return to the Premier League in 2022.

The owner’s style has been hard to understand, as he famously fired three managers within five months last season. And yet, Forest have been ambitious and successful under Marinakis, finishing 7^th in 2024-25 and reaching the Europa League semifinals last season.

Furthermore, the club just appointed one of the most exciting managers in England. Oliver Glasner was able to overperform and deliver trophies with both Eintracht Frankfurt and Crystal Palace, despite working with limited resources.

The Austrian now has an excellent squad that’s perfectly suited for his counter-attacking style and more money to spend thanks to Marinakis.

I won’t be surprised if Forest return to the middle of the table and deliver deep cup runs. In fact, this team is capable of winning a domestic cup and qualifying for Europe under Glasner, so becoming a Forest fan right now is a good choice.

Still, owners like Marinakis bring a lot of instability, as they tend to overreact and rush things. A few poor games could lead to trouble between him and Glasner, so you never know what to expect.

The worst-case scenario can lead to Nottingham Forest getting relegated in the near future, so there’s risk involved in supporting this team.

Sunderland was an absolute powerhouse in the early days of English soccer after winning three titles in the 1890s and another two in the 1900s. Unfortunately, the team only managed one more First Division trophy in 1935-36 and has failed to reach the top since.

They did win the FA Cup twice after that, most recently in 1973, but overall, Sunderland has struggled. The team fell out of the elite division for the first time in 1958 and has been bouncing around since.

Sunderland did spend plenty of season in the Premier League in the 2000s and 2010s, but that decent period was followed by a decline that saw the club in the third-tier of English soccer as recently as 2021-22.

That’s when Swiss-French billionaire heir Kyril Louis-Dreyfus acquired the club at the age of 23, becoming the youngest owner in English soccer. Apparently, youth is not a problem for him, as Sunderland has improved rapidly under his guidance.

The club returned to the Premier League in 2025-26, and everyone thought they weren’t ready and would go down immediately. Instead, Sunderland had a remarkable season and finished seventh in the league, thanks to smart additions like Granit Xhaka, Enzo Le Fee, Brian Brobbey, and Noah Sadiki.

The strategy of mixing young talent with experienced veterans worked wonders for Sunderland. The team will now play in Europa League and is looking to improve the squad again, so picking this club is an excellent choice if you like live underdogs.

They have a competent owner, an excellent coach, and an exciting squad. While their league position might drop because they have to play twice a week this season, I don’t expect them to fight against relegation.

In fact, it looks like Sunderland are poised for mid-table existence in the Premier League and some deep runs in cup competitions.

Tottenham Hotspur is BY FAR the most chaotic entity in the soccer world. You never know what to expect from the Spurs, but it’s not going to be boring.

I believe the 2024-25 season epitomizes how wild and unpredictable Tottenham is. The team struggled badly with injuries, internal conflicts, and rumors about the manager’s future. As a result, Spurs finished 17^th in the Premier League.

However, they won the Europa League in that same season to earn a major trophy and qualify for the Champions League.

Apparently, the ownership couldn’t accept the poor EPL run, so Spurs fired their manager Ange Postecoglou almost immediately after winning the Europa League. The move led to an even bigger collapse, as Spurs were in a tough relegation battle and changed multiple managers last season.

They did survive at the end and got a wild card manager like Roberto de Zerbi, so the future is as unknown as it has always been. I can easily Spurs struggling again and getting a new manager, but they might also make the Champions League spots if it all goes well.

The squad features plenty of talent, especially after acquiring Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi, and Andy Robertson this summer.

The lack of European soccer comes with a silver lining: Spurs won’t be playing on two fronts for most of the season, which means they can focus on the league almost entirely.

As for the team’s history, Tottenham was pretty good in the 1950s, 1960, and 1970s, winning two titles, multiple FA Cups, the UEFA Cup, and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

While the title has eluded them since 1961, Spurs are consistently in contention in cup competitions. They have a total of 8 FA Cups, and most recently added the 2025 Europa League.

This team has always produced elite talents, with list of greatest Spurs players including names like Harry Kane, Paul Gascoigne, Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker, David Ginola, Dimitar Berbatov, Glenn Hoddle, Gareth Bale, Heung-Min Son, and many others.

If you add iconic managers like Bill Nicholson, Keith Burкinshaw, Arthur Rowe, and Mauricio Pochettino, it’s easy to see why Spurs fans are so proud with their club.

Tottenham is not the team for everyone, as you never know what to expect and sustained success is unlikely. However, when Spurs get it right, they are devastating on the pitch and a joy to watch.