The Premier League is back, and for the first time since 2003/04, Arsenal are defending the title rather than chasing it. Mikel Arteta's side ended a 22-year wait for the trophy last season, and the 2026/27 campaign has already given fans plenty to catch up on: a new manager at Anfield, a new era at the Etihad, and an opening weekend that set the tone for what promises to be one of the more unpredictable title races in years.

Whether you want to know where to actually watch the goals, how the table is shaping up, or what's changed at the clubs since May, this guide covers it.

How to watch Premier League highlights

The fastest way to catch up on any match is our own Premier League highlights hub, which collects every uploaded clip from the league's official channels in one place, sorted by kickoff so you never have to hunt through a cluttered YouTube homepage. If you'd rather go straight to the source, the Premier League's official YouTube channel posts extended highlights (usually 8 to 10 minutes) within a couple of hours of full time for every match, and most broadcasters in your region will have their own highlights show or app as well.

One practical note: highlights availability can vary slightly by country depending on broadcast rights, which is why we run a multi-source player that automatically switches to a working upload if the first one is blocked where you are, rather than leaving you staring at an error message.

Premier League 2026/27: how the season has started

Arsenal opened their title defence at home with a comfortable 3-0 win over promoted Coventry City, with goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard doing the damage. It was a statement start from a squad that Arteta insists should now be judged as "attacking champions" rather than a team happy to sit on what it won last season, and the bookmakers agree: Arsenal are once again the favourites to retain the title, with pundits including Paul Scholes and Gary Neville going as far as to float a genuine treble push.

Two of the bigger off-field stories both involve managerial change. Liverpool moved on from their title-winning setup and handed the reins to Andoni Iraola, whose first competitive game in charge was a tough away trip to Newcastle at St James' Park, about as demanding a starting assignment as the fixture list could have handed him. Across Manchester, City have entered the post-Pep Guardiola era for the first time in a decade, with his former assistant Enzo Maresca now tasked with building on the most successful spell in the club's history. City and Liverpool are already down to meet each other multiple times before the season is out, including a league fixture in early May that could carry serious weight if both are still in the title picture by then.

Manchester United host City in September, an early data point for how the Maresca era is settling in against Premier League opposition, while Liverpool's trip to Villa Park comes in November. It's a fixture list that front-loads plenty of the season's biggest tests rather than saving them all for the run-in.

Storylines worth following this season

Beyond the results, a few threads are worth keeping an eye on as the season develops:

• Can Arsenal go back-to-back? No side has retained the Premier League since Manchester City's run of four straight titles ended in 2024. Arsenal's squad depth, and how they cope with a first title defence in over two decades, will be one of the season's defining questions.
• The Maresca reset at City. Replacing a manager who won six Premier League titles in eight seasons is about as hard a job as exists in football. How quickly City's players adapt to a new voice, after so long under Guardiola, will shape their season more than any single transfer.
• Iraola's Liverpool. A club used to challenging for the title changing manager rarely happens quietly, and an opening trip to Newcastle was a genuine test of how the group has taken to a different approach so early in the campaign.
• The chasing pack. Chelsea, Newcastle and Aston Villa have all shown in recent seasons they're capable of gatecrashing the top four, and a title race this open at the very top tends to produce fiercer fights for Champions League places underneath it.
• The promoted clubs. Coventry City came up needing to prove an opening-weekend beating at the Emirates wasn't a sign of things to come. Every promoted side's first few months tend to be the most closely watched highlights of their season, simply because so much is still unknown about how they'll cope at this level.

Transfer business in the closing weeks of the window can reshape a title race almost as much as anything that happens on the pitch, and this summer was no exception, with all six of the league's traditional heavyweights making moves aimed squarely at closing the gap on Arsenal. How much of that spending translates into results won't be clear for a few months yet, which is exactly why the opening quarter of a Premier League season tends to produce some of its most-watched highlights: everyone is still working out who's actually good this year.

A quick history of the Premier League

The Premier League as we know it was formed in 1992, when the old First Division clubs broke away to negotiate their own television deal, a decision that eventually turned English football's top flight into the richest and most-watched domestic league on the planet. Manchester United dominated the competition's first two decades, winning 13 titles under Sir Alex Ferguson between 1993 and 2013, a record that still looks close to untouchable. Since then the title has spread further, with Manchester City winning six of the last eight before Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester City's remarkable 2015/16 triumph all breaking that run at different points, proof that the "closed shop at the top" reputation the league sometimes gets isn't quite the full story.

What hasn't changed is the standard of week-to-week football. The gap between the Premier League's title contenders and its relegation-threatened clubs is famously narrower than in most of Europe's other major leagues, which is a big part of why highlights from a mid-table fixture on a random Saturday afternoon can be just as watchable as one between the traditional "big six."

What to expect from a Premier League highlights reel

A typical extended highlights package runs 8 to 10 minutes and covers every goal, the build-up to each one, major chances, red cards and any significant refereeing incidents, VAR reviews included. If you only have a couple of minutes, most channels also post a shorter "goals only" cut for each match, usually within the same window as the extended version. Between the two, it's rarely more than a few minutes' viewing to know everything that mattered from a 90-minute match.

Premier League highlights FAQ

Where can I watch Premier League highlights for free?

The Premier League's official YouTube channel uploads free extended highlights for every match, usually within a couple of hours of full time. Our own Premier League highlights hub pulls those clips together in one place so you don't have to search for them individually.

How long after a match do highlights get uploaded?

Official highlights typically go up within one to three hours of the final whistle, though it can occasionally take longer for late kickoffs or matches with a broadcast exclusivity window in a given region.

Who won the Premier League in 2025/26?

Arsenal won their first Premier League title since 2003/04, ending a 22-year wait and going into 2026/27 as defending champions under Mikel Arteta.

When does the 2026/27 Premier League season finish?

The season runs from 22 August 2026 to 30 May 2027.

Why can't I watch a Premier League highlight video in my country?

Some uploads are geo-restricted by the rights holder in certain regions. Our player automatically tries an alternate source when this happens, so a blocked clip usually isn't a dead end.

Who are Manchester City's and Liverpool's new managers for 2026/27?

Manchester City are managed by Enzo Maresca, previously Pep Guardiola's assistant, following Guardiola's departure after a decade in charge. Liverpool are managed by Andoni Iraola for the first time this season.

Which club has won the most Premier League titles?

Manchester United have won the most Premier League titles with 13, all of them under Sir Alex Ferguson between 1993 and 2013. Manchester City are next with six titles in the last eight seasons before Arsenal's 2025/26 triumph.

What's the difference between extended highlights and a "goals only" clip?

Extended highlights, usually 8 to 10 minutes, cover every goal plus major chances, cards and VAR incidents. A goals-only clip is a shorter cut showing just the goals themselves, useful if you're catching up on several matches in one sitting.

More Premier League reading

For the full breakdown of this season's fixtures, kit launches and early transfer business, read our Premier League 2026/27 season preview and key fixture dates guide. For the competition's individual scoring history, see our Premier League all-time top scorers list. And for every goal as the season goes on, bookmark our Premier League highlights hub.