Premier League 2026/27: A Full Analysis of All 20 Head Coaches
Few Premier League seasons have opened with as much dugout turnover as this one. Eight new permanent managers took charge of top-flight clubs over the summer, a shock late departure at Newcastle added a ninth change just weeks before kickoff, and only three managers now enter the season having held their job for three years or more. Here’s a full breakdown of who’s in charge at every club, and what it means for the season ahead.
The Established Order
Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) is now the league’s longest-serving manager, having taken over in December 2019. After years of going toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, he finally delivered — ending a 22-year wait for the Premier League title in 2025/26 and winning his first Barclays Manager of the Season award.
Arsenal also reached the Champions League final, losing on penalties to PSG. Arteta enters this season as the clear man to beat, both in stability and in silverware.
Unai Emery (Aston Villa) has quietly built one of the most consistent projects in the league since arriving in October 2022 with Villa 16th in the table.
Champions League qualification in two of the last three seasons and a record fifth Europa League triumph in 2025/26 (across his career, following earlier wins at Sevilla and Villarreal) make him one of the most battle-tested European coaches outside the traditional “big six.”
David Moyes (Everton), now in his second spell at Goodison Park since January 2025, remains one of the league’s most experienced hands — his first Everton tenure ran 11 years and included a Champions League qualification via a fourth-place finish in 2005. His time at West Ham also delivered the club’s first major trophy in 43 years, the 2023 Conference League.
Daniel Farke (Leeds United), in charge since July 2023, has already delivered two promotions from the Championship with Leeds and Norwich combined, guiding Leeds up as champions with a 100-point season before keeping them up in their first season back.
Régis Le Bris (Sunderland), appointed June 2024, is the architect of one of the division’s genuine feel-good stories — a dramatic Championship playoff final win in his debut season, followed by a shock seventh-place Premier League finish and the club’s first European qualification in 53 years.
The Big Summer Arrivals
This is where the real churn happened. Six clubs among the traditional top tier alone changed managers:
Xabi Alonso (Chelsea) arrives with a genuinely elite coaching résumé already — an unbeaten domestic double at Bayer Leverkusen in 2023/24 (their first-ever Bundesliga title) before a short, difficult spell at Real Madrid that ended after less than eight months. As a player he won the Champions League at both Liverpool and Real Madrid. Chelsea’s recruitment strategy already looks tailored to him — Danny Welbeck and reported interest in Jordan Henderson both signal a push for experience and leadership to support a young squad.
Andoni Iraola (Liverpool) replaces Arne Slot after three excellent years turning Bournemouth into a club with genuine European ambition — including their first-ever continental qualification. Early signs on Liverpool’s US preseason tour have been promising, with wins over Sunderland and Wrexham heading into the new campaign.
Enzo Maresca (Manchester City) succeeds Guardiola himself, arriving via a Chelsea spell that delivered the Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup before he stepped away mid-season. His route to the City job — via their own academy setup and a spell as one of Guardiola’s assistants — suggests a philosophical continuity City’s hierarchy is banking on.
Michael Carrick (Manchester United) took interim charge in January 2026 and was rewarded with the permanent role after guiding United to third in 2025/26. A club legend as a player, his coaching path via Middlesbrough (an EFL Cup semi-final and playoff run) gave United confidence in promoting from within their own coaching alumni network.
Roberto De Zerbi (Tottenham Hotspur) joins after building a reputation as one of the most tactically distinctive coaches in Europe — a best-ever sixth-place Brighton finish in 2022/23, followed by a Ligue 1 runner-up finish at Marseille. He arrives at Spurs with rescue-mission credentials already proven, having taken over Tottenham at the end of last season and steered them clear of relegation on the final day.
Oliver Glasner (Nottingham Forest) joins after delivering back-to-back trophies at Crystal Palace — the club’s first-ever major honour (the FA Cup) followed by the Conference League. Forest will hope his knack for maximising a mid-table squad translates directly.
The Newcastle Gamble
The most dramatic managerial story of the summer arrived almost as an afterthought — barely three weeks before kickoff, Eddie Howe stepped down after nearly five years in charge, following a difficult 2025/26 campaign and a bruising summer transfer window that’s already cost the club Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, with captain Bruno Guimarães reportedly a target for Arsenal.
Newcastle moved fast, with Matthias Jaissle — the 38-year-old German who built his reputation at Al Ahli — emerging as the agreed replacement. It’s a genuine gamble: Jaissle arrives unproven in a top European league, and steps into a project that looked to be stalling even before the managerial change. How he handles the incoming pressure, and whether the Guimarães exit actually materialises, will shape Newcastle’s entire season before a ball is even kicked.
New Bosses at the Promoted Clubs
All three promoted sides enter the top flight with the same coaches who got them there — a notable vote of continuity:
- Frank Lampard (Coventry City) delivered promotion in his first full season since being appointed in November 2024, building on a Chelsea and Everton managerial past that included an FA Cup final appearance in his Chelsea debut season.
- Sergej Jakirović (Hull City) won promotion via the playoffs in his first season since summer 2025, arriving via an unusual route through Croatian, Slovenian, Bosnian and Turkish football that included a league-and-cup double at Dinamo Zagreb.
- Gary O’Neil (Ipswich Town), appointed June 2026 after Kieran McKenna’s departure, brings Premier League survival experience from both Bournemouth and Wolves, plus a Conference League semi-final run at Strasbourg.
The Quieter Reshuffles
A handful of clubs made lower-profile but still notable changes:
- Marco Rose (Bournemouth) replaces Iraola directly, arriving with genuine pedigree — back-to-back league titles at Red Bull Salzburg and a Bundesliga runner-up finish at Borussia Dortmund.
- Pierre Sage (Crystal Palace) takes over after Glasner’s departure, on the back of a remarkable single season at RC Lens that delivered their first-ever Coupe de France and Champions League qualification.
- Álvaro Arbeloa (Fulham) makes an intriguing jump from Real Madrid’s academy system — including an interim spell in charge of Los Blancos’ first team that reached a Champions League quarter-final — to his first permanent senior job in England.
- Keith Andrews (Brentford) was promoted internally in June 2025 and immediately delivered the club’s joint-best-ever Premier League finish (ninth), narrowly missing out on European qualification.
- Fabián Hürzeler (Brighton) remains, at 31, one of the league’s youngest-ever top-flight head coaches, having already delivered back-to-back top-eight finishes and Brighton’s Conference League qualification.
What It All Means
A few clear themes emerge heading into 2026/27:
The Real Madrid coaching pipeline is real. Alonso, Arbeloa, and Iraola (via his playing pedigree and connections) all trace back through Spanish football’s elite development system — a striking cluster of Spanish-schooled coaching talent now running English clubs.
Continuity paid off at the promoted clubs. All three sides that came up from the Championship kept the manager who got them there, a deliberate bet on stability during the hardest transition in English football.
Job security is scarcer than ever. With eight new permanent managers already before a ball was kicked, plus Newcastle’s shock late change, this is shaping up as one of the most volatile managerial landscapes the league has seen — meaning several of the coaches profiled above will already be under real pressure within months, not seasons.
Manager details current as of late July/early August 2026. The Newcastle appointment of Matthias Jaissle was still being finalised at time of writing — check for official confirmation before treating it as completed.
