Premier League representation is low when it comes to the 16 attacking players on this year’s Ballon d’Or shortlist. Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland are there but Cole Palmer, one of the nominees in 2025, is out after an injury-hit year and English football’s shift towards physicality and set pieces last season is summed up by none of the forwards from the best team in the country making the cut.
The trio giving Arsenal a presence – Gabriel Maghalhães, Declan Rice and William Saliba – are all defensive minded. Arsenal won the league but their forwards are not regarded as elite. Injuries played a part, denying Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka fluency, but Mikel Arteta’s side were not loved by neutrals. There was respect rather than admiration for their defensive rigour. There was an argument that a lack of ambition after going 1-0 up stopped Arsenal from beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.
It was a close-run thing, but a second consecutive European title for PSG was a victory for attacking football over the Premier League’s attrition. Luis Enrique’s side keep beating English opponents, and there was a similar vibe at the World Cup. Games flowed more in North America, in part because of officials clamping down on the “meat wall” at set pieces.
As for England, Thomas Tuchel’s plan to tap into the Premier League’s physicality failed. England retreated in their semi-final defeat by Argentina. It is also significant that not until Anthony Gordon’s goal against Argentina did an England attacker who played in the Premier League last season score at the World Cup.
“Spanish football demands a different level of tactical and technical intelligence,” Gordon has said since leaving Newcastle for Barcelona. “In England, sometimes intensity can cover up mistakes. You can miscontrol the ball and still recover by winning the next physical battle.”
The English top flight’s appeal partly rests on those bruising qualities but the grind went too far last season. How many classic games can you remember? Some of the top sides having disappointing campaigns did not help but across the board there was grumbling about an over-reliance on set pieces and goalkeepers being squashed during elaborate corner routines. Anthony Barry, Tuchel’s assistant, noted that the game had become congealed in the middle. There was an emphasis on long throws and timewasting. The league was harder to watch.
Now comes the shift. One of the themes during the first three weeks of the campaign has been the pace quickening. Lawmakers have reacted. The five-second countdown and threat of a restart reversal at goalkicks and throw-ins have forced teams to think twice about timewasting. The 10-second time limit on players leaving the pitch at substitutions has helped and a trial with tactical timeouts mean an outfield player will have to go off for at least a minute after the restart of play if their side’s goalkeeper has gone down injured.
Early days, of course, but the football has been enjoyable and the numbers are encouraging. There have been four matches in which both teams have had 14 shots this season, compared with only one at the same stage last year. According to Opta, the average ball-in-play time has increased from 55min 23sec during the 2025-26 campaign to 57min 14sec. Delay times are down from 29.2sec to 26.7sec. Excluding penalties, the percentage of goals from set pieces has dipped from 27.5% to 23.5%.
There are more fast breaks per game (2.27 compared with 1.94), more shots per game via fast breaks (1.9 compared with 1.75) and more goals from fast breaks per game (0.43 from 0.23). Chelsea, more transitional under Xabi Alonso, are flowing and have been involved in some wild games. Liverpool have replaced Arne Slot with the counterpressing Andoni Iraola. Newcastle have been rapid under Matthias Jaissle, who has played to the strengths of Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga. Roberto De Zerbi seems an outlier at Tottenham, who need to speed up. Manchester City may soon want more incision from Enzo Maresca. The Italian favours a methodical style but even Pep Guardiola was moving away from obsessive control last season. There is a sense that some managers are closer in style to Jürgen Klopp than Guardiola at the moment. Alonso’s style has seemed very similar to Klopp so far. His willingness to let talent breathe is also quite like Carlo Ancelotti; Palmer has spoken about being allowed more freedom to roam under Alonso.
Perhaps there will be a correction as teams wise up to each other, Europe kicks in and injuries bite. Perhaps it will amuse you to hear that Arsenal remain top for delaying at a corner (with an average of 43.2sec). Then again, last Sunday delivered the season’s first clash between potential title rivals – Arsenal taking on Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium – and the action was breathless. Chelsea did not hold back and it was interesting that Arsenal welcomed the end-to-end openness.
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Havertz was full of imagination up front and Ødegaard, Arsenal’s creative hub, dominated. It is a fascinating development. Defence was Arsenal’s greatest asset last season; Rice was more influential than Ødegaard in midfield. Now the Norwegian looks rejuvenated. Fitness helps but so does greater freedom. Chelsea did not shut the game down, so Ødegaard ran it. The best player in the best team was not a defender. At those levels Ødegaard looks as good as Fernandes.
This matters. Florian Wirtz, a star in Alonso’s champion Bayer Leverkusen side, has come to England and found the pace difficult at Liverpool. The Premier League needs top talent to feel it can shine. The three Bayern Munich forwards on the Ballon d’Or shortlist – Harry Kane, Luis Díaz and Michael Olise – moved from English teams. PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are fresh for the business end of the Champions League in part because they aren’t being pushed to the limit by teams such as Brentford and Bournemouth on the weekend. Jude Bellingham, England’s jewel, has never played in the Premier League. Vinícius Júnior toyed with moving to Arsenal but stayed with Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid.
The Premier League is the strongest and most competitive in Europe. Yet there has been a talent drain. It is easy to imagine the best forwards feel they will have more fun creating and scoring against less intense Bundesliga defences and have the freshness to compete for the Champions League, international tournaments and for individual prizes.
Look at how the four semi-finalists at the World Cup were well represented by Premier League defenders and defensive midfielders but not by wingers and strikers. Where are the stars? Those who have left have mostly not been replaced, which is why the Premier League could do with Bradley Barcola shining at Liverpool after his arrival from PSG.
Barcola succeeding could convince others to follow. If the France winger is worn down, though, it could have the opposite effect. The Premier League has to be careful. The new measures to tackle timewasting could be a gamechanger. There were only four added minutes at the end of each half when Arsenal beat Chelsea. It felt refreshing.
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