The five best Premier League managers of the season

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

As always, Premier League owners have been trigger-happy when it comes to sacking managers in 2025/26.

As we head into the final day, there have been 10 dismissals in the top-flight this season, as you'll see in the table below:

Only one club has had four managers this season - Nottingham Forest. Owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Nuno Espirito Santo and replaced him with Ange Postecoglou who only last 39 days before also being shown the door. Firefighter Sean Dyche was then appointed but he was eventually dismissed in favour of Vitor Pereira, who was sacked by Wolves earlier in the season.

While there have been plenty of managers who have lost their jobs, some have done excellent work and defied expectations. Let's look at the five best managers in the Premier League in 2025/26.

Michael Carrick, Manchester United

There's only one coach on our list who has come in midway through the season to much acclaim and that is Michael Carrick, who has steadied the ship at Manchester United after the dismal spell under Ruben Amorim.

After Amorim was sacked in January, Darren Fletcher was actually appointed in an interim role before former Middlesbrough manager Carrick was put in place until the end of the season. Not only has he steadied the ship, but flourished at Old Trafford as the Red Devils will finish third in the league which means Champions League football next season.

Since he was appointed, no club has earned more Premier League points than United and he has got the best out of superstars like Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, while summer signings Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko started to look money well spent.

In his first two games after being put in the hot seat, he defeated Manchester City then Arsenal and that set the standard for the hugely successful few months that would follow.

Daniel Farke, Leeds

The biggest mark in favour of Daniel Farke this season is how he improved the team after a difficult spell. Leeds were in danger of sliding badly after a run of poor results, but they recovered into a more organised, resilient side that picked up enough points to stay clear of relegation with plenty of time to spare.

Leeds were running the risk of becoming a yo-yo team as one of the favourites to go straight back down following promotion last season, but with safety confirmed a while ago they now have the platform to establish themselves as a Premier League stalwart side again.

He also guided the club to its first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years, while certain areas of recruitment, like the acquisition of Dominic Calvert-Lewin on a free transfer from Everton, have proved to be masterstrokes.

Throughout all the ups and downs, Farke remains the calmest man in the room and that composure translated to his players as the season progressed.

Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth

Bournemouth's backline was decimated last summer as three of the club's starting defenders, Milos Kerkez, Ilya Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen, were sold for big money. It looked like Bournemouth were going to struggle in 2025/26 as their reputation as a selling club shone through like never before, especially after selling star player Antoine Semenyo to Man City in January, as well, but they have defied all expectations and somehow found themselves in the running for a spot in the Champions League for the first time in their history.

Since the Cherries were established, they have never played European football yet Andoni Iraola inspired them to dream of a place at the highest table.

Bournemouth will still remain a selling club, but what they are assured of is financial stability for years to come as the likes of Alex Scott and Brazilian wonderkid Rayan will undoubtedly be sold for big bucks at some point.

Iraola has taken what he has been given and created a coherent team that complements each other all over the pitch, while only Arsenal and Manchester City have lost less games than his team this campaign.

He's already announced he's leaving, but what a job he's done on the coast.

Keith Andrews, Brentford

Thomas Frank was such a key figure at Brentford that when it was announced one of his assistants, Keith Andrews, would take over, there was some trepidation.

The Irishman had never managed a club at senior level before yet found himself thrust into the limelight in a Premier League side whom many had tipped for relegation.

Not only that, but he had to contend with star players Yoane Wissa and Bryn Mbeumo demanding to leave as soon as he got in the door. Brentford got their money and Andrews set about setting the absolute perfect mentality among the squad:

Nobody believes we can do anything, so let's make them eat their words.

The goals of the sensational Igor Thiago have helped, but Andrews has already earned the respect that he didn't receive when he was appointed.

For a little while, they too dreamed of Champions League football before they lost their way in the final flurry of games.

Mikel Arteta, Arsenal

In some ways, Mikel Arteta achieved what Sir Alex Ferguson done at Manchester United, not in terms of success but in terms of establishing an 'everyone is against us' mentality at the Emirates.

Arsenal's lack of swashbuckling football in open play meant that they didn't gain many new admirers this season but the fans, the players and Arteta especially will not care one bit.

The Gunners did what they had to do to break this long Premier League title drought which was the goal to achieve by any means necessary this season as critics would have asked whether he was the right man for the job had the club failed to win the title after leading the table for the vast majority of the campaign.

Arteta probably could have rested on his laurels at Manchester City and, with Pep Guardiola set to leave, there's every chance he would have been next in line for the manager's role at the Etihad.

However, he bet on himself and created his own dynasty at Arsenal and they're now the team to beat in England.

Written by

Martin Macdonald | Writer

Martin Macdonald. a Content Writer for FootballTransfers and FootballTransfers USA, as well as the Business Operations Manager for RealTimes Network, has worked in football reporting for over 15 years, starting at GOAL and Perform Media before moving to RealTimes. He was formerly the Chief Editor of MovieMeter.com and has also written for FightFans, GPFans and MSN.

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