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Manchester City travel to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in their first match of the 2025-26 Premier League today.
Pep Guardiola’s side are among the favourites to challenge champions Liverpool for the title, while Vitor Pereira is hoping to steer his men away from relegation again this season.
Follow all the live updates below.
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How Manchester City play: High possession, increased off-ball running and an Achilles’ heel
Richard Masters sat down in a low armchair and awaited the barrage.
The Premier League CEO was doing the rounds on the eve of the new season and on each occasion has been assailed by the same opening question.
The Premier League’s legal battle with Manchester City is unresolved. There has been absolute silence in this calendar year. Can anyone, and especially the Premier League’s most powerful figure, explain what is going on?
On his last public appearance in London before Liverpool hosted Bournemouth last night, Masters wanted to take control of the narrative:
💬 “Obviously it’s the eve of the season, everybody’s excited… I think there’s some unique qualities going into the season.
“I think that will hopefully give us a really competitive and dramatic season because that’s what we all want.”
Unique and dramatic? Certainly…
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Another Premier League season dawns – with only silence regarding Manchester City charges
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One of five Premier League matches down today, and three are starting right now. And they're happening at opposite ends of the country.
In the north east, Sunderland are marking their return to the top flight with the visit of West Ham to the Stadium of Light. On the south coast, Brighton are hosting Fulham with both looking to start strongly.
And somewhere in between, in north London, Tottenham are starting Premier League life under Thomas Frank with the visit of newly promoted Burnley.
It has become an element of each new season in recent times — that it starts with changes.
So with 380 matches making up the new Premier League campaign, what do you need to read up on in advance before you start shouting at your screen wondering why that’s just happened?
From the eight-second rule on goalkeepers to captains’ sole responsibility, the official arrival of offside technology and new broadcast interview windows, there is plenty to cover off.
Fortunately for us, Cerys Jones has done just that for us — and you can take it all in with the link below.
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What’s new in the Premier League in 2025-26?
Good day to you all once again and thanks for joining our continuing coverage of the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
This is going to be an intriguing kick-off to the campaign for both Wolves and Manchester City too.
The job Vitor Pereira did in rescuing Wolves last season really impressed me but there have been some big exits in this squad now we are the other side of the summer and the pessimism around their 2025-26 prospects are understandable. How will they stand up against a side they’ve tended to perform well against at Molineux.
As for Manchester City? Honestly, I think they’re my favourites for the title given their atrocious 2024-25 campaign was still good enough for third — and they won’t be that bad again. Even with the news of Rodri’s injury setback. Surely?
Plenty more build-up on the way here, as we tick down to the team news and then kick-off. Don’t go anywhere.
The first game of the day is done and, to be honest, it won't live long in anyone's memory.
An early kick-off in front of the cameras between Aston Villa and Newcastle promised plenty, but delivered very little.
Anthony Elanga missed a huge early chance on his Premier League debut for Eddie Howe's side in a first half completely dominated by the visitors. Newcastle should have won the game, particularly after playing half an hour with an extra man following Ezri Konsa's red card.
But they couldn't find a way through a resolute Villa defence, so the teams had to settle for a share of the points.
The opening game of the new Premier League season was paused in the first half, after Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo reported he had been racially abused by a supporter at Anfield.
After half an hour of the game, referee Anthony Taylor halted proceedings and had a conversation with the fourth official, Liverpool manager Arne Slot, and Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.
Captains Virgil van Dijk and Adam Smith and the rest of the teams were informed of what had happened before play resumed.
TV cameras showed Semenyo, 25, informing Taylor of the racist comment from a member of the Anfield crowd as Liverpool prepared to take a corner, just before the referee halted the game.
An anti-discrimination message was read out to the crowd once the half-time whistle had blown.
Merseyside Police has confirmed that an investigation is underway.
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Premier League opener paused after Antoine Semenyo reports racist abuse from the stands
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It’s been a year and five days since Manchester City last got their hands on a trophy. In recent times, that constitutes a drought.
On the surface, finishing third in the Premier League last season may not seem such an alarming dip. But there were a number of glaring structural issues that Pep Guardiola struggled to address throughout a turbulent season, as he posted the lowest points-per-game average of his managerial career.
Although the mood feels better in the City camp with exciting new recruits all looking to have hit the ground running, question marks remain over what happens when they lose the ball.
Thom Harris casts an eye over pre-season performances and underlying trends to assess how it could all unfold.
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How Manchester City play: High possession, increased off-ball running and an Achilles’ heel
Well, The Athletic’s hope-o-meter shows 85 per cent of Manchester City fans are optimistic, 15 per cent pessimistic. Wolves, meanwhile, are the second-least optimistic (32 per cent) and the second-most pessimistic (68 per cent).
As our very own Steve Madeley writes…
📝 “Remind us, what is hope? It’s not a phenomenon that we often see in the Black Country, although there were a few rare sightings in the Wolverhampton area during six successive wins towards the end of last season.
“Now, after the loss of Wolves’ two best players and an underwhelming set of signings so far, Wolves fans (and possibly head coach Vitor Pereira) are staring nervously into their Banks’s Bitter.”
Let’s see if today’s match plays out that way.
In their most recent pre-season friendly, it was a home defeat for Wolves — up against La Liga side Celta Vigo, who travelled from Galicia, Spain to Molineux.
Although it was 0-0 at half-time despite several chances for both sides, Pablo Duran fired in a shot that Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa couldn’t keep out.
And that was how it stayed. Not exactly a performance or result that will have the home fans particularly confident ahead of the visit of Manchester City today.
After a summer populated by an appearance at the Club World Cup, Manchester City opted to only have one official pre-season friendly before starting their Premier League campaign.
That allowed them to enjoy more than a month off between their 4-3 round of 16 defeat against Al Hilal in Orlando on July 1, and their first and only tune-up fixture against Palermo last Saturday.
And it was a fairly comfortable 3-0 win for Man City against the second-tier Italian side.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring inside half an hour and new signing Tijjani Reijnders netted a second-half double to wrap things up against Filippo Inzaghi’s side.
Wolves today will be a step up, though.
The Premier League is up and running, and so are Liverpool — who had to ride out Bournemouth’s gallant second-half comeback from 2-0 down to bring home a 4-2 victory at Anfield last night.
It was a highly charged evening as Liverpool paid tribute before the game to their forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva, who both died in a car crash in July. Those tributes continued from the stands at full time.
There was also a pause to the game in the first half after Bournemouth goalscorer Antoine Semenyo informed the referee, Anthony Taylor, he had been subjected to racist abuse from a fan in the stands.
Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah secured the win for last season’s champions in the final minutes — and Andy Jones has the briefing on all that and more on opening night in the English top flight.
GO FURTHER
Liverpool 4 Bournemouth 2 – Chiesa the supersub, Semenyo reports racist abuse, scores twice
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Five Premier League games on today's slate, with the first of them already underway at Villa Park.
12:30pm
3pm
5:30pm
Then the opening gameweek of the season finishes on Monday as newly promoted Leeds United host Everton at Elland Road.
After the allegations of racist abuse suffered by Antoine Semenyo, there was an outpouring of support from the Liverpool players and staff, and a large proportion of their supporters.
Here is what captain Virgil van Dijk had to say after the game, courtesy of our Liverpool correspondent James Pearce.
💬 “I’ve had loads of conversations with him (Semenyo) about it,” Van Dijk said. “First and foremost, I wanted to know what happened and I am glad the authorities are dealing with it all, that is the main thing.
“But we stand with him completely and I think every one of you here would say the same thing: these things can’t happen. So anything he needs for support, I am here for him.
“We are all here for him to be honest, but the club as well and they are dealing with it in the right way. I am fully confident about that. Especially the authorities have to deal with it now and like I said these things can’t happen, whatsoever.
“I can’t believe it and I can say these things that it shouldn’t happen but unfortunately it does and it is an absolute disgrace in my eyes.”
We were treated to a brilliant opening game of the Premier League season last evening.
The reigning champions got us started and they did it in some style, beating Bournemouth 4-2 at Anfield. Arne Slot's side got off to the perfect start with new boy Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo scoring either side of half-time to give them a 2-0 lead.
Antoine Semenyo dragged the visitors back into the game, finishing nicely from close range and then scoring a brilliant equaliser, but Liverpool were not to be denied. Substitute Federico Chiesa volleyed in to make it 3-2 and then Mohamed Salah got his customary goal to wrap up the win.
The game was, however, overshadowed by Semenyo reporting a supporter for racial abuse.
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Premier League opener paused after Antoine Semenyo reports racist abuse from the stands
Molineux, Wolverhampton
In the heart of the west Midlands lies Molineux.
Draped in old gold and standing proud since 1889, its capacity of 31,750 is relatively small but allows a close-to-the-pitch, noisy atmosphere to flourish.
How its walls will shake if their side can pull off a result against the big favourites today.
We know the 2025-26 season across Europe is about to return, but there is so much more here on The Athletic.
The U.S. Open, the last tennis major of the year, is coming up fast while the Ryder Cup golf will grab the attention of those of us in the UK and the United States at the end of September.
And before that, the new NFL and College Football seasons start too.
There is truly no better place than The Athletic to follow all that, and more. You can subscribe on an exclusive offer here.
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Here is how you can tune into today's game live:
The match starts in the prime time Saturday evening slot of 5.30pm BST.
That is 12.30pm ET on the east coast of the United States and 9.30am PT on the west.
Hello and welcome to The Athletic, where today there’s another piping hot opening weekend Premier League clash to feast on.
After yesterday’s curtain raiser, it’s day two and we have Wolverhampton Wanderers facing title challengers Manchester City at Molineux.
Wolves have been a bit of a bogey side for Pep Guardiola's men in recent years so this could be an interesting clash in the west Midlands.
There’s plenty of build-up to come, so stick with us as we take you through all of it.
Wolves vs Manchester City live updates: Premier League team news, predictions and more – The Athletic – The New York Times
