What's new in the Premier League this season?

Who will get their hands on the Premier League trophy this season?

The Premier League returns this weekend as reigning champions Liverpool entertain Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday.

A thrilling opening weekend also includes Manchester United hosting Arsenal, before Leeds make their return to the top flight when they welcome Everton on Monday.

It has been a busy summer on and off the field, with Chelsea winning the Club World Cup in the United States after Manchester City went out in the last 16.

We have taken a look at some of the new things you can expect to see over the 2025-26 campaign.

What new managers and new players are in the Premier League?

Liverpool's purchase of Florian Wirtz has been the biggest transfer of the summer so far

Ange Postecoglou said he always won a trophy in his second season in charge of a club and that prediction came true as he guided Tottenham to the Europa League thanks to a 1-0 win over Manchester United in Bilbao, Spain.

That came on 21 May, but it was not enough to keep the Australian in a job as he was sacked 16 days later - with Thomas Frank moving across London from Brentford to replace him.

The Bees then promoted Keith Andrews from set-piece coach to become their new boss.

Liverpool won the Premier League title in 2024-25 to become English champions for a record-equalling 20th time.

However, Arne Slot's side have been the biggest spenders in the summer with Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz joining for an initial fee of £100m from Bayer Leverkusen, in a deal that could be worth £116m.

The Reds may be set to beat that club record transfer if they are able to sign striker Alexander Isak from Newcastle. Liverpool have also signed striker Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt, left-back Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth and right-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen.

Arsenal and Manchester United have both signed strikers as the Gunners bought Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting in a move worth a potential £64m, while United's fee for Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig could reach £73.7m.

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, runners-up in each of the past three seasons, have also purchased defensive midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad and winger Noni Madueke from Chelsea.

Other major moves have seen Manchester United bolster their attacking options with the signings of Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford and Matheus Cunha from Wolves. Chelsea have signed two strikers, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, from Brighton and Ipswich Town respectively, and winger Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund.

Newcastle bought winger Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest for an initial £52m, Manchester City signed AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for a fee of £46.5m and Tottenham paid £55m to buy Mohammed Kudus from West Ham.

What new teams are in the Premier League?

Sunderland played in League One between 2018 and 2022 and are now back in the Premier League

Leeds United and Burnley both reached 100 points in the Championship to finish in the top two and secure returns to the Premier League.

For the Clarets, they were only out of the top flight for one season, but will be hoping to stay in the division for more than one campaign after being relegated in 2021-22, promoted the following year, relegated in 2023-24 and then promoted again.

Leeds had been in the Championship for two seasons before winning the title in 2024-25. The third team to come up was Sunderland as they clinched a dramatic 2-1 play-off final win over Sheffield United at Wembley in May to return to the top tier for the first time since 2016-17.

Tom Watson, who scored the Black Cats' 95th-minute winner, has since moved to Brighton while midfielder Jobe Bellingham has joined Borussia Dortmund.

However, the newly promoted trio have all spent big in an attempt to stay in the Premier League.

They will be hoping to have more luck than the three sides that came up in 2023-24 as Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City were all relegated 12 months later.

What new laws are in the Premier League?

The biggest change means a goalkeeper holding the ball for more than eight seconds will be punished with a corner for the opposition.

It is hoped this will clamp down on time-wasting.

Until now the law had been six seconds and the punishment of an indirect free-kick - but it was barely ever applied.

Referees will warn the goalkeepers with a five-second countdown.

The new law applies across football as a whole and was seen in action at the Club World Cup.

Another change means only captains will be allowed to approach referees during Premier League matches this season.

Yellow cards can be shown to players who approach officials without permission and behave in a disrespectful manner.

If the captain is a goalkeeper, a team can provide an alternate player before kick-off.

Players will be allowed to retake a penalty if they accidental touch it twice while kicking it... so long as the effort went in.

The new law has already been used this summer in the Women's European Championship final penalty shootout. England's Beth Mead slipped with a double touch as she scored a penalty in the shootout against Spain - and had to retake it, with her second effort saved by keeper Cata Coll.

But under the old laws she would not even have been allowed to retake it, with a miss recorded instead.

What is the new Premier League television deal?

Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski celebrates in front of a television camera

In December 2023, the Premier League agreed a new record £6.7bn domestic television deal for Sky and TNT to show up to 270 live games a season, with the BBC continuing to show highlights on Match of the Day.

The deal begins in 2025-26 and covers four years and was described as the "largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in the UK".

The Saturday 3pm blackout will remain in place, but every 2pm Sunday kick-off will be televised.

Sky were awarded four of the five packages and will show a minimum of 215 matches a season, up from 128 games in 2024-25. That will include Saturday 5.30pm kick-offs, Sunday 2pm and 4.30pm kick-offs, plus evening games on Mondays and Fridays and three midweek rounds.

TNT will show a minimum of 52 matches a season including all 12.30pm kick-offs on Saturdays and two midweek match rounds.

Sky Sports will also broadcast all 10 matches on the final day of each season.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

What is ref cam?

The Premier League will test out referee cameras in selected matches this season.

It is set to be trialled over six to eight weeks, with the idea to make the technology a permanent feature for the rest of the season. It is unlikely to be in place for the first match of the season.

Referees will wear cameras on their shirts during matches and have an ear-piece and microphone attached.

The idea of RefCam is to offer TV viewers a unique view of football action, but no controversial incidents will be shown.

RefCams will not offer live footage but will be used in replays of match incidents from a different perspective.

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More questions answered...

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• How to listen to Premier League on BBC Sounds?