Maresca's Manchester City Start with a Late Turnover, and Half the League Has a New Boss
Enzo Maresca called it "perfect." His Manchester City side had just beaten Bournemouth with two late goals, having looked set to lose, and the man who stepped into Pep Guardiola's seat wanted everyone to know the opening weekend could not have gone better. BBC Sport
That City were chasing the match at all tells you something about the strange summer of 2026. A week earlier, they had lost the Community Shield to Arsenal — the traditional season curtain-raiser between last season's league winners and FA Cup holders, which this time paired Maresca's men against Mikel Arteta's side. The shield went to north London. The three points, eventually, stayed in east Manchester.
Maresca is not the only unfamiliar face in the dugout. Far from it. Nine Premier League clubs began the 2026/27 season with new managers — a record for the competition, meaning almost half the division turned over its head coach before a ball was kicked in anger. BBC Sport; DAZN
The opening match round kicked off on Friday 21 August 2026, and the new faces spanned the table from top to bottom. Premier League Andoni Iraola, who built his reputation pressing high at Bournemouth, took the Liverpool job. Xabi Alonso, the former Liverpool midfielder who guided Bayer Leverkusen to a German title, landed at Chelsea. Oliver Glasner, an Austrian tactician with Europa League pedigree, moved to Nottingham Forest. DAZN
Marco Rose, most recently of RB Leipzig, took charge at Bournemouth — meaning it was his side City left it late to beat. DAZN; Premier League Pierre Sage arrived at Crystal Palace. Álvaro Arbeloa, the former Real Madrid full-back, took the Fulham job. Gary O'Neil secured another Premier League post. The Guardian Unai Emery remained at Aston Villa, one of the familiar names holding steady amid the churn. Premier League
Chelsea, for context, lead a curious Opta metric: 23 completed qualifying managerial spells, more than any other club in the analysis, ahead of Southampton on 22 and Tottenham on 19. Sky Sports In plain terms, the hiring-and-firing carousel has rarely spun this fast.
What makes this opening weekend stand out is how quickly some of the new era's ideas surfaced. Maresca used Marc Guehi — a centre-back by trade, signed from Crystal Palace — in midfield against Bournemouth. BBC Sport It is the kind of tactical tweak that managers deploy when they want defensive steel in the middle of the pitch, and it speaks to a coach already putting his own stamp on a squad shaped by years of Guardiola's instructions.
For fans, the message is straightforward. The league you knew has new architects in almost half its rooms, and some of them are already redrawing the plans on day one. City found a way to win ugly. Liverpool, Chelsea, Bournemouth, Forest, Palace, Fulham and others are still finding out what they have. One weekend in, the only certainty is that nothing is settled.
