Updated: 20 May 2026 11:53 BST |
6 min read
The Premier League campaign has been marked by several outstanding managerial performances, from Mikel Arteta finally breaking Arsenal’s league title duck to Daniel Farke’s achievement of keeping Leeds United in the top-flight thanks to a reinvention of their style.
In between, there have been all kinds of impressive achievements from the group that is perhaps under more fire than any other in the Premier League, as evidenced by the fact that there were 10 dismissals this term.
But the overall level of management was impressive. Indeed, it was a testing challenge to pick out just five candidates as the leading bosses of the season, with Aston Villa manager Unai Emery particularly unlucky to miss the cut after an impressive campaign with the Birmingham side.
Here are our five best managers of the Premier League 2025/26:
Michael Carrick, Manchester United
Michael Carrick is the only coach on our list to come in midway through the season. He has steadied the ship at Manchester United after the dismal spell under Ruben Amorim.
After Amorim was sacked in January, Darren Fletcher was initially appointed in an interim role before former Middlesbrough manager Carrick was put in place until the end of the season. United’s recovery under their former midfielder has been spectacular. The Red Devils will return to the Champions League after a third-placed finish.
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 have started to look money well spent.
In his first two games after being put in the hot seat, he defeated Manchester City and then Arsenal, setting 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 long-since confirmed, they now have the platform to establish themselves as a Premier League stalwart side again.
Farke 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 proven 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 star player Antoine Semenyo was offloaded to Man City in January. But they have defied all expectations and will play European football next season for the first time in their history. They may even qualify for the Champions League.
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.
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 fewer games than his team this campaign.
He’s already announced he’s leaving, but what a job he’s done on the south 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 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 did 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 fans, players and Arteta 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. Critics were already starting to question whether Arteta was the right man to lead them after a series of near misses in recent years.
Arteta might 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 – now the team to beat in England.
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