• Liverpool begin their title defence with a home clash against Bournemouth on Friday

• Newcastle United make the trip to Aston Villa in Saturday's early kick-off

• Manchester United welcome Arsenal to Old Trafford on Sunday

The wait is finally over for the start of the 2025-26 Premier League and the new season starts off with a bang at Anfield, as defending champions Liverpool host Bournemouth at 8pm.

With five matches on Saturday, three on Sunday and one on Monday, we have picked out some key team news for the big games taking place this weekend.

Liverpool vs Bournemouth (Friday, 8pm)

Liverpool will be eager to make a winning start to their title defence when they host Bournemouth, but the Reds will be without the suspended Ryan Gravenberch and injured full-back Conor Bradley.

Defender Joe Gomez could be fit enough to take a place on the bench, although he is facing a race against time to be involved, but Alexis Mac Allister is available after gaining some valuable minutes in the Community Shield loss to Crystal Palace.

As for Bournemouth, they have seen three key defenders leave this summer, with Illia Zabarnyi, Milos Kerkez, who joined Liverpool, and Dean Huijsen all exiting the Vitality Stadium.

Dango Ouattara is on his way out of the club after a club-record deal was agreed with Brentford, while Luis Sinisterra is closing in on a season-long loan move to Cruzeiro and will not be involved.

Justin Kluivert, Enes Unal, Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie are all sidelined, but new centre-back Bafode Diakite could be handed his debut despite only joining the club on Wednesday.

Aston Villa vs Newcastle (Saturday, 12.30pm)

Aston Villa welcome Newcastle United to Villa Park on Saturday and the hosts will have to make do without goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who is suspended from his red card at the end of last season.

Jacob Ramsey is close to completing his switch from Villa to Newcastle, while there are doubts over Morgan Rogers due to an ankle issue and Ross Barkley and Andres Garcia have not been in action since mid-July.

For the Magpies, Alexander Isak will not be in the squad as the wantaway forward continues to push for a move to Liverpool, while Joe Willock is sidelined with a calf injury sustained in pre-season.

Anthony Gordon is expected to shake off an ankle knock to take his place through the middle and new defensive signing Malick Thiaw could be handed a place on the bench.

Sunderland vs West Ham (Saturday, 3pm)

Back in the Premier League for the first time since 2016-17, Sunderland have been very active in the transfer market, but they will be without the injured Aji Alese, Luke O’Nien, Dennis Cirkin, Leo Hjelde and Romaine Mundle.

Arthur Masuaku and Omar Alderete are unlikely to feature having both just arrived at the club, while Marc Guiu is lacking match fitness and may miss out on the squad.

New arrival Granit Xhaka, who has been made captain, will start in midfield.

West Ham are missing Crysencio Summerville and George Earthy due to injury, but they have a full squad to choose from barring those two.

Summer signings Mads Hermansen, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Kyle Walker-Peters could make their debuts, while fellow new arrival Callum Wilson should be on the bench.

Nottingham Forest vs Brentford (Sunday, 2pm)

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo has warned his unbalanced team are far away from where they should be ahead of the new season, but his injury list is light, with Nicolas Dominguez the only absentee.

The Tricky Trees are close to agreeing deals for James McAtee and Omari Hutchinson, while they are also in talks over moves for Douglas Luiz and Arnaud Kalimuendo.

New Brentford boss Keith Andrews has seen Bryan Mbeumo leave for Manchester United this summer and another of his forwards, Yoane Wissa, will not be involved as he continues to be linked with a switch to Newcastle.

Vitaly Janelt, Gustavo Nunes and Paris Maghoma have all been ruled out, but Kevin Schade and Caoimhin Kelleher have trained and a late decision will be made on the duo.