Football ticket demand could surge after early PL matches

The 25/26 season of the Premier League has officially kicked off, as of Friday 15th August. 

During the first weekend of fixtures, Liverpool, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, and Arsenal were victorious in their fixtures, and three other matches ended in a draw – including Brighton vs Fulham (1-1), Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (0,0), and Aston Villa vs Newcastle (0-0).

Using its first-party ticket sales data for this season (25/26) to date, the team at online ticketing platform 1Boxoffice.com predicts which Premier League teams are most ‘in-demand’ for football fans looking to secure tickets. 

On this, the expert sales team revealed that: “The most in demand fixture for the first weekend was Manchester United vs Arsenal, which played yesterday afternoon (Sunday 17th August) at Old Trafford and resulted in a 1-0 win for Arsenal. Also, currently Liverpool and Arsenal home fixtures are very much in demand for the 25/26 season”.

The expert sales team also warned that football ticket demand for other teams could easily surge after initial Premier League matches this season. Specifically speaking on the three teams joining the league for the 25/26 season – including Leeds United, Burnley, and Sunderland – the sales team shared that “demand could easily surge or decrease depending upon their early performance once the season is underway”. 

This weekend, Sunderland won its first game on Saturday 16th, at home against West Ham (3-0), which could lead to an increase in demand for tickets for future fixtures. Conversely, Burnley lost its first game on Saturday 16th against, playing away at Tottenham Hotspur (3-0), so fans might hold back on purchasing tickets for future games following this disappointing start of the season. 

With Leeds United due to play Everton this evening at home (Monday 18th August), Leeds fans will be keeping an eye on the team’s performance to determine whether they want to spectate first-hand at future matches or not. 

With this in mind, the team also gave some advice for fans hoping to secure the Leeds United tickets for future fixtures: “With this in mind, it is always ideal to buy tickets early as the ticket prices usually go up as you move closer to the matches. Our historical data also indicates that customers who purchase tickets early are most likely to save up to 50% of the price that they would have to pay for the tickets closer to the match dates. However, we do sell tickets right up until the match kick off, so in some cases even last-minute entrance to games can be catered for”.

According to 1Boxoffice.com’s ticket sales data, the ‘most popular’ Premier League team last season (24/25) was Arsenal. Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester City made up the remainder of the top five last season, and West Ham United, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United, and Aston Villa also featured in the top ten.

The 25/26 season of the Premier League will run between Friday 15th August 2025 and Sunday 24th May 2026.