Arsenal

The Gaffer: Arsene… oh no wait, it’s Unai Emery. Jeez, that’ll take some getting used to.

Last Season: A disappointing sixth place, 12 points off the Champions League spots.

Main Man: Funny because it’s always been the manager before but now it’s like a new dawn has come… for better and for worse. Arsenal are also doing this without Alexis Sanchez, of course, so maybe Mesut Özil finally puts together a full season of consistent excellence. Otherwise Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is your dude. He’s gotta score the goals.

Hot New Signings: Lucas Torreira is a great player and if he settles in quickly then he could be a true leader in the midfield for the Gunners, the likes of which they’ve been struggling to find arguably since Patrick Vieira wandered off. Bernd Ledo coming in as a new keeper could also be big.

What To Watch For: It’s Arsenal without Arsene Wenger… how could you possibly turn away? We saw what’s happened to Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson left and Wenger arguably had an even bigger influence on this club than Fergie did there and that’s saying something. The #WengerOut crew get their wish after all these years. Let’s see how it goes, aye blood?

The Big Question: Among about a million other things, I’ve a bit of a specific pondering. Can Hector Bellerín get back to his best after a couple stink ones? Three years ago I’d have said he’d be one of the world’s best fullbacks by now. Also, huge questions about the centrebacks at Arsenal. Huge ones.

Bournemouth

The Gaffer: Eddie Howe, who is now the longest serving manager of all the 20 Premier League bosses – beating Sean Dyche by 18 days.

Last Season: Struggled a lot of the way but somehow ended up in 12th with 44 points.

Main Man: Steve Cook is a top shelf defender plus they’re always better when Nathan Aké plays. And Lewis Cook is ready to make a large impact on the league after excelling for England at youth level.

Hot New Signings: Very enticed to see David Brooks get a go after the young Welshman broke through at Sheffield United last season. An attacking midfielder with a lot of promise, already a full international at 21 years old… he’s going to the right kinda club too. They’ll be pinning it on him to do what Jack Wilshere once did here.

What To Watch For: A tiny club holding their own in the Premier League. It won’t be easy and Eddie Howe’s likely to have himself another relegation battle on his hands, however the Cherries are just one of those humble clubs which are easy to love.

The Big Question: Does Bourney have enough about them to stop conceding so many goals? Diego Rico’s been their only defensive addition so far and if they don’t tighten that up then they could be for the dropskees, sorry to say.

Brighton & Hove Albion

The Gaffer: The ever-dependable and underrated Chris Hughton.

Last Season: Avoided the drop in 15th as all three promoted sides stayed up.

Main Man: Pascal Gross was signed for an absolute bargain a year ago from Ingolstadt and his first season in the Premier League was a revelation. One of the most consistently creative players out there, setting up eight goals and scoring another seven. Shout out to the back three of Lewis Dunk, Shane Duffy and keeper Matty Ryan too but Gross is the main man.

Hot New Signings: Mate, there’s been a fair few. Brighton have been extremely busy both in the arrival and departure lounge and one dude who could be a belter in the coming years is South African superstar Percy Tau – last seen keeping Jeremy Brockie out of the Mamelodi Sundowns first XI – but it sounds like he’ll go out on loan first. All goods because Alireza Jahanbakhsh is an excellent player who dominated in Holland last season and looked great for Iran at the World Cup.

What To Watch For: The dreaded second season syndrome. Rarely is it more prevalent than with promoted clubs who scrap away as plucky underdogs at the first attempt but then get too comfortable the next and hit the drop. Chris Hughton is too smart to let the complacency settle though. Chuck in the copious squad injections and Brighton could be a bit of a blueprint.

The Big Question: Goals. Where are they coming from? Is 34 year old Glen Murray really gonna be the top dog?

Burnley

The Gaffer: Sean Dyche, The Ginger Ferguson.

Last Season: Best of the rest. 54 points, seventh place and Europa League qualifiers.

Main Man: James Tarkowski is coming off an outstanding campaign that saw him go from nowhere to making the reserve list for England’s World Cup squad. His leadership and control at the back is massive. Gotta share some love for midfield general Jack Cork too, as well as The Woodsman Chris Wood, Aotearoa’s top dawg on the All Whites power rankings these days.

Hot New Signings: Signings have been limited so far but there is teenaged winger Vinnie Steels from York City so… yeah nah, the real deal is getting Ben Gibson in from Boro as another quality CB. Should be an easy fit into their style and they’ll need him if they make it into the Europa League group stages.

What To Watch For: Burnley’s reward for their wonderful last term is to balance European games in with their domestic schedule. That’s an honour they aren’t going to waste but it could come at the detriment of their league form. No additions yet to a slim and injury affected squad. Not gonna lie, this could be a tough one for Dyche’s dudes.

The Big Question: Will Chris Wood stay fit for the full season and score 15-20 goals? Because he’s capable of it if he does.

Cardiff City

The Gaffer: Old mate Neil Warnock’s back so listen out for some wicked quotes.

Last Season: A brilliant run through Feb-March got them in contention and a 0-0 draw with Reading on the final day, coupled with Fulham’s defeat at Birmingham, meant second place in the Championship and automatic promotion.

Main Man: Umm, not sure. There are some handy players here. Sean Morrison, Jazz Richards, Junior Hoilett, Aron Gunnarsson… but this is a great Championship squad. It’s not really a Premier League squad. Then again we said the same thing about Huddersfield and Brighton a year ago.

Hot New Signings: Nothing special yet. Bobby Reid has the potential to be the next in the recent trend of lower division strikers to maintain their eye for goal in the top flight. He’s signed from Bristol City after scoring 19 times last season.

What To Watch For: Not sure on the numbers here, it’s only a theory, but I suspect the team that goes up in second place is often the worst prepared for the top flight. The winners are better and the third team have gone through the brutal playoffs. Seems legit. Cardiff are favourites to come dead last. But if they’re going down then they’re going down with a party, Neil Warnock is always good for that. He’s already got beef with Pep Guardiola thanks to a cup tie last season and the Yorkshireman’s had cracks at Nuno Santos too. And Old Neil’s anything but naïve about what it takes here – he’s been promoted eight times.

The Big Question: Fairly simple this one, can they avoid relegation?

Chelsea

The Gaffer: Maurizio Sarri joins a long list of Italians to manage Chelsea. Excluding caretaker gaffers they’ve now had six Italians since they last hired an Englishman.

Last Season: Relatively comfortable in fifth place after bollocksing things up with too many points dropped against the top four. But they did win the FA Cup.

Main Man: Depends on if Eden Hazard, N’Golo Kante and Thibault Courtois are still there when the Spanish/French transfer window close at the end of August (England’s closes early before the season but players can still be sold into other open windows). That’s a trio of champions there but Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain are lurking.

Hot New Signings: Well, it ain’t Rob Green so it must be Jorginho. The midfielder is nearly immaculate in possession and he’ll be a key dude in imparting Sarri’s vision onto the pitch having followed his boss over from Napoli.

What To Watch For: Sarri’s got a distinct way of doing things, lots of technical footy, lots of energy, lots of possession, shaped in a 4-3-3 which already suits the Chelsea squad. They might even be fun to watch again! Could be tricky to get them to click in Sarri’s first season though, especially with the way the World Cup’s affected their preparations. Bad enough for City, Spurs & United but Chelsea are trying to do this with a new manager. Hopefully get to see the likes of Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi getting good minutes too.

The Big Question: Can they hold onto their best players despite a year without Champions League? Will Sarri be able to get his team clicking from the start? Have they done enough to close the gap on the top sides? There are heaps of questions and Chelsea could conceivably win the league or they could finish sixth, it’s too hard to say.

Crystal Palace

The Gaffer: Roy ‘Odgson looking to back it up after an impressive comeback last season.

Last Season: Inexplicably ended up in 11th despite looking dead set for relegation two months into what you now have proof is a very long season. Lost their first seven games and still cruised to safety.

Main Man: Wilfried Zaha is too fast to be contained by any defence. Not the most refined player which has kept him out of the England squad and top six transfers but, mate, no defender in the world wants to deal with this lad. He’s ridiculous. Single-handedly carried Palace at times these last couple years.

Hot New Signings: Cheikhou Kouyate from West Ham was one that got the brows raised. Didn’t particularly see that coming but whatever. Quite dig the idea of German playmaker Max Meyer coming over and doing some things. There’s massive boom/bust potential with that signing.

What To Watch For: Not Christian Benteke, that’s for sure. It’s weird, Palace feel like they’ve been scrapping against the drop for all five years they’ve been in the top flight but they’ve actually never had fewer than 41 points in that time. They find a way. This season, with Hodgson steadying them to a more respectable 11th in 17-18, there’s even talk of them challenging for that last European spot. I know better than to put any expectations on this lot but on paper there’s a lot to like.

The Big Question: What ever happened to that Alan Pardew chap?

Everton

The Gaffer: The Toffees finally got their man. Say g’day to Marco Silva.

Last Season: ‘twas a weird one. Relatively decent in eighth place but Ronald Koeman’s awful start got him fired then Sam Allardyce steered them to safety and respectability but never connected with the fans and so off he went at the end of things too.

Main Man: England’s biggest hero of the World Cup happens to play for Everton. Jordan Pickford helped break the Three Lions’ penalty hoodoo so winning stuff with the Toffees probably looks easy now. It’s such a relief to have a reliable keeper. Still, you’d hope his defence does a bit better this time around.

Hot New Signings: There have been two important ones – Richarlison and Lucas Digne. Bit of class on both ends, though they’ve taken a big risk paying that much for Richarlison, a player who ran hot and cold with Watford (granted his best stuff was under Silva’s management). Not a lot of buys but heaps of other players who could bring that same breath of fresh air with a step up in performance.

What To Watch For: Marco Silva is usually superb at cultivating a sturdy team with a great home record and Everton could use that stability now. Ronald Koeman didn’t work out. Steve Walsh’s scouting genius didn’t work out. Sam Allardyce was only ever a patchwork replacement. Now Silva’s got his toughest test of cohesion with a squad of players signed for different reasons by different people. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Michael Keane, Morgan Schneiderlin, Ademola Lookman, Cenk Tosun, etc.

The Big Question: Just how dysfunctional does this club remain as the new boss settles in to fix the mistakes of the last couple seasons? Because Wayne Rooney returning to all this fanfare only to leave his boyhood club again after a year still smells funky.

Fulham

The Gaffer: Slaviša Jokanović had this team humming in the Champo since the turn of 2018, see if he can keep it up in the top flight now.

Last Season: Absolutely blew it with the automatic qualification but made their way through the playoffs anyway, a lone Tom Cairney goal seeing them past Aston Villa in the final.

Main Man: Absolutely adore the midfield duo of Tom Cairney and Stefan Johansen. A pair of feisty jokers with wonderful passing vision and the knack for the odd goal. Jean Michaël Seri now joins them and that’s a midfield that’s ready to contend with any outside the top six. Yeah, I said that.

Hot New Signings: Got some funky incoming jokers, Andre Schürrle and Jean Michaël Seri for example, Alfie Mawson is an outstanding defender too, but the most important thing that the Cottagers have done is getting Aleksandar Mitrović involved on a permanent deal after his enormous contributions on loan last time. Always loved this guy, even if he is culpable for way too many dumb cards. Alfie Mawson's a belter as well. Some good business here.

What To Watch For: They’re a sharp team under Jokanović that knows exactly how they want to play, feeding Mitrović at his feet and running off of him. Can’t fault a team that’s all on the same page. But the real reason to watch is for the wonder kid Ryan Sessegnon, still and teenager and about to take the league by storm.

The Big Question: Remember when Simon Elliott played for Fulham?

Huddersfield

The Gaffer: Jurgie’s best mate David Wagner.

Last Season: Survived with four points to spare, which was a handy achievement for a very stretched squad at this level.

Main Man: Won’t catch any shots fired at Aussie Aaron Mooy here. Damn fine player, that fella.

Hot New Signings: There have been a few but nobody that stands out without seeing them play. You’d trust Wagner to know a good German when he sees one so fullback Erik Durm should be okay (he was in Germany’s World Cup winning squad in 2014, though injuries have wrecked him a bit since). Ramadan Sobhi showed flashes when he was at Stoke too. But the best bit of business was probably getting Terence Kongolo to stay on a permanent deal.

What To Watch For: It was a remarkable effort to stay up in their first season here, it’ll be even more remarkable to repeat the dose. Huddersfield are your stereotypical underdogs and they love it.

The Big Question: I kinda still think they’ll get relegated. So… prove me wrong?

Leicester City

The Gaffer: Claude Puel’s been sliding under the radar since last October.

Last Season: Ninth with 49 points. They had their ups and they had their downs but they evened out in the top half where they belong.

Main Man: Now that Riyad Mahrez has gone, it can only be Jamie Vardy. Better stock up on red bull and cigarettes because Vardy’s gonna keep on running in behind the defence all day and if he latches onto that ball then he’s a rather spectacular finisher too. Big fan of Wilfred Ndidi too, by the way.

Hot New Signings: Can’t have any criticisms about bringing in a proven competitor like Jonny Evans, especially not at a bargain price like they got him for. Quick note on James Maddison though, the ex-Norwich lad who’s also dropping by. Quality player.

What To Watch For: Memories of the greatest underdog story in sporting history or something close to it. Seriously, don’t ever forget how incredible that season was.

The Big Question: How many of the famous Premier League winning XI will be starting most weeks for the Foxes in 2018-19? Actually, I can answer that one. You’ve got Schmeichel / Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs / Mahrez, Drinkwater, Kante, Albrighton / Okazaki, Vardy. Four of them have left the club, another two maybe three are out of favour. So chances are only Vardy and Schmeichel, with Albrighton and Okazaki still regulars in the squad if not necessarily starting every week.

Liverpool

The Gaffer: Jolly Jürgen Klopp. Fresh off another Champions League final defeat.

Last Season: Fourth place and Champions League was nice. Going all the way to the Champions League final was even nicer. They’ll be plotting an assault upon the league title now.

Main Man: Can’t go past the talisman that is Mo Salah. Fully expecting an outstanding season from Virgil Van Dijk now that he’s all settled but Mo Salah is Mo Salah. He’s the only guy out there capable of doing things which, if you squint your eyes, almost sorta look like Lionel Messi things.

Hot New Signings: With all due respect to Naby Keita and Fabinho, there’s no position they needed help with more than goalkeeper and Alisson may have conceded seven times when he played Liverpool not so long ago but he’s exceptional, he’ll go good.

What To Watch For: Heavy metal football. High pressing and high energy. It appears that Klopp’s now got a squad with enough depth to actually sustain that over ninety minutes so be very afraid. This is also the only team that seems to have the number on Manchester City… be very much leaning forwards in that seat to see if they can make that title run.

The Big Question: Jordan Henderson… good football player or not a good football player?

Manchester City

The Gaffer: Oh, mate, just some bloke called Pep Guardiola is all.

Last Season: 100 points. 106 goals scored. Goal difference of +79. Just two league defeats. Basically one of the greatest single Premier League seasons ever.

Main Man: Come on, you might as well throw blindfolded at the dartboard because it could be anyone in this sparkling squad. Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva are proper legends. Vincent Kompany’s injured 75% of the time but he’s still the beating heart of the club. John Stones had a lovely World Cup experience. Kyle Walker ain’t half bad either. They’re stacked but you already knew that.

Hot New Signings: Even if he might only good enough for their bench, the ability to bring Riyad Flippin’ Mahrez on against tired defences for the last fifteen minutes is terrifying for the other nineteen teams in the division.

What To Watch For: Peppy has his ideas. His training paddock is split up into 16 different sections with only one player allowed in each at a time and no more than three players ever allowed to occupy spaces in a vertical or horizontal line. Sound complicated? It is. But it’s that kind of methodical genius that’s gotten Pep Guardiola so many trophies. He doesn’t always last a long time so there’s meltdown potential… but probably not yet. They’re the best team, playing the best football and they’re favourites once again.

The Big Question: Sergio Agüero or Gabriel Jesus? It ain’t easy to keep two top class strikers happy when you only wanna play one at a time. Plus the obvious question about being the first team in a decade to defend the Premier League title.

Manchester United

The Gaffer: José Mourinho… say are those dark clouds coming over the horizon?

Last Season: It’s not often you can feel so irrelevant while still finishing second but United were 19 points back on their noisy neighbours and were lucky to even get that close. Add in an FA Cup final defeat and ‘perennial winner’ Mourinho seems more like a perennial runner-up these days.

Main Man: Romelu Lukaku had a magical World Cup and he’ll be returning a little short of preparation but overflowing with confidence. He probably needs 35 goals this season being their only proper striker and all but he’s capable of that. Quick shouts to David De Gea and Paul Pogba too, naturally. Also Alexis Sanchez was a bucket of arse after his transfer but he’s had a full preseason now and looked much better for it.

Hot New Signings: Transfers have been one of many things that José Mourinho has found time to moan about (along with the World Cup, players taking holidays, Anthony Martial’s newborn baby, the weather in San Jose, being forced to play youngsters, the temerity of players to get injured, a general lack of preparation…) but Fred’s going to give that midfield the spark that they need to take the pressure off of Paul Pogba.

What To Watch For: Fluent, flowing attacking football with a positive attitude all around and a sense of cheerfulness spreading from the crowd… haha, not while José’s there, mate. Which is a shame because I still maintain this squad is strong enough to compete with anyone if only they were allowed to. On a happier note, I think Luke Shaw’s got a chance to turn it all around here.

The Big Question: Can the Red Devils avoid the fated Third Season Syndrome under Mourinho? After his miserable behaviour during preseason… do they even want to?

Newcastle United

The Gaffer: Rafa Benitez is still there for now but he’s probably not happy.

Last Season: Grumpiness from the manager and from the fans didn’t quite get Mike Ashley to put up or bugger off but somehow Newcastle stole their way into tenth place all the same. Imagine what they could do with an owner who cared!

Main Man: Jamaal Lascelles might not even be a starting XI player on pure ability but chuck in his leadership, his determination, his passion and all those things and he’s the captain of the team. Next step is to make sure they keep him.

Hot New Signings: Fingers crossed they’re still to come because it’s been a mess so far. Despite making decent coin with sales, Rafa’s getting pretty fed up. But Yoshinori Muto should be good and getting Ki Sung-yueng on a free was a nice bit of business.

What To Watch For: A team that, under Benitez, is going to punch above its weight. That’s the Rafa way. There’s a real tension in the stands because of the ownership stuff but they brought a solid team of pros up from the Championship and they’ve still got Jonjo Shelvey’s passing and Ayoze Pérez’s goals to fall back on.

The Big Question: Please can we just see the end of Mike Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle? The man is such a drag, absolutely heartless – the worst kind of owner. He’s kicking up his heels about signing Salomon Rondon at the moment because his policy is that he doesn’t sign players over the age of 26 because then they become depreciating assets. What a tool.

Southampton

The Gaffer: Mark Hughes doing as Mark Hughes does.

Last Season: The Saints finally paid the price for selling their best players every summer with a proper old relegation battle but Mark Hughes managed to narrowly keep them up.

Main Man: Been a bit of a clear-out with Southampton trying to simplify things. Gone are the likes of Jordy Clasie, Dusan Tadic and Sofiane Boufal. Hopefully that makes it easier for guys like Charlie Austin, Manny Gabbiadini and Nathan Redmond to get back to their best then. Nothing at all wrong with the ability in the team. Oriol Romeu’s usually dependable too, while maybe this will be the season James Ward-Prowse and Harrison Reed finally crack it.

Hot New Signings: Stuart Armstrong from Celtic is already getting chatted up as another sneaky bargain. The Saints have a pretty magic record at finding those, especially when they dip into the talent pool north of the border.

What To Watch For: This one’s all about steadying the ship in the mid-table after such a shocker last time. They probably shoulda been relegated but here we are, gotta take advantage of the reprieve. Mark Hughes has his faults but he’s always been a solid manager. The other thing with Southampton is that they’ve always got a couple stars coming through that academy.

The Big Question: Their defence was always the strength of this team under Pochettino and then Koeman but they coughed up 56 goals last season with Virgil Van Dijk phoning it in and had the third fewest clean sheets. They were top six in clean sheets in all of the previous four seasons. So… how good will Danish skyscraper Jannik Vestergaard be? What about Jack Stevens, can he take another step forward? Will the Saints get their defence back to where it once was?

Tottenham Hotspur

The Gaffer: Mauricio Pochettino. Four seasons, unanimous praise… no trophies. Just saying.

Last Season: Pretty much another typical Spurs season. They easily finished in the top four without ever really challenging for the title and cruised into the Champions League knockouts only to be unluckily beaten by Juventus. Lost in an FA Cup semi too.

Main Man: None other than Harry Hotspur, of course. Get Harry Kane scoring another 30+ goals, as he seems to do every year, and they’re guaranteed to be hanging out in that top six. The rest is a matter of keeping that defence stable, getting a little more punch in the midfield and then keeping the immaculate Christian Eriksen fit.

Hot New Signings: Aw jeez, bit awkward, they haven’t made any yet. And Spurs aren’t really in a situation where they can afford to lose ground on the top fellas. They’ll get some blokes in over the last week, Jack Grealish is a name mentioned, but we’re getting pretty late.

What To Watch For: Same as always. A likeable bunch of lads with a likeable manager trying to finally win a trophy. They’ll move into the new White Hart Lane in September which should be fun, cool to see a team doing the stadium thing properly, but it’s given a whack to their finances. Also Kieran Trippier is a superstar now so there’s that.

The Big Question: Third, second and third in the last three seasons so is this the year that they go better… or worse? It’s a crowded room at the top and Arsenal and Chelsea are both making big changes to try and catch up. Spurs’ stagnant summer runs in stark contrast.

Watford

The Gaffer: Javi Gracia’s running on the hamster wheel for now.

Last Season: 14th place with a manager sacked in the middle of it, about as you’d expect.

Main Man: Troy Deeney is a nutter sometimes but he’s a useful battering ram to have on your side. Frenchman Abdoulaye Doucouré had an impressive season last time out. Roberto Pereyra is pretty useful. I’m also picking breakthrough seasons for two fantastic English talents: Will Hughes and Nathaniel Chalobah.

Hot New Signings: Getting Gerard Deulofeu was a slick one, although I don’t really reckon he’s as flash as some people see to think he is. Let’s go for Ben Foster instead. You can never underestimate the value of a good, solid goalie and Foster is certainly that, even if he ends up as backup.

What To Watch For: A united nations of players drawn from all over the globe. No club has as many different flags on their team sheet as Watford, a club that could name a team of eleven from eleven different countries. That hasn’t always been easy for managers to work with but with their backing from the slightly notorious Pozzo family the scouting team tends to be pretty smart. Think of Watford like a feeder club, bringing in cheap players with huge potential and then flipping them on for big bucks… read: Richarlison.

The Big Question: How long ‘til Gracia gets sacked? Watford usually do this on a six-month schedule, or so it seems.

West Ham United

The Gaffer: West Ham’s fixation with expendable top six big names has extended to their manager’s role with Manuel Pellegrini bringing those sad eyes to London.

Last Season: Bit rubbish. Good enough under David Moyes to end up in 13th, right in the middle of the lower-half logjam, but too many years of non-cohesive snap judgement transfer business meant they were rarely very pretty to watch.

Main Man: It was Marko Arnautović a year ago and somebody’s gotta score the goals. Javier Hernández could be more influential in his second season. And captain Mark Noble is a very average player talent-wise but he’s still the heart and soul of the club.

Hot New Signings: Some would say Jack Wilshere but not I. Most of their signings are hard to judge but Łukasz Fabiański is a shrewd one in an essential position while fullback Ryan Fredericks was great for Fulham last season and right-back has been brutal for the Hammers for ages now.

What To Watch For: The one great season this team has had recently was the Dimitri Payet season and their current transfer business strikes as similar to that year. Say what you want but Manny Pellegrini is a top notch manager. They’ve gotten rid of some deadwood. They might be decent, you never know. Certainly they’re too good to be relegated.

The Big Question: How’s that stadium going these days? Any better?

Wolverhampton Wanderers

The Gaffer: Nuno Esperito Santo fittingly leads the Portugal of the Midlands.

Last Season: Dominated the Championship with a squad that was already strong enough for the Premier League and deservedly that’s where they now find themselves.

Main Man: Ruben Neves is 21 years old, has already played several times for Portugal, made his name rising out of the Porto academy and would have had clubs all over Europe interested in his signature. For some reason (I’ll get to that) he chose Wolves. And, no surprises, he was brilliant all last season. He’ll probably continue to be brilliant.

Hot New Signings: The fact that Wolves have been able to sign Portuguese midfielder João Moutinho is pretty astonishing (certainly if you weren’t aware of their reputation over the last couple seasons) and what a buy he is! Genuine grit in the middle of the park that’d improve any team outside the top six in an instant.

What To Watch For: It’s been a slightly dodgy rise as Wolves have returned to relevance largely on the back of some substantial cash from a Chinese investment group and massive influence from player agent Jorge Mendes, which enabled them to stack their team with top flight players even while still in the Championship, but at least we got a very handy side out of it. Nuno Espirito Santo has them playing very tactical football, operating with width and attacking intent. They could easily finish in the top half.

The Big Question: What’ll the public perception be for these guys: famous old club getting back to where it belongs or a disturbing case of owners and an agent milking the system? Hopefully the latter – this is the top flight now, everyone’s wasting money and massaging agents.

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