The new football season kicks off in seven weeks, and after a short break the Premier League managers will already be starting to think about their squads and making plans for the season.

The opening weekend kicks off with Arsenal and Crystal Palace, which will be an interesting game with Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira managing Palace, after he did earn a point at Arsenal last season. Arsenal will be hoping to build on last season and aim for a top-four finish this time to bring Champions League football back to North London.

Man City begin their title defence the following day as Pep’s side travel to West Ham. It will be interesting to see who get’s off to the best start in the new season out of the big teams, and if Man City can continue their high standards. Their team has only strengthened with the signing of Haaland so we should expect goals.

Liverpool’s season kicks off at newly-promoted Fulham, and Fulham will be hoping this is the season that they solidify themselves as a top league team rather than yo-yoing between the Premier League and the Championship. It couldn’t get much harder on their first game of the season but they will be bring everything they’ve got and playing for an upset.

Nottingham Forest’s first game in the top flight in 23 years is at Newcastle. This will be an interesting game as Forest will want to make their mark and get off to the best possible start to build momentum, but Newcastle will have higher hopes than they have had in recent history after their takeover and squad strengthening, so this will be a game to keep an eye on.

Chelsea play at Everton, who just escaped relegation last season and will want to prove a point and change their fortunes in 22/23. 

Chelsea has a lot more building to do than we think. Rudiger is one of the reasons I say so. He filled a gap of mentality that brought the winning spirit of the team to a much higher level. He had a point to prove in showing he was a starter, and not a player for the bench. Next season it will be very important to rebuild the back line and also finding the player that will provide the goals. They made the move in Lukaku that didn’t work out for the player and the club, but now maybe have to look for a new one that can provide the goals.  

Spurs start their season at home to Southampton. Saints were in the top half of the table by February last season after a run of 10 games with just one defeat, but they slipped down to 15 after a poor finish to the season. Spurs achieved their top-four finish last season, but Southampton did beat them at Tottenham’s Stadium last time out. Conte has the Champions League to think about this time, but a strong start in the league  against Southampton is the first priority.

Man Utd host Brighton the on opening weekend, and this will be a game to watch with ten Hag now in charge after united had a poor season last time. United need to make lots of changes to get back to their best and we’d expect to see some signings before August.

The test for Ten Hag will start earlier than expected because the eyes will be on him from the very start. 

The players will enjoy their summers but soon enough it will be time to put their shirts on and get ready for the new season. Predicting the top 6 has never been tougher with the level of quality in the league, and this year we have a break for the World Cup which many players will be thinking about too, so it will be interesting to see if this has any effect. #mmlove