ARSENAL

IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN IF ARSENAL have the necessary mix of craft and graft to mount a sustained assault on the Barclays Premiership title, but as they proved by reaching the final of the Champions League against all odds last season, it is impossible to write off any side of Arsène Wenger’s.

Any neutral with a genuine appreciation for fluent, attacking football will hope that it is Arsenal, rather than Chelsea, who emerge triumphant come May. Indeed, if Arsenal needed any extra incentive this season, it comes in the shape of their new 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium, a beautiful construction that, much to the embarrassment of Wembley, was finished on time and within budget.

Arsenal will play their first league game there against Aston Villa on Saturday, although there is a danger of the occasion being overshadowed not only by Martin O’Neill’s return to English football but also by Ashley Cole’s expected departure for Chelsea and the England full back’s soon-to-be published autobiography. All of which may not bother Wenger as much as the catalogue of injuries to his defence. Gaë l Clichy, Lauren and Philippe Senderos have been ruled out until October, although the £20 million-plus Arsenal are likely to receive from the sale of Cole would at least allow the manager to bring in reinforcements, which are now required as a matter of urgency.

Wenger may have splashed out £8.1 million on Tomas Rosicky, the Czech Republic midfield player, from Borussia Dortmund, but his biggest coup of the summer was undoubtedly tying Thierry Henry to a new four-year deal amid sustained interest from Barcelona, who beat Arsenal in the Champions League final.

Henry’s importance to Arsenal cannot be underestimated, especially now that Dennis Bergkamp has retired, although Wenger will hope that Robin van Persie, impressive for Holland in the World Cup finals, and Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togo forward, can help to ease the France striker’s burden, if not José Antonio Reyes, who seems likely to leave the club.

It will also be interesting to see if and how Wenger uses Theo Walcott. It was apparently upon the recommendation of Wenger that Sven-Göran Eriksson opted to take the 17-year-old to Germany at the expense of Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent, even though he had yet to play for Arsenal. Having waited in vain for him to come off the substitutes’ bench in the World Cup, it will be fascinating to see how Walcott fares in the Premiership.

Henry is confident of challenging for honours, but while it is difficult to imagine them eclipsing Chelsea, or even Manchester United or Liverpool, as Paris proved, Arsenal have a habit of sticking around until the very end.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Joe O’Cearuill (Watford, undisclosed), Tomas Rosicky (Borussia Dortmund, £8.1m), Vincent van den Berg (Heerenveen, undisclosed)

PLAYERS OUT: Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham City, loan), Dennis Bergkamp (retired), Sol Campbell (released), Kerrea Gilbert (Cardiff City, loan), Mark Howard (Cardiff City, free), Michael Jordan (released), Sean Kelly (released), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City, loan), Robert Pires (Villarreal, free), Ryan Smith (Derby County, undisclosed)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Gaël Clichy (metatarsal, two months), Abou Diaby (ankle, two months), Lauren (knee, two months), Fredrik Ljungberg (ankle, two weeks), Philippe Senderos (shoulder, two months)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Aston Villa (h), 26/8 Manchester City (a), 9/9 Middlesbrough (h), 17/9 Manchester United (a), 23/9 Sheffield United (h)

PREDICTION: 4th

ODDS: 7-1

PRE-SEASON
Almost flawless, an 8-1 victory over Schwadorf being one of the highlights, although injuries, especially to his defence, have dampened Arsène Wenger’s optimism somewhat

TICKET SALES
42,000 season tickets have been snapped up for their new Emirates Stadium at Ashburton Grove and the first game against Aston Villa is a 60,000 sell-out

ASTON VILLA

THE UNDERSTANDABLE HULLABALOO over the arrival of Martin O’Neill, may have quietened to a whisper by the time Aston Villa arrive at the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal on Saturday, but the former Celtic manager will prove a big noise beyond the short term.

Villa’s threadbare squad is unlikely to start any stronger than that which finished last season in such mediocre fashion as even the prospective signing of Stilian Petrov from Celtic would be offsetting the departure of James Milner back to Newcastle United. The England Under-21 winger was probably Villa’s best player last season and it is precisely the kind of thrust and tenacity he provided that O’Neill needs as he attempts to entice new players to Villa Park.

Steven Davis also fits O’Neill’s identikit for a midfield player, but the young Northern Ireland schemer has had his pre-season disrupted by a thigh injury.

It is not only in the manager’s chair and in the boardroom that Villa have endured the kind of summer fit for a soap opera: the futures of Gareth Barry, Juan Pablo Ángel, Milan Baros and, to a lesser extent, Lee Hendrie and Olof Mellberg remain uncertain.

O’Neill, after 15 months out of the game, wants to embroil himself in all the old-fashioned machinations of a manager’s job, from sitting disenchanted players down to talk through their concerns to involving himself in transfer negotiations with possible new signings. By the time O’Neill has finished on the coaching field, watched all of last season’s Villa games on video and assessed the walking wounded, there will not be too much time to assess approaching opponents. Still, at least the occasional BBC pundit will have been able to see Thierry Henry, Tomas Rosicky and Co in close proximity during the World Cup finals. Season-ticket sales increased by 6 per cent in the five days after O’Neill was appointed as David O’Leary’s successor and the roof could yet come off Villa Park by the time Reading visit a week on Wednesday.

The likes of Martin Laursen, injured since the first day of last season, Baros and Ángel should be desperate to be in O’Neill’s first starting line-ups as, given time and money, Villa could well be on their way back towards competing for a top-six berth. That is quite a given, of course. Takeover talks have never previously proceeded quite as far as in the past month, with four consortiums jostling to buy the club, and the news yesterday that Randy Lerner is to table a firm bid could end all the to-ing and fro-ing.

Doug Ellis, the 82-year-old chairman, will be granted something of a respite from fans grateful for O’Neill’s appointment, but in the medium term, only fresh and sizeable investment will enable Villa fans to shout from the rooftops for long.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Yago and Damian Bellon (St Gallen, undisclosed).

PLAYERS OUT: Ulises De La Cruz (released), Jamie Ward (Torquay United, free).

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Gary Cahill (knee, days), Steven Davis (thigh, one week), Mark Delaney (back, days), Luke Moore (ankle, days), Patrik Berger (knee and calf, two weeks).

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Arsenal (a), 23/8 Reading (h), 27/8 Newcastle United (h), 10/9 West Ham United (h), 16/9 Watford (a).

PREDICTION: 13th

ODDS: 750-1

PRE-SEASON
Dogged by uncertainty, takeover talk and average results, although the arrival of Martin O’Neill cheered up everyone.

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales are down more than 3,500 to 14,500 compared with this time last year, although there has been a 6 per cent increase since the arrival of O’Neill.

BLACKBURN

MARK HUGHES’S TRANSFORMATION OF Blackburn Rovers, from relegation-threatened no-hopers just under two years ago to top-six side and Uefa Cup entrants, has been one of the most unheralded stories of recent seasons and has underlined the Welshman’s burgeoning reputation as arguably the most impressive young manager in the British game.
The loss of Craig Bellamy to Liverpool during the summer threatened to throw a spanner in the works, but rather than start cursing the £6 million clause in the striker’s contract that allowed him to leave, Hughes — with his customary calm approach — resolved to reinvest the money wisely.

Enter Jason Roberts from Wigan Athletic for a fee approaching £3 million and long-term target Benni McCarthy, a £2.5 million acquisition from FC Porto.

Add to that the loan signing of Francis Jeffers, whose game Hughes has vowed to replenish, and the future suddenly looked rosy again.

Roberts, in particular, could prove one of the bargains of the summer and, together with McCarthy, is almost certain to cause defences problems in the Uefa Cup as Blackburn attempt to improve their dismal record in Europe of one win in 16 outings.

With Lucas Neill, the Australia right back, likely to leave, it is crucial that Hughes keeps Ryan Nelsen, the New Zealand defender, who has attracted serious interest from Portsmouth, while the arrival of Andre Ooijer, the Holland defender, from PSV Eindhoven would be welcome.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Jason Brown (from Gillingham, free), Francis Jeffers (unattached, free), Benni McCarthy (FC Porto, £2.5m), Jason Roberts (from Wigan Athletic, £3m), Dwight Willen (from Cercle Brugge, loan)

PLAYERS OUT: Lorenzo Amoruso (released), Craig Bellamy (Liverpool, £6m), Paul Dickov (Manchester City, free), Vratislav Gresko (released), Gary Harkins (Grimsby Town, free)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Brett Emerton (calf, one week), Peter Enckelman (ankle, days), Ryan Nelsen (hamstring, days)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Portsmouth (a), 23/8 Everton (h), 27/8 Chelsea (h), 9/9 Sheffield United (a), 17/9 Manchester City (h)

PREDICTION: 8th

ODDS: 200-1

PRE-SEASON
Solid. Mark Hughes will hope a 5-0 win over Olympiacos in Germany last month is a sign of things to come

TICKET SALES
John Williams, the chairman, has worked tirelessly to draw punters to Ewood Park and tickets remain among the cheapest in the Premiership. Season-ticket sales are similar to last season

BOLTON WANDERERS

RATHER THAN GET EASIER, SAM ALLARDYCE’S job at the Reebok Stadium seems to get harder with every season that passes and this summer has been a difficult one for him. Had he realised his dream of becoming the next England manager, Allardyce would have just picked his first squad for his first international friendly.

As it stands, he must instead preside over one of the worst injury crises of his six-year tenure as Bolton Wanderers manager while attempting to bolster a squad that is wafer thin only six days before the start of the new season. Allardyce is hopeful of signing another three players this week, with the defensive and forward departments in particular need of reinforcement.

Ironically, after years of bemoaning a shortage of resources, Allardyce has had more money to spend this summer, but with fees becoming increasingly inflated, the manager has either been outbid (as was the case with Andrew Johnson) or unwilling to match some of the asking prices. Nonetheless, he still has up to £10 million to spend on a new striker, with several names under consideration.

Bolton could find the first couple of months tough going as Allardyce wrestles with his injury problems and the problem of integrating any late new signings, but Bolton will still hope that they will be challenging for a European place come the end of the season.

Look out for Idan Tal, the Israel playmaker and, Allardyce hopes, the next Yossi Benayoun.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Quinton Fortune, (free agent), Abdoulaye Meite (Marseilles, undisclosed), Idan Tal (Maccabi Haifa, undisclosed)

PLAYERS OUT: Khalilou Fadiga (released), Chris Howarth (Oldham Athletic, loan), Radhi Jaidi (Birmingham City, £2m), Matt Jansen (released), Bruno N’Gotty (to Birmingham City, free), Hidetoshi Nakata (retired), Jay-Jay Okocha (released), Oscar Perez (released), Kevin Poole (Derby County, free), Dietmar Hamann (Manchester City, £400,000)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Kevin Davies (ankle, one week), Ricardo Gardner (Achilles, three months), Amdy Faye (knee, three weeks), Quinton Fortune (groin, days), Joey O’Brien (knee, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Tottenham Hotspur (h), 23/8 Fulham (a), 26/8 Charlton Athletic (a), 9/9 Watford (h), 16/9 Middlesbrough (h)

PREDICTION: 9th

ODDS: 250-1

PRE-SEASON
Blighted by injuries and bad luck. Not one that Sam Allardyce will want to remember

TICKET SALES
The club will not disclose information

CHARLTON ATHLETIC

IT SEEMS STRANGE TO BE TALKING ABOUT Charlton Athletic starting a Premiership season without Alan Curbishley at the helm, but having initially flirted with the idea of employing, among others, Peter Taylor and Billy Davies, Iain Dowie looks like a sensible and, probably, the best option.

That said, Charlton are probably in for an even tougher season than the previous one, and certainly the toughest since they finished fourteenth in 2001-02. Goals should not be too hard to come by, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink recruited on a free transfer from Middlesbrough to ease the burden on Darren Bent’s shoulders, but the problems lie with a defence that was routinely exposed last season. Djimi Traoré, a £ 2 million signing from Liverpool, is no one’s idea of a solid defender, although Gonzalo Sorondo, who has joined from Inter Milan after spending last season on loan at The Valley, should prove a decent signing.

Dowie faces a difficult task trying to build on the legacy of stability left by Curbishley, but as one of the shrewder young managers around, he should be equipped for the unglamorous job at hand. A mid-table finish would more than suffice, although given the strength of the league this year, there could be one or two anxious moments.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Christian Bolaños (Deportivo Saprissa, loan), Amdy Faye (Newcastle United, £2m), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Middlesbrough, free), Cory Gibbs (Feyenoord, free), Gonzalo Sorondo (Inter Milan, undisclosed), Mark Staunton (Celtic, undisclosed), Djimi Traoré (Liverpool, £2m), Simon Walton (Leeds United, £1m)

PLAYERS OUT: Shaun Bartlett (released), Jay Bothroyd (released), Adam Cottrell (Millwall, free), Rob Elliot (Accrington Stanley, loan), Francis Jeffers (Blackburn Rovers, free), Jonatan Johansson (Malmo, free), Sheku Kamara (Watford, free), Chris Perry (West Bromwich Albion, free), Chris Powell (Watford, free)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Darren Ambrose (leg, days), Cory Gibbs (knee, three months), Jerome Thomas (metatarsal, two months), James Walker (ankle, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 West Ham United (a), 23/8 Manchester United (h), 26/8 Bolton Wanderers (h), 9/9 Chelsea (a), 16/9 Portsmouth (h)

PREDICTION: 16th

ODDS: 1,000-1

PRE-SEASON
A mixed bag. Three days after losing 1-0 to Welling United, Iain Dowie’s side held New Zealand to a 1-1 draw

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales stood at 17,300 as of last Thursday and there have been 1,700 new applications. Five per cent of tickets for The Valley, which has a capacity of 27,111, are reserved for match days

CHELSEA

WHO CAN STOP CHELSEA BECOMING only the fifth club in the history of English football to win the league title for a third consecutive season? The only obvious answer is themselves, although like those who cling to the belief that Chelsea’s desperation to win the Champions League may serve to distract them domestically, the prospect of that happening remains fanciful at best. They are every bookmakers’ favourites and with good reason.

Have no doubt about it, José Mourinho will have his work cut out keeping his galaxy of superstars happy, but unlike the Real Madrid of a couple of years ago, who had an obsession with star names bordering on the unhealthy, the Portuguese will have no problem dropping players whenever he deems it necessary.

That might not be good news for Frank Lampard, who may no longer find himself an automatic first choice under Mourinho after the arrival of Michael Ballack from Bayern Munich but, on the flip side, it could also help to reinvigorate the England midfield player’s game after a forgettable showing in the World Cup finals.

Ballack should thrive in the Barclays Premiership, although given the problems Lampard and Steven Gerrard had playing together for England in Germany, it will be something of a surprise if Ballack and Lampard click straight away. If they do, Chelsea will be unstoppable. If they do not, Mourinho may be forced to reconfigure his midfield.

Either way, it is highly unlikely that Andriy Shevchenko will start to complain about a lack of service any time soon, especially when Arjen Robben, Joe Cole, Michael Essien, Shaun Wright-Phillips, John Obi Mikel and Claude Makelele represent Chelsea’s other midfield options.

Shevchenko should have a lot of fun against the Premiership’s more lowly opposition, and if he can hit it off with Didier Drogba, may well provide the cutting edge that Chelsea lacked in the Champions League last season. A £30.4 million acquisition from AC Milan, Shevchenko is said to have settled well into London life and could prove one of the most explosive finishers to arrive on these shores.

Mourinho will hope William Gallas stays at Stamford Bridge — at least for another season — but such is the benefit of having a Russian billionaire as the club’s benefactor, it does not really matter if the Frenchman does leave. Ashley Cole is expected to arrive shortly from Arsenal, and if the need ever arose, Roman Abramovich could always flash the chequebook again.

Liverpool claimed a victory for all those who hold the idea of competition dear by beating Chelsea in the Community Shield in Cardiff yesterday, but that was a one-off. No one quite looks capable of matching Chelsea over 38 matches.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich, free), Hilário (Nacional da Madeira, undisclosed), Salomon Kalou (Feyenoord, £3m), John Obi Mikel (Manchester United/Lyn Oslo, £16m), Ben Sahar (Hapoel Tel Aviv, £320,000), Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan, £30.4m)

PLAYERS OUT: Carlton Cole (West Ham United, £2m), Hernán Crespo (Inter Milan, free), Asier Del Horno (Valencia, £4.8m), Damien Duff (Newcastle United, £5m), Dean Furman (Rangers, free), Anthony Grant (Wycombe Wanderers, loan), Eidur Gudjohnsen (Barcelona, £8m), Danny Hollands (Bournemouth, free), Jiri Jarosik (Celtic, undisclosed), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth, loan), Joe Keenan (released), Filipe Morais (Millwall, free), Lenny Pidgeley (Millwall, free), Juan Sebastián Verón (Estudiantes, free), Dean Smith (Aldershot, free), Joe Tillen (MK Dons, free), James Younghusband (released)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Petr Cech (shoulder, one week), Joe Cole (knee, two weeks)

OPENING FIXTURES
20/8 Manchester City (h), 23/8 Middlesbrough (a), 27/8 Blackburn Rovers (a), 9/8 Charlton Athletic (h), 17/8 Liverpool (h)

ODDS: 4-9 Fav

PRE-SEASON
A 1-0 defeat by the MLS All-Stars, more tapping-up claims, Joe Cole’s injury and another row with Arsenal aside, things have shaped up nicely for José Mourinho

TICKET SALES
Unsurprisingly, all 23,500 season tickets have been sold, as have 5,000 executive and hospitality tickets, while the remaining 13,500 tickets are generally sold out

EVERTON

WITHOUT THE DISTRACTIONS OF EUROPEAN football, which almost proved disastrous last season before David Moyes, the manager, triggered a reversal in fortunes to guide the club to a respectable eleventh-place finish, Everton should, at the very least, be better prepared this time around.

A good start could be essential to their chances of pushing for a European spot, while all eyes will be focused on the forward pairing of Andrew Johnson and James Beattie.

Everton had the worst attack outside the bottom three last season, with 34 goals scored in 38 league games, but the arrival of Johnson for £8.6 million from Crystal Palace should put an end to that particular problem.

He has not looked especially convincing in pre-season, but Moyes has every confidence that he will score goals and, it is hoped, bring the best out of Beattie, his good friend, who showed glimpses in the second half of last season of why Moyes shelled out £6 million to sign him from Southampton. If they hit it off, Everton will be on to a winner.

A lot will be expected of Joleon Lescott, not least because the last £5 million central defender to arrive at Goodison Park, Per Kroldrup, proved an unmitigated failure. Kroldrup managed only one start in six months before Moyes decided to swallow his pride and offload the Dane to Fiorentina for a loss of £1.5 million. Injuries permitting, Lescott should make more of an impression.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Tim Howard (Manchester United, loan), Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace, £8.6m), Joleon Lescott (Wolverhampton Wanderers, £5m), Scott Spencer (Oldham Athletic, undisclosed)

PLAYERS OUT: Duncan Ferguson (retired), Matteo Ferrari (AS Roma, loan return), James Harris (released), Paul Hopkins (released), Nigel Martyn (retired), Christian Seargeant (released), Li Tie (Sheffield United, free), Laurence Wilson (Chester City, undisclosed), Sean Wright (released), Stephen Wynne (released)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS James Vaughan (knee, two weeks) Tony Hibbert (virus, unknown)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Watford (h), 23/8 Blackburn Rovers (a), 26/8 Tottenham Hotspur (a), 9/9 Liverpool (h), 16/9 Wigan Athletic (h)

PREDICTION: 10th

ODDS: 350-1

PRE-SEASON
Mikel Arteta’s form has been outstanding and augurs well. Results have been largely encouraging

TICKET SALES
The club will not disclose information

FULHAM

FULHAM’S SUPPORTERS WILL DOUBTLESS BE breathing a sigh of relief that at least two of the three promoted clubs look good bets to go straight back down because the forecast is for another season of struggle at Craven Cottage.

Chris Coleman, Fulham’s bright young manager, will be hoping for a repeat of the home form that eventually helped the club to climb to twelfth position last season, but it was his side’s poor away form that gave considerable cause for concern and he will hope for a drastic improvement this time around.

In the event that Steed Malbranque leaves the club — the Frenchman appears to have burnt his bridges with Coleman — much will be asked of Jimmy Bullard, a £2.5 million signing from Wigan Athletic.

Malbranque’s presence in the side has enriched Fulham, but if he does go — and that has to be the best option for both parties now — Coleman will hope to reinvest that money given the relatively tight transfer budget he has been forced to work with this summer.

Pape Bouba Diop, the midfield player, remains an integral part of Coleman’s plans and, assuming he can stay fit, will provide a stable foundation on which to build.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Jimmy Bullard (Wigan Athletic, £2.5m), Franck Queudrue (Middlesbrough, undisclosed), Björn Runström (Hammarby, £700,000), Gaby Zakuani (Leyton Orient, undisclosed)

PLAYERS OUT: Ricardo Batista (Wycombe Wanderers, loan), Richard de Villiers (released), Alain Goma (released), Adam Green (Grays Athletic, free), Liam Fontaine (Bristol City, tribunal), Dean Leacock (Derby County, £375,000), Neale McDermott (released), Darren Pratley (Swansea City, £100,000), Zesh Rehman (Queens Park Rangers, free), Façundo Sava (released), Tony Warner (Leeds United, loan), Robert Watkins (released)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Simon Elliott (calf, unknown), Steed Malbranque (groin, unknown)

OPENING FIXTURES
20/8 Manchester United (a), 23/8 Bolton Wanderers (h), 26/8 Sheffield United (h), 9/9 Newcastle United (a), 17/9 Tottenham Hotspur (a)

PREDICTION: 17th

ODDS: 750-1

PRE-SEASON
Not a great deal of transfer activity, but Fulham made it clear that they intend to hit the ground running when the season starts by playing tough friendlies against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Real Madrid

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales are 2 per cent up compared with this time last year

LIVERPOOL

COULD THIS BE THE SEASON WHEN Liverpool finally reclaim their place at the top of English football? In the 16 years since the Merseyside giants last won the league championship, seldom have they looked so equipped for the challenge, and while Chelsea, rightly, remain favourites to clinch a third successive Premiership title, there are murmurings within Anfield that an agonising wait is about to end.

Much of the optimism springs from the arrival of Craig Bellamy, who, at £6 million, could turn out to be the best bit of business done by a club in recent seasons, especially considering that Emile Heskey signed for Wigan Athletic for only £500,000 less. The Welshman’s preseason form has been impressive and Rafael Benítez will hope that he has finally found a replacement for Michael Owen.

The problem for the manager lies with the fact that Bellamy is injury-prone, so much so that the prospect of Liverpool playing for long stretches without the former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker is one reason why Benítez is still looking for another forward. Dirk Kuyt, the Holland front man, remains the principal target, even if negotiations with the player’s club, Feyenoord, have faltered in recent days with Liverpool reluctant to match the £10 million-plus asking price.

What is certain is that few teams possess such strength in depth as Liverpool. The defence, bolstered by the arrivals of Gabriel Paletta and Fabio Aurélio, is among the meanest in Europe, while the midfield, strengthened by Mark González and Jermaine Pennant and spearheaded by Steven Gerrard, is matched only by that of Chelsea.

Only in attack could Liverpool come unstuck if Bellamy’s hamstrings fail him again. As Jamie Carragher remarked last week, it will be essential for Liverpool to get off to a good start. They won only one of their first six league games last season, then faltered again early in the New Year. That must not happen this season.

Others wonder whether Benítez’s decision to “gamble” on players with chequered pasts may backfire. Bellamy may be forced to miss Wales’s European Championship qualifier against Cyprus because it takes place the day after he is due to appear in court on an assault charge, while Pennant is no stranger to the inside of a court room, or a prison cell, for that matter. Fortune, Benítez might argue, tends to favour the brave.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Fabio Aurélio (Valencia, free), Craig Bellamy (Blackburn Rovers, £6m), Mark González (Albacete, £3.5m), Gabriel Paletta (Banfield, undisclosed), Jermaine Pennant (Birmingham, £8m)

PLAYERS OUT: Antonio Barragán (Deportivo La Coruña, £675,000), Ramon Calliste (Scunthorpe United, free), Bruno Cheyrou (Rennes, undisclosed), Djibril Cissé (Marseilles, loan), Dietmar Hamann (Bolton Wanderers, free), Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic, loan), Fernando Morientes (Valencia, £3m), Michael Nardiello (West Bromwich Albion, undisclosed), David Raven (Carlisle United, free), Djimi Traoré (Charlton Athletic, £2m), Zak Whitbread (Millwall, free)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Daniel Agger (ankle, days), Fabio Aurélio (calf, days), Robbie Fowler (knee, days), Harry Kewell (septic arthritis, three weeks)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Sheffield United (a), 26/8 West Ham United (h), 9/9 Everton (a), 17/9 Chelsea (a), 20/9 Newcastle United (h)

PREDICTION: 2nd

ODDS: 6-1

PRE-SEASON
God-awful, at least from a results point of view. As if 3-2 and 2-0 defeats by 1FC Kaiserslautern and Grasshopper Club Zurich were not bad enough, a 5-0 humbling at the hands of FSV Mainz 05 was positively embarrassing

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales are at 27,000 and 5,000 priority scheme tickets have been snapped up. Three thousand seats are reserved for away supporters, while the rest are on general sale. Anfield, with its 45,362 capacity, will be full as usual

MANCHESTER CITY

MANCHESTER CITY’S LEAGUE FORM FROM Boxing Day onwards last season was nothing short of diabolical (four wins, one draw, 16 defeats) and it was only by virtue of their decent start to the campaign that they avoided relegation.

Having bought well over the summer and tied Micah Richards and Joey Barton to new long-term deals, Stuart Pearce will hope his second full season in charge at the City of Manchester Stadium begins in similar fashion to his first and ends without the alarming tail-off that caused widespread panic among the club’s supporters.

Dietmar Hamann, signed from Liverpool via Bolton Wanderers at a (compensation) cost of £400,000, looks a shrewd buy and could provide the perfect compliment to Barton in midfield.

A fit Andrew Cole would not go amiss, but Pearce would appear to have a plethora of options up front, which, if married with a solid defence, should prove a winning combination for the club.

It is anyone’s guess how Bernardo Corradi will fare, but City fans will know exactly what to get from Paul Dickov, while Georgios Samaras showed enough last season to suggest he could be a real threat. As always, City’s biggest problem will be inconsistency.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Bernardo Corradi (Valencia, £2m), Ousmane Dabo (Lazio, free), Paul Dickov (Manchester City, free), Dietmar Hamann (Bolton Wanderers, £400,000), Joe Hart (Shrewsbury Town, £600,000), Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax, free)

PLAYERS OUT: David James (Portsmouth 1.2m) Ian Bennett (released), Karl Birmingham (released), Mikkel Bischoff (Cardiff City, free), Paul Collins (released), Geert de Vliger (released), Willo Flood (Cardiff City, undisclosed), Tuomas Haapala (released), Kiki Musampa (Atlético Madrid, loan return), Albert Riera (Espanyol, loan return), David Sommeil (Sheffield United, free), Michael Ward (released), Bradley Wright-Phillips (Southampton, £750,000)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Dietmar Hamann (foot, one week), Sun Jihai (hamstring, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
20/8 Chelsea (a), 23/8 Portsmouth (h), 26/8 Arsenal (h), 11/9 Reading (a), 17/9 Blackburn Rovers (a)

PREDICTION: 11th

ODDS: 500-1

PRE-SEASON
The tour of China was a success from a commercial point of view while Pearce has been very proactive in the transfer market

TICKET SALES
Around 30,000 season tickets have been sold for the 47,500 capacity City of Manchester Stadium. A little more than 8,000 will be accounted for by City card members, with the rest on general sale and for away fans

MANCHESTER UNITED

OLD TRAFFORD — RECENTLY expanded to 76,000 seats at a cost of £43 million — will be full to capacity when Fulham visit on Sunday, and should they maintain attendances around that figure over the course of the season, Manchester United will comfortably outstrip Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid as the best-supported club in Europe.

It is something Chelsea can only dream of emulating and flies in the face of claims that fans would turn their backs on the club after the Glazer family’s £790 million takeover. The key word, however, is “maintain” and, as if to throw down the gauntlet to his players, Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that will only happen if United continue to be successful on the pitch.

“We have a strong support base, but we must never take it for granted,” the United manager said. “There are grounds like the Bernabéu at Real Madrid and the Nou Camp at Barcelona who have even bigger capacities, but even they don’t fill their grounds for every match.

“I hope our players take note and realise that they have a duty and a part to play in making sure the huge investment involved in building the quadrants pays off commercially.”

Strong words, indeed, although Ferguson’s plans to topple Chelsea have — so far at least — been undermined by a hugely frustrating summer in the transfer market and it remains to be seen whether the players he has at present are good enough to mount a sustained challenge for the Barclays Premiership and Champions League.

Ferguson made a valid point when he described United as a “milch cow” at the weekend — “Every player who has been mentioned as a possible transfer target has seen the name of Manchester United thrown into the ring, often as a ploy to widen the bidding,” he said — but that does not escape from the fact that another midfield player and a striker to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy remain pressing concerns.

Ferguson can at least take heart from the two performances of Cristiano Ronaldo since his return to training after a summer that has seen him become Public Enemy No 1 in this country. The Portugal winger brushed aside Oxford United last Tuesday and scored a goal and set up another in a 3-0 win against Seville at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Moreover, Ronaldo looked hungry, despite claiming on several occasions this summer that he wanted to join Real, and if Ferguson can get both him and Wayne Rooney — the man he was accused of helping to get sent off during England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal — working in tandem, it would be foolhardly to discount United so readily.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Michael Carrick, right (Tottenham Hotspur, £18.6m), Tomasz Kuszczak (West Bromwich Albion, loan)

PLAYERS OUT: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Plymouth, £200,000), Quinton Fortune (released), Ben Foster (Watford, loan), (Tim Howard (Everton, loan), Eddie Johnson (Bradford City, free), Tommy Lee (Macclesfield Town, free), Paul McShane (West Bromwich Albion, free), Phil Picken (Chesterfield Town, free), Gerard Pique (Real Zaragoza, loan), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United, £500,000), Luke Steele (West Bromwich Albion, free), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, £10.3m)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Michael Carrick (ankle, three weeks), Rio Ferdinand (ankle,days), Gary Neville (calf, one week), Nemanja Vidic (knee, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
20/8 Fulham (h), 23/8 Charlton Athletic (a), 26/8 Watford (a), 9/9 Tottenham Hotspur (h), 17/9 Arsenal (h)

PREDICTION: 3rd

ODDS: 6-1

PRE-SEASON
For all their supposed problems, United looked anything but a team in crisis, with victories over FC Porto and Ajax in the LG Amsterdam Tournament

TICKET SALES
United are well on course to sell out their newly expanded 76,000 Old Trafford ground. More than 64,000 season tickets, including executive seats, have been sold, while the rest are being snapped up by members, the 3,500 seats reserved for away fans excluded

MIDDLESBROUGH

MIDDLESBROUGH FANS WERE JUST WARMING to Steve McClaren after the club’s exploits in reaching the Uefa Cup final last season when he jumped ship for England, but Gareth Southgate’s appointment as manager appears to have been universally well received on Teesside, even if it does constitute something of a gamble by Steve Gibson, the chairman.

Still, Southgate has to start somewhere and where better than at the club he has served with distinction as a player for the past five years.

With one of the largest squads in the Barclays Premiership and with funds at a relative premium by Middlesbrough’s standards, it is perhaps no surprise that Southgate has not been bringing in new faces left, right and centre, but the team will need some fine-tuning if they are to improve on last season’s poor showing in the league.

That said, few clubs boast such a wealth of young, homegrown talent as Middlesbrough and Southgate will be hoping for big seasons from Lee Cattermole, the promising midfield player, and Stewart Downing, who has been the subject of considerable interest from Tottenham Hotspur.

Mark Viduka and Yakubu Ayegbeni will be expected to spearhead the attack more often than not after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s departure for Charlton Athletic, while the defence will need some tightening given that Southgate intends to play only a minor or emergency role. European qualification looks to be too much to ask.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Julio Arca (Sunderland, £1.75m), Herold Goulon (Lyons, free)

PLAYERS OUT: Doriva (released), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Charlton Athletic, free), Danny Graham (Blackpool, loan), Brad Jones (Sheffield Wednesday, loan), Franck Queudrue (Fulham, undisclosed)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Ugo Ehiogu (Achilles, one week), Gaizka Mendieta (metatarsal, two weeks), Ray Parlour (groin, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Reading (a), 23/8 Chelsea (h), 28/8 Portsmouth (h), 9/9 Arsenal (a), 16/9 Bolton Wanderers (a)

PREDICTION: 12th

ODDS: 350-1

PRE-SEASON
Very low-key, despite the appointment of Gareth Southgate as manager. Three defeats in six days to Athletic Bilbao, Feyenoord and Heerenveen have not instilled confidence

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales were at 20,500 as of last Thursday — about 1,000 down on the same time last year

NEWCASTLE UNITED

HAVING LIFTED HIS TEAM FROM DESPAIR to jubilation last season, Glenn Roeder’s onerous task at Newcastle United is to ensure that the Barclays Premiership’s most volatile club embrace stability. Potential pitfalls litter his path, from Newcastle’s institutionalised capacity for selfdestruction, a support whose yearning for success borders on desperation and the need to replace Alan Shearer.

With Shearer retired and Michael Owen unlikely to make more than a cameo appearance next spring, goals and strikers prey heavily on the mind at St James’ Park; until replacements are secured, judgment is suspended, but, in Shearer, Newcastle have lost a forward, a captain, a figurehead and the heartbeat of the side he routinely dragged away from defeat. Newcastle will be a lesser draw without him, but provided Roeder’s acquisitions are sound — Obafemi Martins, of Inter Milan, heads Dirk Kuyt on the manager’s list of targets — a period of quiet rebuilding would be welcome. Reaching the first round proper of the Uefa Cup would ensure, contrary to recent history, that the club do not enter the campaign in a state of flux.

“I believe you should have goals, but they have to be achievable,” Roeder said. “The first goal will be to get more points than the 58 we ended with last season. We want to improve on seventh place and our points total — and that is not an easy goal. But the longer-term target is to break into the top four. They’re not untouchables.”

He describes Newcastle’s failure to win a domestic trophy since 1955 as “ridiculous”. Their strength will lie in midfield, particularly if Thomas Gravesen is prised away from Real Madrid. Signing Damien Duff, for only £5 million was a masterstroke and, in Scott Parker, Emre Belözoglu, Nolberto Solano, Charles N’Zogbia, James Milner, Nicky Butt and the injury-blighted Kieron Dyer — possibly — Roeder should have enough options to cover most eventualities.

Elsewhere, there are concerns. Centre half will be a weakness while Titus Bramble is prone to lapses in concentration, Celestine Babayaro should be supplanted by Wayne Bridge at left back and midfield riches will be inconsequential without something to aim for in attack. It remains to be seen whether Roeder has the numbers to deal with the strains of four competitions.

The expertise of Shearer, in an ambassadorial role, will be called upon and he will visit the training ground this week. “His involvement this year is loose, but I don’t want to think that when he hasn’t got any work, he won’t come into the training ground,” Roeder said. “He is a really good man to have around. For past managers to say he is too big for the club is nonsense.”

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Damien Duff (Chelsea, £5m)

PLAYERS OUT: Lee Bowyer (West Ham United, undisclosed), Michael Chopra (Cardiff City, £500,000), Amdy Faye (Charlton Athletic, £2m), Alan Shearer (retired)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Kieron Dyer (hamstring, one month), Michael Owen (knee, six months)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Wigan Athletic (a), 27/8 Aston Villa (a), 9/9 Fulham (h), 17/9 West Ham United (a), 20/9 Liverpool (a)

PREDICTION: 6th

ODDS: 150-1

PRE-SEASON
Very quiet until the arrival of Damien Duff gave everyone on Tyneside something to shout about. Qualification for the Uefa Cup via the Intertoto Cup was a welcome bonus

TICKET SALES
St James’ Park remains as popular as ever. All 44,000 season tickets have gone, while the remaining tickets available on general sale go like hot cakes

PORTSMOUTH

QUITE HOW HARRY REDKNAPP SAVED Portsmouth from the drop last season is a question that the club’s fans will probably be discussing for years to come, but while the South Coast side should be spared another nail-biting campaign, it is unlikely to be plain sailing.

Redknapp has yet to put a dent in the reported £30 million transfer budget offered by Alexandre Gaydamak, the club’s new owner. The process of weeding out most of the misfits brought in by Alain Perrin, Redknapp’s predecessor as manager, has continued this summer, but there have yet to be any ground-breaking signings.

Redknapp promises that they will be forthcoming — and to judge by his track record, we would probably be advised to take his word for it — but Portsmouth will be hard-pressed to finish in the top half.

Sol Campbell is a big-name capture, although few are convinced that he still has what it takes to compete consistently at this level. Likewise Glen Johnson, who has been cruelly exposed at Chelsea, while David Thompson, the former Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic midfield player, has rarely been free of injury in recent seasons. And who can rule out another bizarre twist in the Fratton Park soap opera?

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Sol Campbell (free agent), Glen Johnson (Chelsea, loan), David Thompson (free agent), David James (Manchester City, £1m)

PLAYERS OUT: Aliou Cissé (released), Andrea Guatelli (released), Liam Horsted (released), Collins Mbesuma (released), Vincent Péricard (Stoke City, free), Brian Priske (Brugge, undisclosed), Gary Silk (Notts County, free), Sander Westerveld (released), John Viáfara (Southampton, undisclosed), Grégory Vignal (Lens, undisclosed)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Jamie Ashdown (broken thumb, one month), Lomana LuaLua (ankle, unknown), Pedro Mendes (groin, one week), Ivica Mornar (hamstring, one week), Benjani Mwaruwari (thigh, one week), Dejan Stefanovic (Achilles, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Blackburn Rovers (h), 23/8 Manchester City (a), 28/8 Middlesbrough (a), 9/9 Wigan Athletic (h), 16/9 Charlton Athletic (a)

PREDICTION: 15th

ODDS: 500-1

PRE-SEASON
Lots of talk and speculation, but not much else, at least not until the past few days, when Harry Houdini appears at last to have been working his magic. Results have been varied

TICKET SALES
The club are confident of selling most of the 15,216 season tickets available — 75 per cent of capacity — although sales are “very slightly down” on last season. More new signings are expected to boost the figure

READING

FED A DIET OF MOSTLY LOW-GRADE opposition, including Didcot Town, Rushden & Diamonds and Lanna GoIF, the Swedish part-timers, Reading could have done little more than chalk up nine wins and a draw, scoring 39 goals, in ten pre-season friendlies. Feyenoord, the Dutch club, provided the acid test at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday and they, too, were dispatched, goals from Dave Kitson and Ivar Ingimarsson completing a 2-1 victory.

Feyenoord had beaten Middlesbrough 2-0 and lost 1-0 to Chelsea in previous outings, but Pierre van Hooijdonk, the former Nottingham Forest player, was impressed with Reading’s hustle and bustle. “They were strong and aggressive,” the Feyenoord striker said. “How they will get on in the Premiership, I don’t know. It is hard to judge.”

Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, will want to replicate West Ham United, who, after winning promotion to the Barclays Premiership, did not look out of their depth and reached the FA Cup Final and qualified for the Uefa Cup. “We don’t want to be passive,” Coppell said. “We want to go forward and have a go.”

Kitson and Kevin Doyle are unlikely to prove as prolific, but Steve Sidwell, the midfield player, should enhance a reputation that has had Charlton Athletic and Manchester City scrambling for his services.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Seol Ki Hyeon, (Wolverhampton Wanderers, £1.5m), Sam Sodje (Brentford, £500,000)

PLAYERS OUT: John Mullins (Mansfield Town, free), Conor Sinnott (Limerick, loan), Jamie Young (Wycombe Wanderers, free)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Aaron Brown (broken leg, six months), Brynjar Gunnarsson (groin, one week), Glen Little (hamstring, one week), Ibrahima Sonko (groin, one week)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Middlesbrough (h), 23/8 Aston Villa (a), 26/8 Wigan Athletic (a), 11/9 Manchester City (h), 16/9 Sheffield United (a)

PREDICTION: 18th (relegated)

ODDS: 1,000-1 and 5-4 to be relegated

PRE-SEASON
A 9-1 thrashing of Didcot Town, a 10-1 thumping of Lanna GoIF and a 6-0 hammering of Gallstad FK are all very well, but it somewhat surprising that Steve Coppell has not opted for sterner tests before his side’s Premiership debut.

TICKET SALES
Reading’s season-ticket sales have doubled to 18,000 compared with this time last year. One would imagine their promotion to the Premiership has had something to do with that.

SHEFFIELD UNITED

EXPECT FIREWORKS OFF THE PITCH, IF NOT necessarily on it. Neil Warnock realised a dream when Sheffield United won promotion and the Premiership should be all the more exciting with him in it.

Warnock is intensely passionate, outspoken and almost always entertaining and those are the traits supporters up and down the country will hope to see week in, week out. There is, however, another side to Warnock that is seldom seen — the caring, loyal, hugely likeable family man — and he should not be too readily dismissed as the blinkered, raving madman some would like to present him as. Indeed, while the reality is that they will end up back in the Coca-Cola Championship next season, United may spring a few surprises and are certain to get up the noses of some teams.

Warnock claims he has “five or six” players that would walk into any team in the Premiership, which is something of an exaggeration, but watch out for Phil Jagielka and Michael Tonge, the midfield players.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Ian Bennett (Leeds United, undisclosed), Claude Davis (Preston North End, £2.5m), Mikele Leigertwood (Crystal Palace, £600,000), Chris Lucketti (Preston North End, £300,000), Christian Nade (Troyes, free), David Sommeil (Manchester City, free), Li Tie (Everton, free)

PLAYERS OUT: Philip Barnes (Grimsby Town, undisclosed), Luke Beckett (Huddersfield Town, free), Bruce Dyer (Doncaster Rovers, free), Garry Flitcroft (retired), Jonathan Forte (Doncaster Rovers, loan), Simon Francis (Southend, undisclosed), Geoff Horsfield (Leeds United, loan), Gary Mulligan (Gillingham, free), Ian Ross (Notts County, loan)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Claude Davis (knee, one month)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Liverpool (h), 22/8 Tottenham Hotspur (a), 26/8 Fulham (a), 9/9 Blackburn Rovers (h), 16/9 Reading (h)

PREDICTION: 19th (relegated)

ODDS: 1,000-1 and 4-7 joint favourites to be relegated

PRE-SEASON
Quite quiet, amazingly. One can only assume Neil Warnock is saving the fireworks for the season. Results have meant little

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales are up by 50 per cent to 21,000. Who says the Premiership is not an attractive proposition?

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

PRUDENT STEADINESS IS NOT WHAT WE HAVE come to expect from Tottenham Hotspur but it has nonetheless delivered a feeling of unbridled optimism at White Hart Lane. The present crop of players is not as pleasing on the eye as some of the flamboyant teams of the past, but it harbours a determination to avoid defeat and grind out results.

It is an admirable quality that has been carried over into pre-season, where Tottenham have won all but one of their eight friendly matches after a 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday. The objective for this season will be to rid themselves of a poor record against the top clubs. In the league, they have not beaten Chelsea in 16 years, Arsenal in seven and Manchester United in five.

As positive as their pursuit of fourth place was last season, their grasp on Champions League football should have been secured long before they were upset in a stomach- churning defeat by West Ham United on the final day of the season.

A young team lacked the concentration to see matches through to the final whistle and several costly mistakes by Paul Stalteri have put paid to the defender’s first-team place. With Tottenham and Wigan Athletic no closer to agreeing a fee for Pascal Chimbonda, Lee Young Pyo, the South Korea player, probably will be switched from left to right back should Martin Jol, the head coach, be unable to tempt Zdenek Grygera, of Ajax, or Lucas Neill, of Blackburn Rovers, to join.

Benoît Assou-Ekotto has slotted in easily after signing from Lens and has looked accomplished at left back, but the creative concerns from last season remain. There is a need for a left winger to provide width and crosses for the tall and sharp Dimitar Berbatov, even if then means Tottenham are more open to be attacked. It was disquieting that Robbie Keane, playing behind the forwards, provided the only two crosses in the recent victory against Inter Milan. It makes the unwillingness of the club, flush after the sale of Michael Carrick to Manchester United, to meet Middlesbrough’s valuation of Stewart Downing more baffling. “We will miss Carrick, but maybe he will miss playing with me,” Edgar Davids joked.

Without the promptings of Carrick, it will fall to Keane and Aaron Lennon to unlock defences. Lennon scuttled and twinkled against Real Sociedad, but Jol wants the winger to improve his final pass. It might be a new experience for Tottenham to be touted for a top-four finish, but they are relishing it. “It will be difficult to break into that group, but we must find ways,” Davids said.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Benoît Assou-Ekotto (Lens, undisclosed), Dimitar Berbatov (Bayer Leverkusen, £10.9m), Dorian Dervite (Lille, undisclosed), Tomas Pekhart (Slavia Prague, nominal), Didier Zokora (St-Etienne, £8m)

PLAYERS OUT: Goran Bunjevcevic (released), Michael Carrick (Manchester United, £18.6m), Mounir El Hamdaoui (Willem II, free), Richard Heller (AFC Sudbury, free), Johnnie Jackson (Colchester United, free), Stephen Kelly (Birmingham City, £750,000), Dean Marney (Hull City, free), Mido (AS Roma, loan return), Noureddine Naybet (released), Nathan Peprah-Annan (released), Claude Seanla (Watford, free), Mark Yeates (Hull City, loan)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Ledley King (knee, one month), Andy Reid (foot, one week), Teemu Tainio (ankle, days)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Bolton Wanderers (a), 22/8 Sheffield United (h), 26/8 Everton (h), 9/9 Manchester United (a), 17/9 Fulham (h)

PREDICTION: 5th

ODDS: 50-1

PRE-SEASON
Martin Jol has been putting his players through their paces with tough games against Bordeaux, Nice, Celta Vigo, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Real Sociedad and they have not disappointed

TICKET SALES
Spurs have sold out their season-ticket allocation of 23,000 — 63 per cent of total capacity — and have a waiting list of another 20,000 applications

WATFORD

ON THE ONE HAND, Adrian Boothroyd’s decision not to spend heavily and stick largely with the players who won promotion to the Barclays Premiership via the play-offs is both sensible and admirable because it reduces the risk of financial catastrophe in the (likely) event that Watford are relegated and it gives young, budding players the chance to prove they can cut it with the best.

On the other hand, the decision not to invest substantially smacks of defeat, an admission that there is little chance of staying up, while the manager’s faith in players inexperienced at this level seems somewhat naive.

Either way, it will be interesting to see how Watford fare, although it will register as one of the biggest surprises in the history of the Premiership if they avoid the drop.

Their only genuine hope of doing that would appear to be the form of the leader of the attack, Marlon King. A proven goalscorer in the Coca-Cola Championship, Watford must hope that King does not find the step up beyond him and starts to trouble defences early enough for his confidence to soar.

If Watford struggle in front of goal, the pressure on the defence to keep clean sheets may become a burden too great to bear.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Damien Francis (Wigan Athletic, £1.5m), Ben Foster (Manchester United, loan), Sheku Kamara (Charlton Athletic, free), Scott Loach (Lincoln City, free), Chris Powell (Charlton Athletic, free), Tamas Priskin (Gyari ETO, undisclosed), Claude Seanla (Tottenham Hotspur, free), Dan Shittu (Queens Park Rangers, £1.6m)

PLAYERS OUT: Jamie Hand (Chester City, free)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Clarke Carlisle (knee, one week), Sheku Kamara (knee, two weeks)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Everton (a), 22/8 West Ham United (h), 26/8 Manchester United (h), 9/9 Bolton Wanderers (a), 16/9 Aston Villa (h)

PREDICTION: Bottom (relegated)

ODDS: 1,000-1 and 4-7 joint favourites to be relegated

PRE-SEASON
If Watford can repeat their recent performance in a 1-1 draw against Inter Milan 38 times over next season they could yet stay up. Then again?

TICKET SALES
Season-ticket sales have increased as a consequence of their promotion to the Premiership by 4,900 to 13,100 — 66 per cent of Vicarage Road’s total capacity

WEST HAM UNITED

ALONG WITH WIGAN ATHLETIC, West Ham United were the success story of last season and proved that, with good management and substantial but shrewd expenditure, it is possible for clubs who have just been promoted not only to survive in the top flight but also to flourish.

Most had predicted Alan Pardew would find himself out of a job by Christmas. How wrong they were. A Uefa Cup place and one FA Cup Final later, Pardew was being hailed as a miracle worker at Upton Park, and rightly so.

Pardew will have his work cut out as he attempts to emulate that success this season, especially as he will be obliged to juggle his squad as they face up to the twin demands of domestic and European football, but having fine-tuned an already strong and fit squad over the summer, the manager has every right to be setting his sights on another top-ten finish.

The arrival of Carlton Cole, a £2 million acquisition from Chelsea, should strengthen an attack that already was formidable. Dean Ashton, for one, will be brimming with confidence after his deserved call-up to the England squad.

The retention of Yossi Benayoun amid reported interest from Arsenal is a bonus, while Tyrone Mears and Jonathan Spector will bolster the defence.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Lee Bowyer (Newcastle United, free), Carlton Cole (Chelsea, £2m), George McCartney (Sunderland, £600,000 plus Clive Clarke), Tyrone Mears (Preston North End, £2m), John Pantsil (Hapoel Tel Aviv, undisclosed), Jonathan Spector (Manchester United, £500,000)

PLAYERS OUT: Darren Behcet (Yeovil Town, free), Chris Cohen (Yeovil Town, undisclosed), Carl Fletcher (Crystal Palace, £400,000), Shaka Hislop (FC Dallas, free), Yaniv Katan (Maccabi Haifa, loan), Trent Mycenaean (Hereford United, free), Matt Reed (Bristol City, free), Elliot Ward (Coventry City, £1m), Ishmael Welsh (Yeovil Town, free)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Matthew Etherington (knee, one month), Anton Ferdinand (hamstring, days)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Charlton Athletic (h), 22/8 Watford (a), 26/8 Liverpool (a), 10/9 Aston Villa (h), 17/9 Newcastle United (h)

PREDICTION: 7th

ODDS: 350-1

PRE-SEASON
Unspectacular, both on the pitch and in the transfer market, but Alan Pardew only ever needed to make a few sensible additions and he has done that

TICKET SALES
The 25,000 season tickets have virtually gone — an increase of nearly 3,000 on last season — while at least 5,250 tickets are made available on match days

WIGAN ATHLETIC

WIGAN ATHLETIC’S FIRST SEASON IN THE Premiership was so unexpectedly successful that it has already spawned a book — Ed Jones’s soon-to-be published Northern Soul — while Dave Whelan, the chairman, reached an agreement earlier in the year with an American film producer about immortalising the club’s achievements, which included a Carling Cup final appearance, in celluloid.

All of which adds to the pressure on Paul Jewell’s shoulders to go one better this season and qualify for Europe, but while another top-ten finish is not out of the question, mere survival for a club who are sensibly refusing to get ahead of themselves should be considered an achievement, even if others are unlikely to look at it that way.

Jewell has bought well again — when does he not? — but his side are no longer a surprise package and may find the going even tougher this season. Much could depend on how Emile Heskey combines with Henri Camara and whether the former Birmingham City, Liverpool and England striker, an expensive outlay at £5.5 million, can fill the considerable void left by Jason Roberts’s departure for Blackburn Rovers. Even the league’s best defences had trouble containing Roberts last season, but it remains to be seen whether Heskey can provide a similar foil to Camara, the lively Senegal forward.

The loss of Jimmy Bullard, meanwhile, should be offset by the arrival of Denny Landzaat, the Holland midfield player.

INS AND OUTS

PLAYERS IN: Emmerson Boyce (Crystal Palace, £1.5m), Tomasz Cywka (Gwarek Zabrze, undisclosed), Fitz Hall (Crystal Palace, £3m), Emile Heskey (Birmingham City, £5.5m), Chris Kirkland (Liverpool, loan), Denny Landzaat (AZ Alkmaar, £2.5m), Luis Antonio Valencia (Villarreal, loan)

PLAYERS OUT: Jimmy Bullard (Fulham, £2.5m), Damien Francis (Watford, £1.5m), Michael Hazeldine (Alloa Athletic, free), Stéphane Henchoz (released), Alan Mahon (Burnley, £200,000), Jason Roberts (Blackburn Rovers, £3m), David Thompson (released)

INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS Ryan Taylor (broken leg, six months), Gary Teale (ankle, one month)

OPENING FIXTURES
19/8 Newcastle United (a), 26/8 Reading (h), 9/9 Portsmouth (a), 16/9 Everton (a), 23/9 Watford (h)

PREDICTION: 14th

ODDS: 750-1

PRE-SEASON
Unbeaten, although that does not count for much. The new signings are taking time to gel, but have shown plenty of promise

TICKET SALES
Wigan will once again struggle to fill their 25,000-capacity JJB Stadium. Season-ticket sales have reached only 11,500, while 4,000 junior membership seats have been taken

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