It’s the eve of a new football season and we have European Championships to look forward to next summer.
Civil unrest may have postponed the Spurs v Everton game this weekend but every other Barclays Premier League fixture for the opening round of the 2011/2012 season is still on.
This year both Manchester clubs will be contesting for the title in what could again be the most open competition in years.
The traditionally London-based rivals aren’t the powerhouses they used to be in previous years though.
Chelsea’s aging squad are hoping for a last hurrah under former Porto manager and Jose Mourinho protege Andre Villas Boas and Arsenal’s youthful squad about to be shorn of two lynchpins in captain Cesc Fabregas and potentially City-bound Samir Nasri although veteran manager Arsene Wenger is expected to be under immense pressure to spend the money recouped to hold off burgeoning rivals.
The main challengers to the top 4 this season are Liverpool and Spurs, but while Jose Enrique may have been Anfield boss Kenny Dalglish’s last major signing of the summer it would appear that Spurs manager Harry Redknapp hasn’t really begun splashing the cash yet. Indeed, he’s been busy fighting off interest in a variety of his own players this summer.