Arsenal finally got over the hump last season and won the bloody thing, and somehow they look even stronger now. Bruno Guimaraes has joined an already ridiculous midfield, while Coventry arrive back in the Premier League after winning the Championship.

Coventry have actually looked pretty handy in preseason and recently beat Espanyol 3-1, so they shouldn’t arrive completely terrified. Unfortunately, their first assignment is Arsenal away. Welcome back to the Premier League, lads. Here is Saka running at you.

Arsenal should dominate this from the opening whistle and I’d be surprised if Coventry get much of a sniff.

Hull came through the playoffs to reach the Premier League, but they’re already being widely tipped to head straight back down. They haven’t done anything disastrous over the summer, although a 2-0 loss to Frankfurt showed there is obviously a massive jump coming.

United quietly had an excellent season last year, finishing third, and they’ve added Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos to their midfield. Their preseason has been pretty solid too, including beating Atletico Madrid and drawing with PSG.

Away to a promoted side on opening day can get ugly, but United should simply have too much quality.

Not exactly the game you’d nominate if you were trying to convince someone to start watching football.

Everton finished 13th last season, Palace 15th, although Palace’s Conference League win made their year look a hell of a lot better than their league position did. Everton have strengthened their midfield, while Palace have added Tomiyasu and Mingueza but lost Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea.

Neither side screams goals. This has scrappy opening-round draw written all over it.

Ipswich are back after just one season in the Championship and they’ve had a serious crack at building a squad capable of staying up. Daizen Maeda, Chuba Akpom, Abdul Fatawu, Florentino Luis and a stack of others have come through the door.

More importantly, they’ve looked good. Ipswich have won four straight preseason games and absolutely belted Rayo Vallecano 3-0 last time out.

Sunderland were one of the stories of last season, somehow finishing seventh after promotion, but backing that up could be bloody difficult. I’m taking the promoted side at home here. Ipswich look ready to cause a few headaches.

Forest only just kept their heads above water last season and have since sold Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for an enormous fee. Their preseason hasn’t exactly screamed improvement either.

Leeds, meanwhile, look absolutely flying. They beat Sunderland, went to Liverpool and smashed them 4-2, then knocked off RB Leipzig 2-0. Yes, it’s preseason. No, trophies are not handed out for friendlies. But you’d still rather be winning them than looking like shit.

Harry Wilson and James Trafford also look like smart additions for a Leeds side that was already good enough to survive comfortably last year. I’ll take the early upset.

Spurs finished 17th last season. Seventeenth. For a club with their stadium, squad and budget, that was absolutely woeful.

They clearly agreed, because they’ve gone slightly mental in the transfer market. Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson have all arrived as Roberto De Zerbi attempts to rebuild the whole bloody thing.

Brentford are never an easy side to knock over at home and finished ninth last season, so this isn’t some gift. Still, Tottenham finally look like a serious football side again.

This could be one of the games of the opening weekend.

Brighton finished eighth last year and have looked excellent in preseason. They’ve lost a few experienced heads, but Brighton have made an entire business model out of replacing good players with another bloke you’ve never heard of who suddenly looks like a £70 million footballer.

Villa are still quality, but their squad has been seriously reshuffled. Brighton at home are a pain in the arse and look further settled right now.

Bournemouth were absolute jets last season, finishing sixth, and apparently decided they weren’t interested in calming down over preseason. They’ve been banging goals in for fun and should arrive with absolutely no intention of parking the bus.

Their problem is that the opening fixture is Manchester City away. City finished second last season and still have Erling Haaland standing between Bournemouth and three points, which is generally considered an inconvenience.

I don’t think Bournemouth roll over here and they’re good enough to nick a goal, but City at the Etihad should still get it done.

Newcastle might be the hardest team in the league to judge right now. They’ve lost some serious quality over the summer and the whole side suddenly looks very different.

Liverpool have their own problems. Their attack still looks filthy, but defensively they’ve been all over the shop in preseason and this is hardly the ground you want to visit while you’re trying to sort that out.

St James’ Park on opening weekend will be chaos and I expect Newcastle to score, but Liverpool have far more established quality left in the squad. Could easily turn into a shootout.

Chelsea finished a disappointing tenth last season and responded in the traditional Chelsea manner by buying another small army.

Morgan Rogers is the headline addition after a monster move from Aston Villa, while several more have arrived. Xabi Alonso now gets the mildly ridiculous task of turning all of them into an actual football team.

Fulham at Craven Cottage won’t make it easy, but Chelsea simply look to have more quality across the park. If the new toys click quickly enough, they should start the season with three points.