I hope Rafa doesn't bed in any new signings against Villa, or in any away games. He has to go for tried and true, with a Kuyt-Crouch strikeforce and a midfield along the lines of Pennant-Gerrard-Mascherano/Sissoko-Kewell. The newbies can be used as subs later in the game, and can feature more heavily in games at Anfield until they are settled. We need to hit the ground running.

So, some predictions. Chelsea to win the title, providing they have no major injuries like last season. Losing Cech, Terry and Carvahlo at the same time was a huge blow to them, and they dropped a fair few points during that time.

Arsenal to finish 4th ahead of Spurs. I think Spurs have the better players, but Arsenal have the better manager.

Wigan, Derby and one of the other two promoted teams to go down. I think Middlesbrough will be in there, but Tuncay and Yakubu will fight a two-man battle against relegation and they'll be okay. If they get injured or sold or whatever, though, boro will be in trouble. Fulham might not be too far away, either.

As for the rest of the table, it's way too close to call. There are so many half decent sides filling up the Premiership so it'll be interesting to see how all of that turns out.