The new Premier League season starts on Saturday, 90 days after the last campaign ended with Manchester United taking the title from Chelsea.
In the intervening period more than £350m has been spent as clubs desperate for success search for the winning formula. But for all the money that the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham have lavished on new faces, it is United and Chelsea who start the season once again as most people's favourites for the title.
With Uefa Cup places also up for grabs and new boys Birmingham, Derby and Sunderland desperate to preserve their top-flight status it promises to be a fascinating season.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his team's success last season by buying Nani, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves.
And with the drawn-out Carlos Tevez saga finally coming to a close, Ferguson has certainly bolstered his squad as he goes in search of more silverware this season.
Chelsea, in contrast, have had a relatively thrifty summer, with Lyon's Florent Malouda the only big-money arrival.
But the arrival of Tal Ben Haim, Claudio Pizarro and Steve Sidwell on free transfers could be just as siginificant for a squad that struggled with injuries last season.
Those problems have returned, with the likes of John Terry, Didier Drogba, Andrei Shevchenko, Michael Ballack and Wayne Bridge sidelined and several others doubtful for Chelsea's opener against Birmingham.
Expectation will be high at Anfield after Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez spent the summer assembling a squad he believes is capable of challenging for the title.
The likes of Andrey Voronin, Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Babel and Lucas Leiva have all arrived over the summer ahead of their opening game at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Tottenham have again spent big and their fans will hope that it allows them to make the leap into the top four at the expense of an Arsenal team coming to terms with the departure of Thierry Henry.
Fulham's Lawrie Sanchez, Bolton's Sammy Lee, Sunderland's Roy Keane, Derby's Billy Davies and Manchester City's Sven-Goran Eriksson start a season as Premier League managers for the first time.
Eriksson's City remain an intriguing and unknown quantity with the former England coach having recently undertaken a spending spree in the region of £40m.
City begin the campaign at West Ham, who have also been active in the transfer market, with Scott Parker, Freddie Ljungberg, Julien Flaubert and Craig Bellamy coming in, and Nigel Reo-Coker and Marlon Harewood going out.
A new era starts at Newcastle under Sam Allardyce, while Aston Villa will expect greater consistency in Martin O'Neill's second season.
Blackburn, Everton, Portsmouth and Reading all enjoyed successful seasons last time and face the difficult task of following those up with high expectations from their fans.Middlesbrough and Wigan will have aspirations of improving on last season.
It all starts on Saturday, with Sunderland entertaining Tottenham.
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