The Beginning of the Journey

Later tonight, the Premier League will finally return as we gear up for another season full of twists, turns, world class goals and unbelievable errors that make us all cringe a little bit inside.

That’s the beauty of being a fan of the best league in the world and while some would argue that’s debatable, recent evidence suggests that the English top flight is certainly up there with the best of the best.

We’re in for a treat with some Friday Night Football goodness that’ll go down at Selhurst Park with an 8pm kick-off being touted in the capital. Crystal Palace and Arsenal will be locking horns in yet another Vieira derby, with both hoping to make a big splash to kickstart their respective campaigns.

Crystal Palace

Patrick Vieira is the main man at the helm for the Eagles and up to this point, we’d say he’s done a pretty stellar job since stepping into the role in place of Roy Hodgson. The Frenchman brings a certain level of excitement to proceedings that few others have been able to do at this football club and moving forward, you’d have to think he’ll continue to push them into a position whereby a top half finish and beyond isn’t far away.

At the same time, there’s been a lot of changeover in terms of the squad during the summer transfer window and that’s something they need to be prepared for. Change is always going to upset the status quo in one way or another but in this opener, the fans alone should be able to lift them to a solid performance.

All eyes will be on what they can produce and as scary as that may be, it should force them to put on a great fight against a team they’ve gotten the better of fairly often in recent times.

Arsenal

Arsenal have been seen as little more than a joke for quite a while now and even though a lot of fans aren’t going to be particularly bothered by that, we’re at the point now where we need to start seeing some form of progress – especially for Mikel Arteta’s sake.

They’ve had some notable outgoings during the window so far but they’ve also brought in some new faces that should give them confidence about the direction they’re heading in. This is a young squad that’s slowly but surely starting to pick up some more experience and for that reason alone, this is the kind of team we think we’re going to enjoy watching.

They aren’t quite the mentality monsters that the likes of Liverpool are and that’s where there’s a distinct gap with their style of play, but even with that being the case, they have some very achievable goals in the months ahead.

If they’re able to finish in the top four, return to Champions League football and potentially get a piece of silverware under their belt, they’re going to be off to the races.

We’re not asking for much, right?