Are you ready for the big kick-off?

Premier League football back on the agenda at SJP In just a few days time we see the return of the Premier League. You can put the tools down, put the wife away, pat the kids on the head and get down to football for the next nine months!

Alright maybe it isn't quite that extreme but the football season is close to the hearts of many fans of clubs up and down the country and, being realistic, we are no different.

So take this as a little preview of this season if you like. I won't go into too much depth as Premandup has not long set me a more in depth at what he thinks could happen this season, so I'll stick with being general about things and ask if you think we are prepared for the new season?

When you look at pre-season you would have to say that it was alright. Nothing spectacular, just alright. We played some good teams and some bad teams, we won games and lost games. Most importantly though a lot of players got a chance to impress and the majority of them took it with both hands and can be expected to be given further chances to impress in the coming weeks.

If there is one thing that is slapping me in the face like a bit wet fish though, it's the lack of action some of our first team players have seen in our pre-season campaign. Yohan Cabaye has only played something daft like 18 minutes during pre-season, and others like Papiss Cisse and Hatem Ben Arfa haven't played much more. Tiredness is a reason apparently, although I wonder if their exclusion has at least something to do with wrapping them up in cotton wool?

We shall soon find out I guess...

In terms of transfers in, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say that I'd been hoping for more in through the door than we've seen so far. However it's important to remember that we've not lost any of our big hitters so far and at the moment it looks like it is going to stay that way. Our first XI hasn't been weakened although, much like last season, an injury or two in certain positions will leave us exposed although there is still time for these shortcomings to be addressed.

We have a very tough start to the season, not just in terms of opposition but also in terms of frequency of games. We have three games in the first week of the season, or five games in the first two weeks of the season if you prefer to look at it like that, which is likely to stretch our resources to the maximum early doors. I get the impression that the way our season pans out depends on how we come through the opening two weeks of the season.

Anyway, I'm ready for the new season and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do.

The question is, what do you think we can manage this season?