Take a browse through Premiership previews from this time last year and it's mighty difficult to distinguish them from those written in advance of this new season.
Few, then, are expecting the contest for the title to feature anyone but Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, with Liverpool and Newcastle again largely forecast to be sparring for fourth place. There's a touch of the Groundhog Day about it all.
The difference this time, of course, is that Arsenal will be attempting to retain the Premiership title for the first time, while United will be trying to avoid going two successive seasons without winning the title for the first time in the Premiership's 12-year history. Roman Abramovich, meanwhile, will be expecting an instant return on his investment in Jose Mourinho and another £90 million worth of players.
The Patrick Vieira-to-Real Madrid saga, now over, much to Arsene Wenger's relief, cast an uncomfortable shadow over Arsenal's summer, a summer that was frustrating enough for the manager given the meagre funds made available to him to make up for the loss of squad players Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Sylvain Wiltord, Kanu, Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Francis Jeffers.
Almost every spare pound, it seems, is being saved up for the funding of the club's new stadium, with the biggest summer purchase so far the £2.75 million spent on Feyenoord's Robin van Persie.
That lack of investment in major new signings, which he said would hinder the club's Champions League prospects, appeared to be largely responsible for Vieira's restlessness, a disquiet Wenger will hope won't spread to the likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Sol Campbell, should Europe's big spenders come calling again. Vieira staying, though, is a boost of inestimable proportions for the club.
Not much spent, then, but such is Wenger's record in unearthing rough diamonds, at little cost, and turning them into gems there is almost an expectation that Manuel Almunia (from Celta Vigo) and Mathieu Flamini (from Marseille) and Francesc Fabregas, the 17-year-old Spaniard signed last year, will flourish. And that's even before mentioning the brilliantly gifted Jose Antonio Reyes.
In contrast, Mourinho's only problem this summer has been that he had so much money to spend he probably wasn't quite sure where to start. Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho (Euro 2004's outstanding defender), combined, cost £44 million alone, with Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech, Portuguese right back Paulo Ferreira, Dutch winger Arjen Robben, Serbia and Montenegro striker Mateja Kezman and Portuguese midfielder Tiago Mendes bringing the club's 12-month spending spree to a mind-boggling £200 million.
So, if Mourinho was to pick a starting 11 of Cech, Ferreira, John Terry, Carvalho, Wayne Bridge, Robben, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Damien Duff, Kezman and Drogba he would still have Carlo Cudicini, Glen Johnson, William Gallas, Robert Huth, Celestine Babayaro, Joe Cole, Geremi, Scott Parker, Tiago, Adrian Mutu and Eidur Gudjohnsen in reserve.
To put the contrast in squad depth in context if Alex Ferguson loses any of his favoured 11 (Tim Howard, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Mikael Silvestre, Gabriel Heinze, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha or Alan Smith) he will have to call upon the likes of Quinton Fortune, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Diego Forlan and David Bellion. Now you know why the Old Trafford faithful are down on their knees praying for a dearth of injuries and suspensions this season.
Ferguson, though, will trust that the additions of Heinze, Smith and Liam Miller to his squad, along with the return of Ferdinand next month, will result in an improvement on an alarmingly mediocre season. Smith's pre-season form and Miller's display when he came on against Dinamo Bucharest on Wednesday night will be a source of encouragement.
And what of Liverpool? Relief, perhaps, when Gerard Houllier departed; uncertainty about the new man, Rafael Benitez's, merits, ; excitement about Djibril Cisse's potential; joy when Steven Gerrard decided to stay; bewilderment at Michael Owen's departure to Real Madrid. A roller-coaster of a pre-season, then. Liverpool supporters will hope that the season itself runs a little smoother and, while they won't expect instant miracles from Benitez, they will assume that he can least ensure a narrowing of the humiliating 30-point gap that separated them from Arsenal at the end of last season.
A seeming worsening of relations between Bobby Robson and Alan Shearer hasn't raised pre-season spirits at Newcastle, nor has several first-team players being struck by conjunctivitis, but the arrivals of Patrick Kluivert, Stephen Carr, James Milner and Nicky Butt have strengthened a squad that was too thin to cope last season with injuries to Jonathan Woodgate, Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy, amongst others.
Aston Villa, Charlton and Middlesbrough, sixth, seventh and 11th last season, should be strong enough to finish in the top 10, although David O'Leary really could have done with a few more bob to spend. He's still chasing another striker (no joy so far in the pursuit of James Beattie) but the promising Carlton Cole has, at least, arrived on loan from Chelsea to give Juan Pablo Angel a hand up front. Dennis Rommedahl, Danny Murphy and Francis Jeffers should strengthen Charlton while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka might just make Middlesbrough less timid in front of goal.
Sean Davis (from Fulham) and Nourredine Naybet (from Deportivo) should add some desperately needed steel to Spurs, now managed by Jacques Santini, while Paul Robinson's arrival from Leeds means they have one of the best young goalkeepers in England.
Their pre-season has been less than impressive, though, not helped by Robbie Keane's injury, but they must surely improve on their 14th finish last season.
Birmingham might struggle to improve on a commendable 10th-place finish last time around - much will depend on the new attacking partnership of Mikael Forssell and Emile Heskey - while, although their summer shopping hasn't inspired, Blackburn should surely have enough about them to better last season's dismal form (15th).
Manchester City? God knows. If Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright-Phillips stay, and if Robbie Fowler wakes from his slumber, they might just survive, but it's usually all or nothing with Kevin Keegan's teams - a relegation battle, then, or comfortable UEFA Cup qualification, take your pick.
Mid-table comfort for Bolton, Fulham and Southampton? Possibly. Relegation-battling woes for Everton, Portsmouth, Palace, Norwich and West Brom? Probably.
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