Fulham



Players In: Diomansy Kamara (West Brom, £6m), Aaron Hughes (Aston Villa, £1m), Steven Davis (Aston Villa, undisclosed), Chris Baird (Southampton, £3.025m), David Healy (£1.5m), Paul Konchesky (£2m), Lee Cook (QPR, undisclosed) Hameur Bouazza (Watford, undisclosed).

Players Out: Claus Jensen (released), Mark Pembridge (released), Tomasz Radzinski (released), Mark Crossley (released, now at Oldham), Michael Brown (Wigan, undisclosed), Franck Queudrue (Birmingham, £2.5m).

Fulham have spent heavily this summer compared to seasons past, with Chairman Mohammed Al Fayed backing Lawrie Sanchez in his first Premiership managerial appointment.

Sanchez has a point to prove and has largely signed players he has worked with before in his previous position as Northern Ireland manager.

One may question the quality in his signings, but Sanchez has proved before that he knows how the get the best out of players, and although they won’t set the Premiership alight, I expect Fulham to comfortably survive relegation.

Prediction: 15th
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Liverpool



Players In: Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, undisclosed), Lucas Leiva (Gremio, undisclosed), Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao, £270,000), Nikolay Mihaylov (Levski Sofia, undisclosed), Krisztian Nemeth (MTK Budapest, undisclosed), Andras Simon (MTK Budapest, undisclosed), Andriy Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen, free), Dani Pacheco (Barcelona, £350,000), Alex Kacaniklic (Helsingborg, undisclosed), Marvin Purie (Borussia Dortmund, undisclosed), Gary Mackay Stevens (Ross County, undisclosed), Yossi Benayoun (West Ham, £5m), Ryan Babel (Ajax, £11.5m).

Players Out: Djibril Cisse (Marseille, £6m), Craig Bellamy (West Ham, £7.5m), Luis Garcia (Atletico Madrid, undisclosed), Florent Sinama Pongolle (Recreativo Huelva, £2m), Danny Guthrie (Bolton, loan), Robbie Fowler (Cardiff, free), Jerzy Dudek (Real Madrid, free), Boudewijn Zenden (Marseille, free), Mark Gonzalez (Real Betis, undisclosed).

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has shipped out the remaining dead wood at the club and has signed players in Torres and Babel that can really help to take the club to the next level.

They have been criticised in the past for their defensive style, so by adding pace up front and more options out wide, Benitez looks all set to send his team out onto the field which a much more attacking look this season.

Whilst I expect Liverpool to cut the gap to Manchester United and Chelsea at the top of the league, I don’t think they are quite there yet, but with their focus on signing promising young players, they will be a force to be reckoned with for many years yet.

Prediction: 3rd
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Manchester City



Transfers In: Geovanni (Cruzeiro, free), Rolando Bianchi (Reggina, £8.8m), Gelson Fernandes (FC Sion, undisclosed), Martin Petrov (Atletico Madrid, £4.7m), Javier Garrido (Real Sociedad, £1.5m), Vedran Corluka (Dinamo Zagreb, undisclosed), Elano (Shakhtar Donetsk, £8m), Valeri Bojinov (Fiorentina, undisclosed).

Transfers Out: Sylvain Distin (Portsmouth, free), Trevor Sinclair (Cardiff, free), Stephen Jordan (Burnley, free), Hatem Trabelsi (released), Joey Barton (Newcastle, £5.8m), Nicky Weaver (Charlton, free).

The Transfers In part of Manchester City’s preview will probably be completely out of date by the time this is published, simply because the rate at which new manager Sven Goran Erikkson is welcoming new faces to the club is quite astonishing. Their new Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra is certainly not scared to flash the cash.

The eight players signed so far will rectify most of the complaints City fans had with their team last season, notably a lack of pace and finishing ability up front, and a lack of creative midfielders to supply the strikers that they did have.

Martin Petrov, along with Brazilian duo Geovanni and Elano, will provide a quality supply to the new forward line of Rolando Bianchi and Valeri Bojinov, which should see City score plenty of goals this season.

With the signings all coming so late in the day, it will take time to them to gel into a team, which will adversely effect their league position come the end of the season. A slot just outside of the UEFA Cup places looks most likely.

Prediction: 9th
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Manchester United



Transfers In: Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich, £17m), Anderson (Porto, undisclosed), Nani (Sporting Lisbon, undisclosed), Tomasz Kuszczak (West Brom, undisclosed), Carlos Tevez.

Transfers Out: Kieran Richardson (Sunderland, £5.5m), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal, undisclosed), Alan Smith (Newcastle, £6m).

Alex Ferguson’s United reclaimed their Premiership crown last seasons, showcasing some stunning attacking football along the way.
This summer Ferguson has added two special young talents in Nani and Anderson, which should give him plenty of options off the bench if things aren’t going their way.

He has also added Owen Hargreaves, who will sit in front of the back four and allow the more creative midfield players ahead of them to do their thing.

The signing of Carlos Tevez will cause many raised eyebrows, simply because he seems to be very similar to Wayne Rooney. In fact, the signing of Tevez will allow United’s ever rotating forward line to cause opposition defences even more problems with their movement and could turn out to be an inspired signing come the end of the season.

I expect United to retain their crown, although it will be another colossal battle between them and Chelsea.

Prediction: 1st