ARSENAL
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Last season: 2nd
Key player: Mesut Ozil
Rising star: Hector Bellerin
Key signing: Granit Xhaka (£35m from Borussia Monchengladbach)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Wenger absolutely trusts his men and gives them the freedom to express themselves. On their day, the Gunners play some of the prettiest football in the EPL. But it is also shown that when midfield enforcer Francis Coquelin is out of the team, Arsenal concede 50 per cent more shots.
BOURNEMOUTH
Manager: Eddie Howe
Last season: 16th
Key player: Callum Wilson
Rising star: Jordon Ibe
Key signing: Jordon Ibe (£15m from Liverpool)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Howe has built a hungry team, signing young players like Lewis Cook (19), Lys Mousset (20), Brad Smith (22) and Ibe (20) and the team will buzz with energy in attack. But the manager will want to tighten up the EPL's second-worst defence, which conceded 67 goals last season.
BURNLEY
Manager: Sean Dyche
Last season: Promoted as Championship winners
Key player: George Boyd
Rising star: Andre Gray
Key signing: Johann Berg Gudmunsson (£2.5m from Charlton)
Formation: 4-4-1-1
The Clarets have not been very active in the market and have a dangerously thin squad to compete against the cream of the EPL, although they make up for it with a lot of heart. Still, there are fears that they will be relegated, although they will go down heroically.
CHELSEA
Manager: Antonio Conte
Last season: 10th
Key player: Willian
Rising star: Kenedy
Key signing: N'Golo Kante (£30m from Leicester)
Formation: 4-2-4, 4-3-3, 3-5-2
Conte is tactically astute and is flexible enough to deploy various formations to neutralise different opponents. And the no-nonsense Italian will not tolerate the player-power issues that dominated last season.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Manager: Alan Pardew
Last season: 15th
Key player: Scott Dann
Rising star: Wilfried Zaha
Key signing: Andros Townsend (£13m from Newcastle)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Exciting wing play from Zaha and Yannick Bolasie (if the Eagles can hang on to him) gives Palace real penetration. But as their FA Cup exertions last season showed (they lost to Manchester United in the final and slumped from fifth to 15th), they can be distracted.
EVERTON
Manager: Ronald Koeman
Last season: 11th
Key player: Romelu Lukaku
Rising star: Brendan Galloway
Key signing: Ashley Williams (£12m from Swansea)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Koeman over-achieved at a Southampton side with a limited budget but he has yet to splash the cash despite new Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri's wealth and the record sale of John Stones. It will be interesting to see how the Dutchman rebuilds the ailing squad.
HULL CITY
Manager: Vacant
Last season: 4th in Championship (promoted via play-offs)
Key player: Abel Hernandez
Rising star: Will Mannion
Key signing: Will Mannion (Wimbledon, tribunal)
Formation: 4-4-2
After winning the play-offs to reach the EPL, Steve Bruce resigned as manager, as frustration over a lack of investment reached a boiling point. The Tigers have yet to appoint a replacement and it all spells doom and gloom.
LEICESTER CITY
Manager: Claudio Ranieri
Last season: 1st
Key player: Riyad Mahrez
Rising star: Ben Chilwell
Key signing: Ahmed Musa (£18m from CSKA Moscow)
Formation: 4-4-2
Ranieri has already won one battle as he has repelled most of the vultures circling around his squad, losing only N'Golo Kante but the big clubs will continue to seduce Mahrez. Another factor is whether the Foxes are still as motivated now that the largest clubs have spent big to dethrone them.
LIVERPOOL
Manager: Jurgen Klopp
Last season: 8th
Key player: Philippe Coutinho
Rising star: Marko Grujic
Key signing: Sadio Mane (£30m from Southampton)
Formation: 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1
For a change, the Reds have not sold a key player and Klopp has a full pre-season to boost his men's fitness to execute his intensive pressing style. Liverpool have showed they can beat anyone on their day, but they can slip up against the likes of West Ham and Crystal Palace as well.
MANCHESTER CITY
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Last season: 4th
Key player: Sergio Aguero
Rising star: Kelechi Iheanacho
Key signing: John Stones (£47.5m from Everton)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Guardiola wants his teams to play with style and his signing of Stones, Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan are men who typify his purist ideals. But this is the kick and rush world of EPL, so even the best coach in the world must adapt.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Manager: Jose Mourinho
Last season: 5th
Key player: Paul Pogba
Rising star: Marcus Rashford
Key signing: Paul Pogba (£89m from Juventus)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Since his appointment on May 27, Mourinho has quickly built a team in his image - tough, lots of character, talented but pragmatic. The Red Devils have made great signings in Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and are potential champions.
MIDDLESBROUGH
Manager: Aitor Karanka
Last season: 2nd in Championship (promoted automatically)
Key player: Jordan Rhodes
Rising star: Daniel Ayala
Key signing: Alvaro Negredo (on loan from Valencia)
Formation: 4-1-2-3
Karanka has picked up some great bargains in former Barcelona goalie Victor Valdes and burly hit-man Negredo to give Boro a better chance to stay up. But the Spaniard has a strained relationship with his senior players and that could spell disaster.
SOUTHAMPTON
Manager: Claude Puel
Last season: 6th
Key player: Fraser Forster
Rising star: James Ward-Prowse
Key signing: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£12m from Bayern Munich)
Formation: 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3
The Saints continue to be organ donors to the rich but they can defy the odds again, especially as Puel is known to be a master at team-building and grooming youngsters. It will be a season of transition but Southampton should be safe.
STOKE
Manager: Mark Hughes
Last season: 9th
Key player: Ryan Shawcross
Rising star: Xherdan Shaqiri
Key signing: Joe Allen (£13m from Liverpool)
Formation: 4-2-1-3
Hughes' transformation of the Potters from direct-ball bruisers to a bruising tiki-taka team continues with the acquisition of passing-machine Allen. And the manager is unlikely to switch from an attack-minded system featuring nimble and mobile forwards.
SUNDERLAND
Manager: David Moyes
Last season: 17th
Key player: Jermain Defoe
Rising star: Wahbi Khazri
Key signing: Papy Djilobodji (£8m from Chelsea)
Formation: 4-1-3-2
Staying up was a big success but Sam Allardyce has gone on to manage England. Moyes has not thrilled the fans with his low-key signings, the thrills will come later if they beat relegation on the final day.
SWANSEA
Manager: Francesco Guidolin
Last season: 12th
Key player: Gylfi Sigurdsson
Rising star: Jordi Amat
Key signing: Fernando Llorente (Sevilla, undisclosed)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
After finishing last season strongly, the Swans had been gutted with captain Ashley Williams and key forward Andre Ayew both sold. Both players typified the club's ethos of teamwork sprinkled with some flair and without them, they look set to struggle.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Manager: Mauricio Pochettino
Last season: 3rd
Key player: Harry Kane
Rising star: Dele Alli
Key signing: Vincent Janssen (£18.5m from AZ Alkmaar)
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Last season was a massive opportunity lost, as Spurs slipped to third after a two-horse title race. With rival clubs appointing top managers and signing world-class players, Tottenham might be crowded out of the top four this time.
WATFORD
Manager: Walter Mazzarri
Last season: 13th
Key player: Odion Ighalo
Rising star: Sean Murray
Key signing: Isaac Success (£12m from Granada)
Formation: 4-4-2
Life continues to be unpredictable at Vicarage Road. Even a decent 13th-place finish could not save Quique Sanches Flores' job and Mazzarri, the man credited for reviving Napoli, will need to do better than that with a less-stellar cast.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Manager: Tony Pulis
Last season: 14th
Key player: Saido Berahino
Rising star: Matt Phillips
Key signing: Matt Phillips (£5.5m from Queens Park Rangers)
Formation: 4-4-2
Rock-solid and no-nonsense under Tony Pulis, who has a proud record of never getting relegated, the Baggies' Achilles' heel is an impotent strike force that yielded just 34 goals last season, the second lowest in the league.
WEST HAM UNITED
Manager: Slaven Bilic
Last season: 7th
Key player: Dimitri Payet
Rising star: Reece Oxford
Key signing: Andre Ayew (£20m from Swansea)
Formation: 4-3-1-2
With the big move to London's Olympic Stadium, the Hammers are under pressure to deliver to keep the crowds coming. But Bilic has assembled an entertaining side starring Payet, Sofiane Feghouli and Ayew. When all else fails, there's always Andy Carroll.