Man City & Man Utd’s new goakeepers, Alexander Isak’s Liverpool debut & six huge storylines to watch out for as Premier League season begins in earnest

Chelsea may well be regretting their decision to pass up on the chance to sign Simons, with their own attacking talisman struggling with his fitness in the early stages of the new campaign. Cole Palmer has missed the last two league games and England’s World Cup qualifiers this month with a niggling groin injury.

The Blues face a tricky trip to west London neighbours Brentford on Saturday evening, and it’s still unclear whether their key man will be available having seemingly only just returned to training despite being afforded extended time off during the international break.

“Cole took part in a session yesterday for the first time – but not the entire session,” head coach Enzo Maresca said in his pre-match press conference. “Today [Friday] in the afternoon, we have one more session, and we are going to try with him if he is OK. Otherwise, he will be out tomorrow again.

“He had an injury. He has recovered from the injury. So, it’s not managing him; it’s recovering from the injury. From the moment he is available, we have to think about how to manage him a little bit because of the amount of games [we have coming].”