The 17th Premier League campaign in England kicks off this afternoon with its usual dose of euphoria. Fans are always eager for a new season to start and the 2008/09 will have extra ingredients following the attractive transfers that materialised and are set to be concluded until the end of the month.

The FA Premier League was launched in 1992-93 and from the original number of 22 clubs only seven played in the top flight for 16 successive seasons. The ever presents are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham.

On the opening of the 17th campaign this is how the seven stand with regards to their first outing in every season: Arsenal (P16, W10, D3, L3, Pts 33); Man. United (P16, W10, D3, L3, Pts 33); Liverpool (P16, W9, D5, L2, Pts 32); Chelsea (P16, W9, D4, L3, Pts 31); Everton (P16, W5, D6, L5, Pts 21); Tottenham (P16, W5, D5, L6, Pts 20); Aston Villa (P16, W4, D7, L5, Pts 19).

United and Arsenal are the only sides to gather an average of more than two points per game, while Liverpool have suffered the least defeats, going down twice in 16 first-fixture outings.

The 'relentless seven' have lost a total of 27 Premier League matches in their first commitment of the season that read as follows:

1992-93: Arsenal-Norwich 2-4; Chelsea-Blackburn 1-2; Nottm Forest-Liverpool 1-0; Sheffield United-Manchester United 2-1.

1993-94: Arsenal-Coventry 0-3.

1995-96: Aston Villa-Manchester United 3-1.

1996-97: Sheffield Wednesday-Aston Villa 2-1.

1997-98: Leicester-Aston Villa 1-0; Coventry-Chelsea 3-2; Everton-Crystal Palace 1-2; Tottenham-Manchester United 0-2.

1998-99: Coventry-Chelsea 2-1; Wimbledon-Tottenham 3-1.

1999-00: West Ham-Tottenham 1-0.

2000-01: Sunderland-Arsenal 1-0; Leeds-Everton 2-0.

2002-03: Aston Villa-Liverpool 0-1.

2003-04: Arsenal-Everton 2-1; Birmingham-Tottenham Hotspur 1-0; Liverpool-Chelsea 1-2; Portsmouth-Aston Villa 2-1.

2004-05: Chelsea-Manchester United 1-0; Everton-Arsenal 1-4.

2005-06: Everton-Manchester United 0-2.

2006-07: Bolton-Tottenham 2-0.

2007-08: Aston Villa-Liverpool 1-2; Sunderland-Tottenham 1-0.

Top four

Last season's top four - Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool - are favourites to claim another Champions League berth next year.

In the transfer market it has been a difficult time so far for Arsenal but there is still time till the closing of the window that will come on the last day of this month.

Last season, many critics thought Arsenal will lose their place in the top four but Arsene Wenger's team gave champions United a good run for their money and only faded in the final phase.

United sorely missed Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in the Community Shield match against Portsmouth which they won after a penalty shoot-out. Alex Ferguson is set to strengthen his attacking department this month with his first real signing of the summer.

Chelsea will not face the early mishaps of last season with the changing of management when Avram Grant came in for the sacked Jose Mourinho. This time they have put their fortunes in the hands of Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, who left the Portugal national side to take over at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea retained all their star players and even Frank Lampard decided to stay put after he was linked with his former boss Mourinho at Inter.

Liverpool's Rafael Benitez has been at loggerheads with club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett over the signing of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. At first, the American duo said they will hand in the cash but now they are backing away from their promise, saying Barry is not worth £18m.

Benitez, meanwhile, signed Robbie Keane from Tottenham. The Spanish manager said he now has the best squad since he arrived at Anfield. The fans are hoping that the team will be more reliable to give a good challenge for the championship crown.

The others

The Tottenham fans, who can see more activity of comings and goings at White Hart Lane, will look at Spanish boss Juande Ramos as the man who can steer the side into the top four and a berth in the Champions League for the first time in their history. This will be his first full season after leading the team to League Cup glory in 2007/08.

Aston Villa (if they can hold on to Barry), Everton (need to strengthen side after the loss of Andy Johnson), Manchester City (Mark Hughes has a big burden to overshadow neighbours United) and Portsmouth (need to bolster their defensive lines and be more adventurous upfront) will be the main clubs to challenge for UEFA Cup places and a force to reckon with in the two domestic cups.

There are many questions that need to be answered for the rest of the division.

Paul Ince, in his managerial debut in the Premiership, will find the going tough at Blackburn and so will other newcomers Phil Brown, of Hull, Tony Pulis, of Stoke, and West Brom's Tony Mowbray.

Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland will aspire to finish in the top half of the classification. Roy Keane appears to be the most equipped at Sunderland for this challenge while the other two need to bolster their squads, particularly Middlesbrough.

And, who will finish in the drop zone?

The punters have not been generous with the promoted trio and in their books they have pencilled Hull, Stoke and West Brom to return to the Championship come May.