Sheffield Wed

Last season: 12th.

There has been some criticism of Wednesday's tight-fisted approach to the transfer market in recent years. However, Danny Wilson's new signings Simon Donnelly and Phil O'Donnell are both decent players, Gerald Sibon is a skilful operator, while Gilles de Bilde possesses power and determination, both of which are required up front. The almost certain loss of Benito Carbone to Chelsea, though, would be a considerable loss.

Derby

Last season: Eighth.

Having established Derby as solid mid-table material, Jim Smith did particularly well to get them in amongst some of the big names last season. The manager's reputation for giving young players a chance to prove themselves in the first team helped him to land Seth Johnson for £3 million, but County are another club who seem to be striving to stand still. With their current squad it's impossible to see them threatened by relegation, but almost as hard to see them achieving anything other than a good cup run.

Leicester

Last season: 10th.

More of the same at Filbert Street. While Martin O'Neill should at one point have been commended for his loyalty, he should now perhaps be ridiculed for his lack of ambition. Persuading Emile Heskey to stay was a good day's work for the Irishman, as was signing Blackburn's disaffected goalkeeper Tim Flowers, but there are too many glaring weaknesses in the side for City to do more than play bit parts in other people's dramas.

Wimbledon

Last season: 16th.

The shafting of Joe Kinnear at the end of last season followed by the long-anticipated arrival of Egil Olsen initially suggested a desire to shake off the club's "plucky underdog" image. However, everything that has happened since indicates that the Norweigan will simply continue where his predecessor left off. A couple of Scandinavian players have been brought in and a couple of locals have arrived from Luton, but the loss of Chris Perry to Spurs looks to be the most significant transfer at the club.

Sunderland

Last: Div 1 champions.

There was brave talk at the Stadium of Light about the players that might be brought in over the summer to bolster Sunderland's first campaign back in the Premiership, but in the event the off-season has been surprisingly quiet around the club. Schwarz is a good buy, Helmer an excellent one, and Bould a useful one, but the loss of Lee Clark due to the player's buffoonery is a setback while the departure of Michael Bridges would have been a decent enough move if the money had been reinvested.

Coventry

Last season: 15th.

Last year was a bit of a mess for Gordon Strachan's side who were supposed to be well past the annual escape act stage after several seasons of heavy investment in players. Still, they stayed up and have brought in four players from overseas in the hope of doing it a little more comfortably this time out. Hadji is comfortably the most exciting and if he clicks then he will make an major impact on the Premiership. The return of Phil Babb would help things at the back, but as it stands it looks like yet another year of building for the future.

Everton

Last season: 14th.

The current cover of When Saturday Comes pictures a grinning Dave Jones expressing his relief that Bradford's presence in the top flight means another team will finish below Southampton, but Everton might just be the real beneficiaries of the "thank God there's three even worse than us" syndrome. After just managing to avoid relegation by a whisker for the last two seasons, and selling £16 million worth of players, they should go down - but may just escape.

Southampton

Last season: 17th.

Southampton have made fools of quite a few pundits over the years, but it looks more difficult than ever to see how Dave Jones is going to guide them to safety this season. Jones bought very well initially, but seems to have lost the knack since and there is nothing to suggest that he has particularly improved things over the summer. The loss of Ken Monkou seems foolish given the rather small amount of money that his wage dispute boiled down to, but the arrival of Richards should cancel that out.

Watford

Last: Play-off winners.

About the only thing going for Watford is the fact that manager Graham Taylor has been there and done it all before. When he was last a Premiership boss Taylor specialised in making silk purses out of sows' ears, but things may have moved on a little too much for the former England boss in the meantime. Watford may survive for a year, but his squad looks far too thin to do much more than that.

Bradford City

Last: Runners up, div 1.

It has proven to be a lethal combination over the past couple of seasons - a promoted team overseen by an inexperienced manager. And so it will almost certainly prove to be for Bradford who will surely win many more hearts than games in the top flight. Paul Jewell has actually shown himself to be adept at spending his terribly limited resources, with Wetherall, Myers, Halle and Redfearn all looking to be decent buys, but it's hard to imagine then beating any of the better teams or being cut out for the scrap with the weaker ones.