THE start of a new Premier League season represents, in many ways, the land of the unknown, especially for commentators. New players to identify, fresh coaching ideas and a clean slate. Everyone begins on the same points mark.

This year there is the added factor of an earlier end of transfer window, namely Thursday night.

Inevitably, once the campaign kicks off on Friday with Manchester United against Leicester City at Old Trafford, the various teams will quickly coalesce into groups. In other words, those who can compete for the title and European places, and the rest.

It is not difficult to predict that the top six will likely be identical to last season’s elite half dozen. Similarly, anyone making a case against defending champions Manchester City does so against the tide of current football reality. In last week’s column, I backed Liverpool to push City all the way but it will undoubtedly take a colossal effort to dethrone Pep Guardiola’s stylish squad.

The strong have got even stronger with the arrival of Riyad Mahrez for more than £61 million from Leicester. If City are vulnerable at all, it might be in the first few weeks of the season, purely because of the World Cup factor. Sixteen of the Spanish coach's players were with their respective squads in Russia.

It will be something of a scramble to get the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus, active at the business end of the tournament, into perfect match sharpness in time for a potentially testing opener away to Arsenal.

City are imperious when it comes to outplaying and beating the lower-ranked teams in the Premier League. They can afford the odd slip-up against the better-placed sides without it damaging their overall title defence.

As previously stated, Liverpool, fuelled by an effective summer of transfer activity, look to me like the team best equipped to give City a run. As for Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal, it promises to be intriguing.

Jose Mourinho endeared himself to very few observers – even United fans – last season, wearing a pronounced sulk on his face. This is Mourinho's third season at the club and three is often the end of the line for him and his employers. As it stands, there is considerable uncertainty about the make-up of his team to face Leicester due to the World Cup, injuries and the potential for additional signings to go with the impressive Fred and Diogo Dalot.

The three London high-flyers have interesting narratives surrounding them. Tottenham bring the promise of excitement in a new stadium with the core of the England squad that finished fourth in Russia. Will Spurs do much better than fourth place in the Premier League this season without delving significantly into the transfer market? It will be a challenge, although Mauricio Pochettino's continued commitment to youth is commendable and makes you want him to succeed.

Chelsea and Arsenal have recently installed managers from the continent who ought to enhance the English game. Maurizio Sarri is an outsider in a game of safe bets. Think of Chelsea and you think of pragmatism and more prosaic qualities. Sarri prefers poetry and so look for Chelsea to entertain whether they win or lose.

Unai Emery at Arsenal might be less inclined to take a gamble tactically, but I feel he has been slightly misrepresented in the aftermath of his spring unveiling. I like Arsenal's summer signings, too, especially that of the Uruguayan Lucas Torreira, a busy and constructive midfield player. Sokratis Papastathopoulos will give an often porous defence much-needed know-how.

To be honest, the rest of the table could appear in any order. Burnley were seventh last season on the strength of a watertight defence, an astute manager and making a little go a very long way. But it would be no surprise to see them toil in the lower half this time.

Newcastle and West Ham are teams that strike me as relegation candidates before pausing to consider the men holding the reins at two of England's old-school clubs. Ask any Newcastle fan and they will tell you how highly they rate Rafa Benitez. The work he has done with limited resources and an unpopular owner has only cemented the Spaniard's strong reputation in Premier League circles.

Manuel Pellegrini, who has succeeded David Moyes at West Ham, is another canny operator. Unlike Benitez, he has been backed in a way his predecessors were not, so far anyway. Felipe Anderson, Issa Diop and Andriy Yarmolenko are the big-money acquisitions but the best of the bunch might turn out to be goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianksi, who served Swansea so well before relegation struck.

I must also applaud Brighton for going out and getting Iranian winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh from AZ Alkmaar. The left-footed player often operating on the right turns 25 when Chris Hughton's side travel to Watford on Saturday. Jahanbakhsh was top-scorer in the Eredivisie last season before representing Iran at the World Cup.

He is entitled to a few weeks to get to grips with his new footballing country but has always had to do things the hard way from the second division in Iran to its equivalent in the Netherlands.

On with the big show then, but expect a few initial surprises as some teams click into post-World Cup gear more adroitly than others.

I HAVE mentioned in this space before one of my new roles as Champions League and Europa League commentator for FIFA 19, the most popular sports video game in the world. Anyone with children who tick the football-fan box will know of the game's reach. Indeed “FIFA” for that particular demographic has little to do with Gianni Infantino, Zurich or blazers.

Last week in Los Angeles, we recorded the final segments of match commentary ahead of the game's launch at the end of September.

Since EA Sports released a new trailer, I have had many questions about how the voice aspect of FIFA 19 is produced. Thankfully, we are in very good hands working with a talented team of people who have been doing this for years. For the 2019 edition it has involved more than 20 studio days compiling an extensive Champions and Europa League soundtrack.

Rather than just reading a script, producer Santi Jaramillo and the creative team give me and co-commentator, Lee Dixon, freedom to use our own words and turns of phrase in line with match scenarios.

Recently I spent a lot of time on hundreds of player names in various different inflections: low, in a shooting position; high, ahead of a goal, etc. Now you might think that is straightforward, but consider that we do more than just talk about big, established stars. That means researching scores of unfamiliar names for the correct pronunciation.

To be honest, the homework part of the equation is tremendous fun and immensely challenging in a positive way. The whole game project represents a collaboration and I am in awe of how lifelike the end product is, thanks to the skills of the production and technical team in Vancouver.