We are only a couple of days away now from Southampton kicking off their brand-new Championship season on the road at Watford.
Saints fans will be travelling in their masses to the capital, expecting an opening day win at Vicarage Road, with Tonda Eckert closing off the last regular season - even if it ended with the Spygate controversy - by going unbeaten across 19 matches.
The South Coast giants were professional on the road in the EFL Cup this weekend just gone, to get their wider campaign off on a positive note, as Cyle Larin and Romeo Akachukwu scored the decisive goals to hand the Saints a hard-fought 2-0 win against Colchester United.
Now, it's all about the Championship, with the Hornets, Stoke City, and Millwall the trio of second tier opponents falling on the calendar for August.
The ultimate aim will be to win promotion, after having their hopes dashed so cruelly last season, and Danny Cowley, when speaking after Colchester's 2-0 loss to the Saints, was very complimentary of Eckert and Co when discussing their top-flight credentials.
Cowley's complimentary words
Cowley is a seasoned EFL manager, having managed the likes of Lincoln City, Portsmouth and Huddersfield Town previously, alongside being the current boss of the League Two side.
He has observed his fair share of teams over the years, therefore, so he is likely knows a top-drawer EFL team when he sees it, and he believes that Southampton are Premier League bound, when assessing the Saints' professional display at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Cowley glowingly said, at the full time whistle: "I think they’ve got Premier League players, they look a Premier League team to me.If you finish above them, you’re going to have a very good season for sure."
Southampton supporters would agree that their side has some top-flight calibre players, with Daniel Peretz previously playing in the Champions League for Bayern Munich, while Larin is trying to be fit for the start of the second tier season, after competing in the World Cup with Canada.
With Divin Mubama also now joining, who is a highly rated youngster at Manchester City, it does feel like everything is slotting together nicely for Southampton to finally break back into the big time.
It will be easier said than done, though, to achieve this lofty goal, as the Championship next season will be a tough beast to conquer.
It will be difficult to win promotion
Indeed, both West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers will come down with the bit between their teeth to immediately return.
With both clubs also landing the likes of Raul Jimenez and Manor Solomon, to name just a few eye-catching signings, they will want to be in the automatic promotion spots, ahead of a confident Southampton side.
Middlesbrough have further broken the bank to try and gatecrash these two top spots, after suffering their own Spygate heartbreak, with Will Lankshear once on the South Coast outfit's transfer agenda.
The highly rated youngster is already off the mark for Boro, with the Teesside giants going all out for automatic promotion glory from minute one of the new season starting.
Southampton will still fancy their chances of returning to the top-flight, though, as Cowley is correct to say there are several Premier League capable players present.
Bruised from their Spygate ordeal, too, there will be a real siege mentality in the camp to shut their vocal critics up.
The Saints will need to live up to all the positive talk coming their way when Sunday rolls around, instead of just being tipped for greatness and then falling short, as they play Watford with a real hunger to immediately wipe their four point deduction clean.
Add us as a preferred source on Google