The last few seconds of last season’s Premier League campaign will still resonate clearly in the minds of football fans all over the world. The now immortal commentary, as Sergio Aguero smashed the ball into the back of the net with virtually the last kick of the 2011/12 Premier League to seal the title for Manchester City on the final day of the season last May, rings clearly in the ears today as it did in those final few, thrilling, seconds of last season’s campaign .

The reigning champions, Manchester City, have been unusually quiet this summer. Roberto Mancini has expressed his frustration with the lack of movement on the transfers front. Brian Marwood in particular has earned the ire of the Italian who has insisted that reinforcements are sorely needed if City are to successfully defend their new crown. With or without reinforcements though, the Citizens still boast arguably the deepest squad with the most quality, ensuring their place as one of the undoubted favourites this season.

Realistically, one can only see Manchester United and Chelsea as City’s two main rivals. Chelsea endured a disappointing domestic campaign, but one that still culminated in Champions League glory. The European champions have returned to their aggressive ways in the transfer market, signing several exciting prospects, most notably Eden Hazard and Oscar, though the loss of Didier Drogba, so often Chelsea’s saviour, could be a big one for Roberto Di Matteo.

United on the other hand have also strengthened, despite missing out on a number of big transfer targets this season, most notably Eden Hazard and Lucas Moura. Despite that, Shinji Kagawa is a welcome addition for Sir Alex, as he plots his Premier League revenge, with the Japanese international impressing in pre-season. A fit Nemanja Vidic, the return of Tom Cleverley and Anderson too have strengthened the United squad, whilst United’s pursuit of Robin Van Persie could further strengthen the club’s already impressive attacking stocks.

The battle for fourth should be one fought out by the usual contenders. Arsenal, could launch themselves into the Premier League title race with the welcome additions of Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, even without Robin Van Persie, should he leave the club. A weaker defence means a sustained title challenge remains unlikely, but Wenger can be pleased with his side's preparations to date.

Tottenham and Newcastle will once more provide an interesting challenge to the established order in the Premier League. Though neither will expect to really make a play for the Premier League title, they will know that they have a very big say in who will win the title, whilst they will both recognize their potential for Champions League qualification. Tottenham in fact finished fourth last season, only to be denied by Chelsea’s triumph in Munich, whilst Newcastle’s improvement last season was one of the great football stories of the year, but the greater challenge for the Tyneside outfit, who have signed young Australian Curtis Good on a six-year deal, will be to repeat the feat.

For Liverpool, the upcoming season is perhaps the most important for some time. That might be a statement you could have applied to any of the last five or so, but it seems particularly true this time around. The League Cup represented a welcome, if brief, return to winning ways for the legendary club, but it was not enough to save Kenny Dalglish. The club’s American owners have backed Brendan Rodgers as the right man to lead the club forward into a new, hopefully more successful era, and they will be desperate for the new manager to get off to a good start as they hope to win over the vocal Anfield support. A slow summer thus far has only seen Fabio Borini and Joe Allen added to a squad that finished 8th last season. Rodgers will be hoping when the action start, his Liverpool revolution is much faster to take off on the pitch than off it.

On the other side of the Mersey, David Moyes will be plotting his next mini-miracle, as he looks to match, or indeed better, last season’s effort which saw them finish 7th. The off-season has been something of a good one for Moyes. The aging Socceroo and Evertonian legend Tim Cahill has departed the club, whilst Jack Rodwell has left for Manchester City, but otherwise, Moyes’ squad remains untouched. The retention of the likes of Baines, Fellaini and Jelavic, as well as the permanent signing of Pienaar mean Moyes can look ahead with great optimism.

At the other end of the equation, this season’s promoted teams will be looking to achieve similar results to those promoted last time around. All three of Norwich, Queens Park Rangers and Swansea retained their Premier League status, and it is a feat that West Ham, Southampton and Reading. Last season, Norwich and Swansea excelled with squads that had little added to the ones that achieved promotion and it was a faith that paid massive dividends, as both clubs comfortably avoided relegation.

For the most part, it seems Reading and Southampton will be adopting similar approaches, perhaps through necessity as much as anything, though West Ham have made a number of astute signings, most notably Alou Diarra, James Collins and Modibo Maiga from Sochaux in France.

Last year’s trio of promoted sides will look to improve on last season’s effort, though both Norwich and Swansea have seen their managers depart for other clubs. With Brendan Rodgers moving to Liverpool and Paul Lambert moving to Aston Villa, both sides will hope that the new men in charge, Michael Laudrup at Swansea and Chris Hughton at Norwich can continue the work of their predecessors in establishing their sides as Premier League regulars.

Queens Park Rangers have bolstered their squad, with Mark Hughes looking to survive in the Premier League once more, though more comfortably than the way in which it was achieved last season. Park Ji-Sung has arrived from Manchester United, whilst further additions are expected. William Gallas is the latest to be linked with the London outfit.

Socceroo Brett Holman will be looking to make a profound impact on the Premier League, as he embarks on his first season in the English game, having been signed by Aston Villa. Holman will officially go down as a Alex McLeish signing, but it is perhaps a blessing in disguise that the man who signed him is no longer in charge. Paul Lambert will look to play a much more attacking style of football, that will surely suit the Aussie’s game to a tee, as has been seen in Villa’s pre-season campaign, in which Holman has impressed. Lambert will certainly be hoping for big things from Holman, as he looks to make a marked improvement on Villa’s last campaign which saw them finish dangerously close to the relegation zone.

At Sunderland, Martin O’Neil will be hoping that a full off-season with his side will allow him to take the club above and beyond last season’s respectable 13th place finish last time around. It’s been a quiet summer for the Black Cats, with only Carlos Cuellar arriving from Aston Villa.

Wigan remain in the Premier League after more end of season heroics last season, and Roberto Martinez will hope for a similar finish this season, though perhaps without so much drama, as he fights to keep the Lancashire outfit in the top flight.

Tony Pulis will hope to extend Stoke’s stay in the top flight as well. Pulis has won few admirers for Stoke’s distinctive brand of competitive football, but he seems unperturbed by criticisms of his style, which has managed to keep Stoke in the Premier Division for four seasons now.

Entering his 17th season in English football, Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer will hope for another impressive campaign. The veteran keeper continues to impress everyone at Craven Cottage, and with Martin Jol making some astute signings in the form of Hugo Rodallega and Mladen Petric, Fulham could be in for a great year, particularly if they can retain the services of in demand Clint Dempsey who has been attracting interest from a number of clubs, most notably Liverpool.

With the conclusion of pre-season preparations, which finished with the weekend’s Community Shield, which Manchester City won 3-2 at the expense of Chelsea, all the clubs will hope to be fully prepared for the gruelling eight-month campaign ahead of them.After such an amazing conclusion to last season’s edition of the Premier League, 2012/13 promises to be an even greater spectacle, and it all kicks off on Saturday night.