Chelsea

Projected starting XI

Thibaut Courtois; Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta; Marcos Alonso, N'Golo Kanté, Tiémoué Bakayoko, Victor Moses; Eden Hazard, Álvaro Morata, Pedro

How do you feel about your club's summer transfer business?

Ambivalent. Chelsea went into the summer with the primary goal of adding quality depth to the squad that won the league for the second time in three seasons (with minor changes), but despite spending £120 millon-plus on three young and excellent players, we've not done that at all. Diego Costa and Nemanja Matić have been replaced by Álvaro Morata and Tiémoué Bakayoko, respectively, neither of whom are proven winners yet at this level (or in Morata's case as a featured center forward). Antonio Rüdiger adds depth at center back, but the squad are still badly in need of reinforcements at wing back (on both flanks!), and a fourth midfielder would not go amiss.

Are you happy with ownership? Elated? Cautiously optimistic? Furious?

This is Roman's world, we're just living in it.

What's the highest reasonable goal your team has and what needs to go right to get there?

A top-four finish, a solid title challenge, a strong showing in Europe, and one of the cups. Both Antonio Conte and Chelsea seem to be in agreement that we need three-to-four new players in the final month of the transfer window to make those goals more realistically attainable.

What are you scared of that might derail your season?

Too many parallels already to 2010-11 and 2015-16, i.e. the last two seasons that Chelsea entered as champions only to descend into discord and disarray by December, if not earlier. Reported tensions behind the scenes, middling transfer activity, and subpar pre-season results have many worried history will repeat itself once again.

Who's a player on your team that neutrals might not know much about, but should become fans of?

Tough to find an unknown player on Chelsea, but young Lewis Baker is truly ambidextrous and can take tremendous free kicks, corners, and other such set pieces with either foot, from either side. If Baker does go out on loan, as expected, Charly Musonda Jr. could be the breakout star of the season.

Who will be your team's MVP this season, and why?

Eden Hazard, because he's Eden Hazard, the Messi of Chelsea, the player the team's built around, the player who makes everyone else around him that much better, the player who can create out of nothing, who's a great teammate and a wonderful person.

What do you think makes your team's fan culture better than any other team's?

We're just as good and bad as the rest, we just support the best team in all the world.