The countdown to the start of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign is officially on.
There is now less than a month to go until Chelsea and their 19 Premier League rivals get set for another season of thrills, spills and the unexpected.
Though the start of the new season will not see fans make their return to stadiums because of the coronavirus pandemic, it will, though, see both Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech don a Chelsea shirt for the very first time.
The duo sealed moves to Stamford Bridge ahead of the summer transfer window officially opening for business almost three weeks ago and there is plenty of excitement about seeing them line-up in Blues colours next term.
Both Ziyech and Werner, who cost Chelsea a combined total of more than £80million, already started to train with their new teammates prior to the conclusion of the 2019/20 season, meaning they will be very familiar with their new surroundings and teammates ahead of the new season getting underway.
Though both players are going to take time to adapt to the cut and thrust of the demands of English football, having neither experienced it before, the pressure is going to be on from the first whistle to deliver.
And it seems as though former Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski is confident that fellow countryman Werner, who will watch his former club - RB Leipzig - face PSG in the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday evening, will hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge.
Podolski, in an interview with The Athletic, explained: "When you score 28 goals in the Bundesliga, you are a good player.
"He’s quick, has a good shot, runs a lot and will fit in with this Chelsea team with its young players and coach, if they can accommodate him."
It is not just Podolski that is a fan of Werner either, with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp having previously gone on record of praising the Germany international, who would have hoped to have spent this summer representing his country at the European Championships had they not been postponed because of the coronavirus crisis.
Back in June, Klopp appeared on German TV and was full of praise for Werner.
Klopp said: "There are a lot of good players on this planet. Timo Werner is a great player, Kai Havertz is a great player.
"Right time, opportunity - everything has to come together. Six, seven weeks ago, we didn't know if we could play again this year. If we hadn't played the second half of the season, we would have thought, 'Ok, when can you really play football again?' And now it starts right away.
"We act as if everything is already settled. It's not settled. We use this little loophole we've been left to play football again."
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