Southampton face their first league game since the famous "spygate" scandal that saw them thrown out of last season's Championship play-off final as they lock horns with Watford this weekend.
Watford finished 16th in the Championship last season. As you'd expect, the Hornets come into this campaign with a new manager at the helm in the shape of Alessio Dionisi.
There's been a reasonable amount of squad turnover too, with big names such as Giorgi Chakvetadze and Nestory Irankunda leaving the club while seven new faces have been brought in.
The Hornets are a very difficult team to project this season. They're an erratic club by nature but their last three league finishes have been relatively consistent - 16th, 14th and 15th. Many are tipping them to struggle this season but they've had some good performances in pre-season, followed by a 1-0 win over Crawley (which should have been much more) in the EFL Cup last weekend.
While it's tough to know what to expect, there's a significant amount of quality in the squad from the likes of of Othmane Maamma, Rocco Vata and Edoardo Bove so it's hard to be too down on them.
Southampton, meanwhile, come into the season with high hopes. The lingering cloud of spygate is still hanging over their heads with the punishment of manager Tonda Eckert not expected to be announced until the new campaign is underway, but they otherwise feel well placed for another promotion push.
Southampton finished 4th last season and while midfielder Shea Charles has departed the club, the team has thus far retained the rest of its best talent and has added quality in forward Lewis Dobbin.
They had a strong pre-season, winning every game before dispatching Colchester 2-0 in the EFL Cup last weekend.
Striker Cyle Larin has made his loan move from Mallorca permanent and will be hoping to build on his record of eight goals in 16 games last season, a fine return in a short spell. Larin scored against Colchester last weekend and is in line to get the nod up top here.
All in all, Southampton have the benefit of continuity from a strong campaign last time out and are well placed for a fast start to the season. They've dominated the recent head-to-head meetings with Watford - three wins and a draw from the last four clashes - so we're backing them to take a big three points here.
Watford 1-3 Southampton
League 1 
