Typically, football fans are left with a month or so to digest the men’s World Cup given its usual slot in the calendar.
But due to the 2022 tournament being shifted to a window in November and December, football’s foot does not lift off the accelerator as the Premier League is just days away from its return.
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All 20 clubs have enjoyed a mini pre-season thanks to the break, with some managers enjoying a bigger squad to work with than others due to their players strutting their stuff in Qatar.
There’s 23 (or 24, depending on your team) fixtures remaining this season and it’s all systems go as teams look to stave off relegation, continue pushing for an unlikely title run or make that late surge into a European spot.
Foxsports.com.au analyses the biggest question facing EVERY team in the Premier League State of Play!
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ARSENAL: Can they hang on without Gabriel Jesus?
You’d be hard pressed to find someone, anyone who thought Arsenal would be sitting pretty at the top of the league at Christmas with a five-point buffer between them and Manchester City.
But here we are.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has worked wonders with his team and they have been firing on all cylinders this season, with a lot coming down to the attacking fluidity of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli working with striker Gabriel Jesus.
Jesus, who arrived from City in the summer for $80 million, has been one of the signings of the season having scored five goals and chalked up five assists in 14 games.
However, the Brazilian was injured in his nation’s World Cup campaign and could be out for as long as three months.
Without Jesus up top, it could signal the end of Arsenal’s unlikely title push as Eddie Nketiah is likely to shoulder the burden.
However, a season that ends with Champions League football secured can only be viewed as a success if the campaign does begin to fall apart.
Arteta said the injury was “significant” enough that Arsenal would look for a new signing next month.
“I never gave a date. I said that we don’t know. It’s going to take some time for sure,” Arteta said of Jesus.
“He’s gone through surgery and that tells you the extent of the injury, so we will be in the market and we will assess the biggest opportunities that we have.
“We are going to be active and active means we are looking to strengthen the team.
“This squad still doesn’t have the luxury of not maximising every single window. We have to do that because it’s really important but then we have to get the right profile. It has to be the right player to take us to the next level.
“Obviously a huge blow with Gabriel Jesus and his injury.”
ASTON VILLA: How will Unai Emery sustain results?
After sacking Steven Gerrard in October, Aston Villa secured an almighty coup by appointing four-time Europa League winner Unai Emery as the new manager.
His first two league games in charge yielded impressive results, with victories over Manchester Untied and Brighton.
Although it’s easy to point and say those wins came thanks to the infamous new manager bounce, the Villans displayed energy and structure in both attack and defence.
Emery no doubt will have taken full advantage of the break to implement his philosophy on the squad, but how will they look when the league is back and every team must rebuild momentum?
BOURNEMOUTH: Will the Cherries flex their new-found financial muscle?
For the first time since 2011, Bournemouth have a new owner and he comes in the form of 78-year-old Texan billionaire Bill Foley.
The American is also the owner of the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL, so he isn’t exactly a stranger to running a sports team, but the Premier League is a different beast.
Former manager Scott Parker’s frustration was evident in regards to the lack of improvements he could make to his squad, which was arguably worse than what he had in the Championship last season.
But Parker is now gone, his replacement Gary O’Neil was recently promoted from interim to full-time manager and will be given the January window to bring in some arrivals.
The Cherries were on a horror run of form before a crucial 3-0 win over Everton stopped the rot.
Foley may be tempted to make a big splash in his first window as Bournemouth owner, but with a relatively unproven O’Neil at the helm, how much he spends in relation to the threat of relegation will be one to watch.
BRENTFORD: How much of an impact will the Ivan Toney sideshow have?
Try as you might with all of the second season syndrome hooplah, Brentford are having none of it.
The Bees are sitting an impressive tenth and a lot of that is down to star striker Ivan Toney’s ten goals this season, two shy of his tally last campaign.
His sensational form earned him a call up to the England squad, although Gareth Southgate did not decide to hand him his debut.
However, the 26-year-old has recently been the focus of an FA investigation in which he is alleged to have breached the FA’s betting rules on 252 occasions from February 2017 to January 2021.
As it stands, Toney is free to play but should he miss any playing time as a result for the alleged betting breaches, it could prove to be an extremely unwelcome distraction to the Bees given he’s been involved in 40 percent of Brentford’s Premier League goals.
BRIGHTON: What will Roberto De Zebri do with Alexis Mac Allister?
It still feels rather remarkable that Brighton has a World Cup winner in their ranks.
Not just a member of the squad either, but a player who had a crucial role in Argentina’s success.
Alexis Mac Allister will no doubt receive a hero’s welcome when he returns to the Amex Stadium, but he’s got an important conversation to have with manager Roberto De Zebri.
Since the Italian has arrived, Mac Allister has operated alongside Moises Caicedo in a midfield pivot, with Adam Lallana playing as the attacking midfielder in front of them.
It’s a different role than what Mac Allister did for Argentina in Qatar, where he played as an all-action midfielder with license to get forward and help the attack, with Argentina’s first goal against France a perfect example.
Having won a World Cup for Argentina, Mac Allister has proven he can play further forward and still have plenty of energy to get around.
Will De Zebri give him the freedom he desires, or will the 34-year-old Lallana continue to get the starting nod in the No. 10 role?
CHELSEA: Who’s going to score the goals?
It truly must feel like Groundhog Day at Stamford Bridge.
With Romelu Lukaku farmed out on loan to Inter Milan for the season and Timo Werner returning to RB Leipzig on a permanent basis, it left Chelsea woefully short of goalscorers and leaving questions as to who would bang them in for the Blues.
Former manager Thomas Tuchel brought in Raheem Sterling, a winger by trade, and familiar face Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang but neither has found much form this season.
New boss Graham Potter has also encountered the same issue of getting his players into attacking positions, but not quite being able to put the ball into the back of the net.
With striker Armando Broja now out for the season with an ACL injury, Potter must be wondering whether he enters the market in January for a forward who can score or if he backs what he has until the end of the season.
No victories in their last five games, including three defeats on the spin, means Potter is certainly under some pressure.
But with new owner Todd Boehly’s backing, the former Brighton boss will likely be gifted time to turn things around.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Do Palace look to find heir to Zaha’s throne?
Has their ever been a player so synonymous with a Premier League club?
Wilfried Zaha has played over 400 games for Crystal Palace and will likely add more to his tally before the season is done.
However, once the 2022/23 campaign is wrapped up, Zaha’s deal at Selhurst Park expires and he could be off to pastures new.
It also means the Ivory Coast international is free to negotiate with clubs in January and sign a pre-contract agreement, meaning he’d spend the rest of the season with Palace before joining his new team upon the expiration of his contract.
Palace boss Patrick Vieira would no doubt love to keep Zaha at the club, especially since the latter enjoyed his highest goalscoring return in a single season last year with 14.
However, Vieira would be wise to begin plotting a succession plan for Zaha should contract talks reach an impasse.
Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise are clearly the starts of the future for the Eagles, but they aren’t the type of players who will score as many as Zaha.
Time will tell whether Vieira dips into the market in January to find a solution, but then again he might not have to should Zaha opt to stay.
EVERTON: How much time will Frank Lampard be given to turn things around?
Everton boss Frank Lampard pulled off a minor miracle to keep the Toffees afloat last season and it looks like he’s going to have to pull another rabbit out of the hat this year.
That is, of course, dependent on him seeing out the season.
After a strong run to start the season, Everton are falling apart and have won just once in their last seven league games, with an alarming five defeats coming in that same time.
It screams relegation form and for a team that seriously flirted with danger last season, the Goodison Park faithful are wary of what’s to come.
The Toffees are just one point away from the relegation zone in 17th place and although they have proven a relatively tough outfit to score against, 11 goals from 15 games is extremely worrying.
Lampard needs to hit the ground running early if he wants to last much longer in his job, otherwise he could very quickly find himself looking for a new gig.
FULHAM: Fulham’s Plan A with Mitrovic is clear, can they switch it up?
Aleksandar Mitrovic has played like a man possessed with Fulham this season and is well on track for his best goalscoring return in the top flight.
A breakdown of the Serbian sharpshooter’s goals shows that three of his nine have come from headers, another three from the penalty spot and the remaining three from his right boot in open play.
It’s also worth noting that in the three games Mitrovic has missed this season, the Cottagers have lost all three and only scored three, although the last two defeats came against Manchester City and United.
If Fulham are to maintain their outstanding form that most didn’t expect, boss Marco Silva must find a way to style his tactics in order to extract as much as possible from the supporting cast.
LEEDS UNITED: Will Leeds learn not to leave it late?
Most people could live without chaos in their lives but for Leeds United, it’s all they know.
They stayed up on the final day last season and although Jesse Marsch’s side are likely to have enough points in the bank to maintain their Premier League status, it doesn’t look like it will be a comfortable ride to get there.
If you need any evidence that Leeds loves chaos, just look at their last four league games where the winning goal, either for Leeds or their opponent, has come in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Sure, it’s entertaining for the neutral.
But it is in no way sustainable.
Marsch must find a way to shore up the fourth-leakiest defence in the competition if he wants to allow those at Elland Road to breathe a little easier.
If he can find that balance and allow Rodrigo to continue scoring for fun, Marsch might finally win over more fans.
LEICESTER CITY: Does Maddison’s momentum carry through?
Few players were in as good a form as Leicester City star James Maddison was before the World Cup.
With two goals and two assists in his final four games, the Foxes star made sure of his spot on the plane to Qatar with the England squad although he was unlucky not to have seen any playing time.
Maddison was also instrumental in turning Leicester’s fortunes around after a nightmare start to the season, as Brendan Rodgers’ side won five of their last eight fixtures.
If Maddison can carry his form through to the second half of the season, the Foxes could be in with a sniff of a Europa Conference League spot.
But if he doesn’t, it could be a long five months until the end of the season.
LIVERPOOL: Can Klopp stick or twist when it comes to the Reds’ central midfield woes?
Much like Arsenal’s spot at the top of the Premier League, no-one could have predicted Liverpool would struggle as badly as they have this season.
The Reds have lost four games already this season — double their tally from last year — and are 15 points off top spot.
While the title is all but out of reach, Jurgen Klopp’s side are still in the hunt for a Champions League place and are just seven points off Tottenham Hotspur, who occupy the last spot.
Central to Liverpool’s woes is their worrying depth in the midfield.
The department has been ravaged by injuries this season as Alexander Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Naby Keita, Arthur Melo and Thiago Alcantara have either spent time on the sideline or are still stuck on the treatment table.
It will be interesting to see how Klopp handles his midfield corps in January, especially given Liverpool’s heavy links with budding English superstar Jude Bellingham.
Does he go to the market or does he wait for his stars to get fully fit?
Whichever way Klopp decides, it will have big ramifications for the rest of the season and beyond.
MANCHESTER CITY: How will City’s World Cup stars integrate back into action?
4,628 minutes is the amount of time Manchester City’s superstars logged on the pitch at the World Cup.
It is the highest number of all the Premier League clubs, with Tottenham Hotspur coming in second with 3,454 minutes.
With such an insane workload in the space of a few weeks, Pep Guardiola will need his returning stars to be fresh once the Premier League resumes as they look to resume a title charge.
Of course, City’s superstar striker Erling Haaland did not play a minute given Norway failed to qualify for Qatar and the break no doubt helped him recover from a series of niggling injuries.
It’s no secret Guardiola enjoys rotating his players and it is certainly a tactic we should expect to see in the early weeks with City’s absurd squad depth as the games come thick and fast
Fantasy players, pick City players at your peril.
MANCHESTER UNITED: With Ronaldo gone, how does ten Hag go about his business?
Manchester United has finally shed itself of Cristiano Ronaldo after his second spell at the club flew off the rails.
It means more wages to play with for the Red Devils but perhaps more importantly for manager Erik ten Hag, no further need to try and keep a clearly-frustrated Ronaldo happy.
What ten Hag does now with the opening up front is critical.
For all of Ronaldo’s faults, he was United’s most prolific goalscorer last season and he could pull something out of nothing, even if he was getting on in age.
Few players on the planet possess that ability and for those that do, they don’t come cheap.
Also of great importance to the Dutchman is how he brings the World Cup form of English pair Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire back to Old Trafford.
Rashford and Maguire were in blistering form in Qatar, the latter proving the doubters wrong with several commanding performances at the back for the Three Lions.
If ten Hag can harness whatever it is that brings out the best of Maguire in an England shirt but at club level, there’s no reason to doubt United can’t finish in the top four.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Can the Magpies stay on course?
For the first time in what feels like forever, Newcastle fans have something to crow about.
Eddie Howe’s side are sitting pretty in third place and have lost just once this season, with the recent brilliance of Miguel Almiron a key element of the run.
But, just like the other 19 teams, Newcastle must build momentum from scratch once again at the resumption of play.
One would imagine a victory away to Leicester City will help the Toon pick up right where they left off, but what effect might a loss have?
Crucially, all of Newcastle’s World Cup stars have returned injury-free, with only marquee signing Alexander Isak the main man still on the treatment table.
Perhaps Jack Grealish needs to make one more negative comment relating to Almiron to inspire the Paraguayan to further heights?
NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Does Steve Cooper maintain the stingy defence approach?
Before Steve Cooper signed a new contract with Forest on October 7, the newly-promoted side were leaking goals for fun and had conceded two or more goals on six occasions
Since then, Cooper has shored up the backline and has conceded more than two goals only once: a 5-0 loss to Arsenal.
More importantly, that run has seen the Reds keep three clean sheets — including one in a remarkable win over Liverpool.
However, while Cooper may have stemmed the worrying tide of goals going in, Forest have scored five goals in the seven games since the boss penned his new deal.
Keeping the opposition out and looking to capitalise on set pieces may be an approach that works in tournament football, but it’s certainly not sustainable in the Premier League.
There’s a long way to go this season and depending on how Cooper finds the happy medium between his current defensive approach and scoring the goals needed to survive, it could feel even longer for Forest fans.
SOUTHAMPTON: Nathan Jones failed miserably the last time he left Luton, will this be any different?
Southampton fans could be forgiven if they felt the appointment of Nathan Jones as Ralph Hassenhuttl’s replacement was underwhelming.
Jones was plucked from Championship side Luton Town having guided the Hatters to the play-offs last year.
A major warning sign for Saints fans is that the last time Jones left Luton for a bigger role, it went disastrously.
He earned moved from Kenilworth Road to Stoke City in January 2019, but was sacked having won just six games from 38.
That was going from a small fish to a big fish in the same pond, but now, the stakes are even higher with billions of pounds at stake.
In 19th place on the ladder, Jones must find a spark in the second half otherwise the Saints will be marching in to the Championship for the 2023/24 season.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: Can Conte prove he can survive and thrive without Kulusevski?
It’s no secret that Harry Kane is Tottenham’s talisman, with 12 goals to his name this season.
But another key star for Tottenham Hotspur is Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski.
On loan from Juventus until the end of the season, Kulusevski has proven himself to be a vital part of Antonio Conte’s side when he operates on the right flank.
In the nine league games Kulusevski has played this season, Spurs have lost just once.
But when the Swede was out injured with a thigh issue, Conte’s side had a brief wobble and lost three from six.
Spurs are sitting well-placed in third and are just three points of Manchester City ahead of them, so a fully-fit Kulusevski in an attacking three of himself, Kane and Heung-Min Son will have plenty of scoring opportunities.
But should the winger find himself with the walking wounded once again, how will Conte go about sustaining their push for a top three finish?
WEST HAM UNITED: Who will provide the spark for dour Hammers?
Even West Ham United fans will tell you their team is rather boring to watch.
In a team that boasts plenty of attacking firepower in the form of Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio, Gianluca Scamacca and Lucas Paqueta, the Hammers have scored 12 goals all season.
The worrying lack of goals extends back to the start of the calendar year, as David Moyes’ side scored more than two goals just twice from January 1 to May 22 last season.
One of those occasions was against last-placed Norwich City.
In that same time, the Hammers won just six games.
It’s abundantly clear someone in a claret shirt needs to step up to inject some life into the team.
Who that might be and how Moyes goes about it remains to be seen.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS: Can Julen Lopetegui teach his stars how to score goals?
Much like their Midlands rivals Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers made a shrewd managerial move by nabbing former Spain boss Julen Lopetegui as Bruno Lage’s replacement.
The process took significantly longer than the Molineux brass had anticipated and in the same since Lage was sacked, Wolves lost five from seven league games to leave the side rock-bottom of the ladder.
Lopetegui will have no shortage of issues to deal with, but thankfully for the new boss, an opening game against Everton is certainly one of the favourable fixtures he could have had for a first match at the helm.
One major problem is the worrying lack of goals being scored.
So far this season, Wolves have scored just eight times.
Even last season, the Midlands side finished with 38 goals to their name.
There were only three teams who scored fewer goals in 2021/22 and they were all relegated to the Championship.
It’s not like Wolves don’t have attacking weapons either, as Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence and Raul Jimenez have proven they belong in the Premier League.
But the longer Lopetegui takes to help his stars find their scoring shoes, the higher their chances of relegation become.
