Premier League 2021/22: Here's what you need to know

The Olympics have only just finished, you might still have 'It's coming home' ringing in your ears, and the grass at Wimbledon hasn't started re-growing yet... but, that's right, the 21/22 Premier League season starts this weekend!

Newcomers Brentford (more of them later) kicked things off on Friday night with a fantastic 2-0 win over Arsenal ... and now it's non-stop football until 22 May, when the season wraps up. Just the 380 games to sort out first.

With the Euros, Wimbledon and the Olympics dominating summer, you can be forgiven for not following everything that has been going on during football's off-season.

So here's a guide on everything you might have missed ahead of the new season.

New teams

Brentford striker, Ivan Toney, scored 31 goals in the Championship last season

As with every season, three teams have been promoted to the top flight of English football. But this time there's something slightly different about the arrivals from the Championship.

It's Brentford's first ever time in the Premier League and they'll be hoping to make their mark under the management of Dane, Thomas Frank.

They certainly made the perfect start with an opening day victory over Arsenal on Friday night.

Brentford's star man is striker Ivan Toney, who scored 31 goals in the Championship last season - he'll be looking forward to the trip to Newcastle, where he spent three years but only got on to the pitch for 10 minutes Premier League playing time.

Ismaila Sarr (pictured) is one of Watford's key men for the season ahead

Premier League regulars Watford make their return to the top flight after one season away.

They've managed to keep hold of lots of their star players while they've been in the Championship and will be hoping star man, Ismaila Sarr, helps keep them away from danger.

Similarly, Championship winners Norwich are back in the Premier League after a year away.

Even though they've been forced to sell one of their best players, Emi Buendía, to Aston Villa, the rest of their squad is still full of many of the players who picked up top-flight experience a couple of years ago.

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New players and big transfers

There are lots of new faces to swot up on before the new season starts.

There are lots of reports suggesting that England captain Harry Kane could be about to leave Tottenham this summer

All eyes are on current Premier League champions Manchester City, who have signed Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for a record £100m and have been linked to Spurs captain Harry Kane.

Local rivals Manchester United have made the biggest splash in the market so far by spending £73 million on English winger Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund.

Jadon Sancho (pictured) has signed for Manchester United for a fee of £73 million

They are also waiting to complete the singing of Raphael Varane from Real Madrid. The transfer has been agreed, but even four-time Champions League winners have to follow quarantine protocols when arriving from Spain, so he's not been able to sign his deal at Old Trafford yet.

Chelsea have re-signed their former player Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan for £97.5.

He's now their record signing, after leaving them in 2014 to join Everton, then Man United before he joined Inter.

Tottenham have spent £25 million on Spanish winger, Bryan Gil, from Sevilla and have taken Atalanta keeper, Pierluigi Gollini, on loan. Erik Lamela has left the club, heading to Sevilla as part of the deal for Gil, and fans will be nervously waiting to see if captain Harry Kane also heads out of the exit door.

Liverpool have brought in French centre back, Ibrahima Konaté, from RB Leipzig for £40 million. While Arsenal have also got involved in the trend for centre-backs, paying Brighton £50 million for England's Ben White.

Ben White joined Arsenal from Brighton

As mentioned above, Aston Villa have signed Emiliano Buendia from Norwich for £30 million.

Crystal Palace have brought in six new players including Chelsea duo Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher, and Lyon centre back Joachim Andersen.

New managers

Nuno Espirito Santo is the new manager of Tottenham Hotspur

There has been lots of managerial changes since the end of last season... we really do mean a lot!

Deep breath now:

Nuno Espirito Santo has left Wolves and joined Tottenham Hotspur as head coach.

Wolves have replaced him with former Benfica manager Bruno Lage.

At Everton, Carlo Ancelotti has jumped ship - but to be fair, it was to become the manager of Real Madrid. He's been replaced by former Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez. Yes, really.

Patrick Vieira (pictured) has taken over from Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace

Roy Hodgson's retirement has meant Crystal Palace have brought in Patrick Vieira as their new manager.

Two new faces to the Premier League are at Brentford and Watford. Neither promoted coach has managed in the top tier before.

Brentford are led by Danish manager Thomas Frank.

Watford are managed by Spanish coach Xisco.

Championship winners, Norwich, are still managed by Daniel Farke, who has been at the club since 2017.

New rules

The Premier League is set to bring in thicker lines when determining whether a player is offside or not when it goes to the video assistant referee.

They hope it'll make it more obvious when a player is offside, and stop decisions which are made on the basis of a player's toes or heel.

There's also been some clarification on where offside lines start and stop.

Fifa says the bottom of the armpit is now being classed as the part of the body where offsides will be measured from.

Accidental handball in the build-up to a goal will no longer be viewed as an offence. The crucial word here is 'build-up'.

If the accidental handball directly creates the chance that scores the goal, or scores the goal itself, then it'll be ruled out.

Are you looking forward to arguing about those new VAR rules all season? Which team is going to struggle this season, or who do you think will be the surprise package? Let us know in the comments.