It's only a few days until the new season starts when Tottenham and Man City kick off at 12.45 pm local time. Two hours and 15 minutes later, the season really starts at Ewood Park when Everton wins the first of their 38 matches, against the Blackburn Rovers.

Instead of simply waiting, let's take a look at our first opponent. Last season, they spent most of the time in the middle of nowhere, neither fighting to prevent relegation nor trying to qualify for an international competition. And I expect them to be the same mediocre (no offense, Rovers fans) team again this year because their squad didn't really change.

They 'lost' only one player, Steven Reid. This isn't a loss anymore, though, he already joined first QPR and then WBA on loan last season. Now the former first-team regular joined WBA permanently and signed a two-year contract.

Blackburn's list of new signings isn't much longer, the only name you can find on that list is Mame Diouf, an offensive player from Senegal who joins the Rovers on loan from Man United. But the extension of Morten Gamst Pedersen's contract (until 2014) can be considered a success, the Norwegian is without any doubt one of their key players.

Rumors say that manager Sam Allardyce still wants to sign one or two players. One of those could be Aston Villa's Nigel Reo-Coker who'd be supposed to strengthen Blackburn's midfield. They're reportedly also looking for another forward (Roma's Ricardo Faty? Portsmouth's John Utaka? Fenerbahce's Daniel Guiza?).

Their starting lineup could look something like this:

-----------------Robinson--------------------

Salgado - Samba - Nelsen - Givet

Emerton - N'Zonzi - Dunn - Pedersen

-------------Kalinic - E. Diouf----------------

Our starting lineup? That's a mystery. I'd love to see this team play (but doubt that it's gonna happen):

-------------------Howard---------------------

Coleman - Jagielka - Heitinga - Baines

Pienaar - Arteta - Fellaini - Bilyaletdinov

---------------------Cahill----------------------

---------------------Saha-----------------------

What are your predictions? What starting lineup would you prefer? Anything else you've always wanted to say?