A successful pre-season has meant that Monk goes into the new campaign with competition for places in every area and that gives him the nicest possible selections in knowing he really has a competitive squad to choose from.
The summer captures of Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Franck Tabanou, Andre Ayew and Eder have given us extra depth that we missed at times last season and that means that we are going to have a hugely strong bench this evening whatever the manager decides in his team selection.
One of our outstanding players of last season was Gylfi Sigurdsson and he could find himself easily on the bench for this first game which I think totally describes what we talk about when we say that we have strength in depth.
And defender Neil Taylor knows what a tough job lies ahead of the manager when he makes his final selection this afternoon.
The Welsh international is one of the players who has seen his position strengthened this summer with Franck Tabanou’s arrival but he is expected to start against Chelsea despite that arrival.
“As a squad I think we have stepped up again,” said Taylor.
“It’s one where people would find it difficult to pick a team – that’s due to the amount of quality we have here now, right through from the goalkeepers to the strikers.
“But when you get to this level then its common – not everyone will be happy but competition drives you to do better and it’s healthy.
“We were in quite early after pre-season and we have put a lot in work in during that time. I think we are as ready as we’ve ever been and we’ve prepared as best we can.
“For us as a football club, the key is to get to that safety mark first. If you can get there quickly then you can start to set different targets – which is what we did last season.â€
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This article first appeared on JACKARMY.net.