Welcome to the opening day of the 2014/15 Premier League! It has been 34 long days since Mario Goetze's strike won the World Cup for Germany - and close season be damned - we are ready for more competitive football!

SWANSEA CITY: Fabianski, Rangel, Amat, Williams, Taylor, Ki, Shelvey, Dyer, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Bony... Subs: Tremmel, Bartley, Richards, Tiendalli, Montero, Sheehan, Gomis.

Jesse Lingard and Tyler Blackett both make debuts for Manchester United. Lingard is preferred to Reece James, otherwise United line up as expected. Swansea team news to follow.

TEAMS IN! MANCHESTER UNITED: De Gea; Jones, Smalling, Blackett; Lingard, Fletcher, Herrera, Young; Mata; Rooney, Hernandez... Subs: Amos, James, M Keane, Fellaini, Kagawa, Nani, Januzaj.

STATS! STATS! STATS! Erm - stats ahead of the opening weekend. It'll only take 90 seconds... Includes an absolute pearler about Romelu Lukaku.

Eurosport.com is the place to be all season long, as we have live minute-by-minute coverage of all 380 Premier League games! There are five matches coming up at 15:00, plus Arsenal v Crystal Palace at 17:30 - we'll be with you for all the action until the final whistle on 24 May 2015!

Swansea's Twitter account perhaps operating in Hong Kong time - the official time zone of the Barclays Premier League.

Van Gaal has admitted his squad is "a little below the level" he wants, but says he's not worried ahead of his first competitive match: "I am very confident. I am not nervous. Nine players injured and I am not nervous.” Those absentees in full: Jonny Evans, Luke Shaw, Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia, Robin van Persie, Danny Welbeck, Rafael, Anderson and, er, and that's all we can think of, unless you include reserve keeper Sam Johnstone. So we better had.

First brainfreeze of the season - and almost certainly not the last! Robin van Persie is out of today's game too - Javier Hernandez is expected to start up front alongside Rooney.

MANCHESTER UNITED predicted starting XI (4-3-1-2): De Gea; Blackett, Jones, Smalling; Young, Herrera, Fletcher, James; Mata; Rooney, Van Persie... SWANSEA CITY predicted XI (4-3-3): Fabianski; Rangel, Bartley, Williams, Taylor; Sigurdsson, Shelvey, Ki; Dyer, Bony, Gomis.

So how will United line up today? In pretty unfamiliar fashion, we expect. Van Gaal's 3-4-1-2 will feature debuts for centre-back Tyler Blackett and left wing-back Reece James. There is also a debut for £32m midfield man Ander Herrera. Swansea are more recognisable from last season, but Garry Monk should hand debuts to goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and striker Bafetimbi Gomis.

We asked our experts who will win the league as part of our Eurosport Roundtable series - and the results were surprising. Chelsea received six votes, Manchester City four and Manchester United two, with nobody backing Liverpool or Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney wasn't a unanimously popular selection as Manchester United captain, with some fans remembering his two attempts to leave the club - or at least his threats to leave that resulted in massive new contracts. But Rooney has the backing of one influential Old Trafford legend - Gary Neville: "There has been a sharp decline in leadership in football but Rooney has all the attributes. By 'leaders' I mean people who are prepared not only to hold themselves accountable but hold their team-mates accountable too. Rooney is one of a dying breed of footballers who is willing to call his team-mates out. He can take criticism but also hand it out."

And have you ever wanted to play Fantasy Football against Ade Akinfenwa? Of course you have! Here's your chance with Yahoo's 'Beat the Beast' competition!

You've got a couple of hours to settle on your Fantasy Football selections for the opening weekend - here are our players to choose and lose, featuring a Manchester United player you've never heard of!

That United victory over Swansea inspired a brilliant and criminally underrated YouTube moment. It's got mild swears, but more importantly it's got a man dementedly waving a hankie while pledging undying allegiance to the Moyes Boys.

It's almost a year to the day since David Moyes's ill-fated reign at Manchester United got under way in earnest. The result on 17 August 2014? Swansea City 1-4 Manchester United. So maybe let's not read too much into it of United emerge with the points today.

And the season could hardly kick off with a more exciting fixture than this. Louis van Gaal's arrival at Manchester United has electrified the Premier League - is the Dutchman a genius, a megalomaniac, or a bit of both. Today we get our first glimpse of Van Gaal in the Old Trafford dugout as Swansea visit.