In the summer of 2016, with the arrivals of Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho to revive three flailing Premier League behemoths, the age of the supercoach dawned. 12 months later, it was time to base pre-season predictions on the marquee centre-forwards at each of the title contenders.

Would Harry Kane be able to maintain his position as the league's best striker with nearly £200 million spent on new No 9s at Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, while City still had Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus to rely on and Liverpool Roberto Firmino? The form of the centre-forwards, it was thought, would define the season.

History tells us there is no guaranteeing a big-money signing up front will hit the ground running, even if they have succeeded elsewhere; see Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll. There is even greater chance of failure when new to the Premier League.

But credit where credit's due: Alvaro Morata, Alexandre Lacazette and Romelu Lukaku all made impressive starts to life at their new clubs. All three scored on their debuts, netted again within their first few weeks and by the end of September each had scored a brace or a hat-trick in a Premier League game. At that stage of the season, Lacazette had four goals in six games; Morata six in seven; Lukaku seven in seven.