Guardian writers' predicted position: 19th (NB: this is not necessarily Dominic Fifield's prediction, but the average of our writers' tips)

Last season's position: 5th, Championship

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker): 10,000-1

Crystal Palace are back in the Premier League so, in light of previous failings, it is probably wise to tick off those predictable reasons to be fearful. Each of the London club's four attempts to survive a season in the revamped top flight has ended in ignominy. They have been relegated with 49 points, enough to have finished eighth last term. They have spluttered home fourth from bottom and still been demoted, courtesy of the division being trimmed to 20 clubs. Last time around, eight years ago, they were eight minutes from bucking that depressing trend only to ship a late equaliser to local rivals Charlton and tumble once again.

So that is their history, and it is hardly one from which to draw confidence. And yet Ian Holloway and his team, still pinching themselves after those giddy Wembley celebrations in May, will care not a jot. They will attack the campaign with relish, just as the manager's Blackpool side did three seasons ago, hoping to make life uncomfortable for all-comers to Selhurst Park, where they lost only twice last season, and surprise a few on their travels. Elevation represents an opportunity for these players and an upgrade for this club, with the main stand gaining an essential (if largely cosmetic) face-lift and plans for proper ground development likely to be accelerated by the influx of at least £140m into the coffers even if their top-flight stay is short-lived.

Season ticket sales have topped 15,000, more than double what they were in the Championship a year ago, and £2.3m was spent at auction this summer to secure the training ground in Beckenham, a facility that was previously costing more than £200,000 a year to rent. Palace, the memories of life in administration still fresh, were already a club who had tapped into local enthusiasm under canny owners new to all this, the emphasis on a productive academy, with huge pride gleaned from the rise to prominence of the likes of Wilfried Zaha. Promotion will speed up growth. Everything is relative in the money-flushed Premier League but this is all progressive.

The issue, of course, is whether the team spirit that propelled a side in an unlikely play-off pursuit last term can sustain them above the cut-off at the higher level. Palace, after all, have lost Zaha's dash of quality to Manchester United and last season's 31-goal leading scorer Glenn Murray to a knee ligament injury until the new year. Their journeyman defence boasts experience but lacks pace and will be exposed. Of those who rose at Wembley, the Australia midfielder Mile Jedinak should prove his pedigree in the Premier League, Joel Ward looks a fine prospect at right-back and Julián Speroni has been a consistent goalkeeper over a nine-year spell at the club. Yet the team needed reinforcements all around, so to hear Holloway declare recently that he had just endured "one of the worst weeks of my life because things have broken down for all different reasons" was troubling.

Palace have discovered what every team promoted in the play-offs endures: elevation brings a frenzy of phone calls from agents peddling their clients, or third and fourth parties claiming to be acting for all and sundry; a dismissiveness from some personnel who might actually be worth pursuing; and a shock in terms of the wage demands of those who are willing to take on the challenge. The owners will not be mortgaging their club's future on survival. They are too shrewd for that. Yet time is still short to adapt to new surroundings.

Holloway has spoken of the need for focus after the initial "scattergun" approach to transfer policy, understandable given this club's summer dealings have usually involved scrabbling around in search of raw potential or scrutinising the Bosman list of frees. Suddenly the demands are very different. Judgment should be passed only on 3 September, once the squad has been finalised, with the search for bargains – whether loan targets such as Scott Sinclair or Marouane Chamakh, or even permanent deals for the likes of Umaru Bangura or Darren Bent – only likely to yield real reward late. They will have played three times by then, with the first match after the international break a trip to Manchester United.

Of those who have been recruited, Jerome Thomas boasts some knowledge of life at this level, and his fellow attackers Elliot Grandin and Stephen Dobbie have featured under Holloway before and will relish the opportunity ahead. There is excitement to be had in the club record arrival of Dwight Gayle from Peterborough, the kind of raw talent Palace have shaped into gems in the past. A striker who cost an initial £4.5m was playing for Bishop's Stortford a little over a year ago but, at 22, is quick, hungry and potentially brilliant. He is a natural finisher, a player taking his chance. Cue the inevitable comparisons to Ian Wright.

Just as eye-catching could be the impact of José Campaña, captain of the Spain Under-20s side having twice been a part of an Under-19s set-up which claimed European Championship success. The deep-lying midfielder was plucked from Sevilla, where his contract had entered its final 12 months, and, once settled, he will be a refined addition with huge potential. Certainly, with Jonathan Williams a spritely talent and Yannick Bolasie capable of flashes of brilliance, Palace seem well stocked across midfield.

More quality must be injected if survival is to be considered realistic, but the manager will be driven – his motivation primed by the miracle he came so close to pulling off with Blackpool two years ago – and has learned from his previous spell at this level. The manner in which he nullified Brighton and Watford, two of the slicker attacking sides in the Championship, in the play-offs to the tune of three clean sheets was evidence of his ability. Frustrating elite teams, starting with Tottenham Hotspur on the opening weekend, is a bigger ask but this is an opportunity few at this club dreamt conceivable. The last two clubs promoted from the play-offs have survived and prospered. Palace are hoping to make that a hat-trick.

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