Football Season Guide

Hamilton face another tough battle to stay in the Premier League following their play-off victory last year. Martin Canning's only goal this season will be to stay up and he'll need his players performing at their very best for that to happen. Last year they suffered when key players like Ali Crawford were out of form. He is the team's main creative force and when he doesn't play well then the rest of the side rarely do either. Assuming he stays after the window shuts, he'll be an important part of the season alongside his fellow midfielder Greg Docherty who also had injury problems last year. Keeping them fit and playing well is key. Captain, Michael Devlin, is going through a serious injury as we speak and faces a long lay-off so it's important that Xavier Tomas, the first player Hamilton have paid a fee for in seven years, settles in well. A red card in his opening league game suggests they may have problems. A lack of money to spend means the side has barely been refreshed and they desperately need more attacking options, with David Templeton who signed at the tail end of last season the only exciting prospect up top. They struggled for goals last season and if they do so again this time around, it's hard to see them not going down.