Familiar foes await Watford on Saturday as the Hornets travel to face the side who pipped them to promotion on the final day of the last season’s Championship season, AFC Bournemouth.
Victory over Sheffield Wednesday in May would have sealed Watford’s first piece of silverware since they won the old Division Two in 1998 under Graham Taylor.
But a lapse of concentration at the death was enough for the Owls to sneak a set-piece equaliser through Atdhe Nuhui and spark scenes of celebration in south London where the Cherries were sweeping aside Charlton Athletic 3-0.
Both teams have been busy recruiting over the summer with Eddie Howe bringing 13 players to the Vitality Stadium this summer – nine of them on a permanent basis.
The south coast club moved quickly following promotion to bolster a squad which still includes a number of players who have helped the Cherries rise through the Football League to the Premier League for the first time in their 125-year history.
None of the playing staff still remain from the club’s famous final day survival act of 2009, when they beat Grimsby Town 2-1 to secure their place in the Football League, but Steve Fletcher – who got the decisive goal that day – is a scout at the club.
Harry Arter and Marc Pugh are two veterans of the side which won promotion from League Two the following season, though, as Bournemouth completed the unlikeliest of turnarounds to return to League One just two seasons after relegation.
And whilst the club broke its transfer record to splash £8 million on Ipswich Town defender Tyrone Mings this summer, few can argue that the pittance spent bringing the midfield duo to Dorset has not been exceptional value for money.
In June 2010 Arter joined from non-league side Woking for an undisclosed fee in the region of £8,000. He ended the 2010/11 campaign on loan at Carlisle United after falling out of favour at Bournemouth but returned with aplomb and has gone on to make 182 appearances in all competitions.
A string-pulling midfielder from deep, the Sidcup-born 25-year-old’s form for the Cherries was recognised by Ireland boss Martin O’Neill when he handed Arter his international debut in a friendly against England in June.
Arter qualifies for the Republic of Ireland by virtue of his grandparents being born in Sligo.
Yet to feature this season due to a groin injury which has plagued him since pre-season, the former Charlton Athletic midfielder will be desperate to make up for lost time when he returns later this month.
Winger Pugh had bounced around the Football League with a number of sides, including Burnley, Bury and Shrewsbury Town, before he settled on the south coast in the same summer.
His fee would eventually be decided by tribunal after rejecting a two-year deal with the Shrews whilst aged under 24, but whatever the Cherries eventually paid for the Bacup-born attacker it has proved an excellent investment.
Capable of playing on either flank, Pugh has already opened his account in the Premier League, scoring in Bournemouth’s stunning 4-3 win at West Ham United in August – their first since reaching the top flight.
A 2-0 win over Sunderland was a welcome boost in September as the month ended with defeats to fellow top flight new-boys Norwich City and stuttering Stoke City.
Howe, though, is not for turning and throughout his immensely successful seven years at Bournemouth – punctuated by a less impressive year at Burnley – he has preached easy-on-the-eye possession football.
It is an approach which has won a number of plaudits from the great and the good of the game and even seen Howe’s name linked with the England job.
However, the Amersham-born boss – who watched Watford in his youth – has made clear his commitment to continuing his superb work at the Vitality Stadium and seeing through a project which has gone full circle since he was handed the reigns as caretaker in 2008 with the club staring down the barrel.
Though Bournemouth sit 16th in the Premier League ahead of this weekend’s meeting – four points above the relegation zone – it has been a tough introduction to the top flight for Howe.
Last season’s 20-goal top-scorer Callum Wilson suffered knee ligament damage in the 2-1 reverse at Stoke last weekend and joins a growing injury list which already includes summer signings Max Gradel and Mings (both knee).
It gets no smoother after the Hornets’ visit on Saturday with Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton to follow.
Welcome to the big time.
AFC Bournemouth XI v Stoke City (26.9.15): Boruc; Francis, Cook, Distin, Daniels; Gosling, Surman; Ritchie, Tomlin, Pugh; Wilson.
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