The 2020-21 Premier League season kicks off on Saturday, with Fulham hosting Arsenal for the curtain-raiser in a stadium unable to welcome fans and missing one of its four stands.
It represents great symbolism for the campaign ahead: Is anyone really ready to play football? Half-baked transfer activity, a farce of a pre-season and an international break that interrupted vital preparation time would suggest no.
But, alas, we move.
Football is a business that must continue, and as post-lockdown football back in June taught us, it will only take a few matches for everyone to get back up to speed and things to feel pretty normal again.