On the eve of the new Premier League season, Daily Post chief football writer Ian Doyle runs the rule over what the campaign has in store for Everton and Liverpool

EVERY new football season is a big season on Merseyside. But some are bigger than others.

So it is for this year as both Liverpool and Everton prepare to embark on what could well prove their most defining campaign in many years.

For differing reasons, the Merseyside duo will find every step met with intense scrutiny, hopes and expectations affected by a summer of shock, encouragement and intrigue.

First to Everton. Not since clinching Champions League qualification in 2005 have supporters been quite so hopeful going into a new campaign after the strong showing in the second half of last season was followed by a quietly efficient summer.

Certainly, the Goodison outfit are in a much better shape than this time last year. Back then, the promise of the FA Cup final appearance against Chelsea months earlier swiftly evaporated once injuries and the Joleon Lescott saga took hold to prompt a 6-1 opening day home defeat to Arsenal.

David Moyes’s side were hovering above the relegation zone come November, but once the treatment room began to empty and heads were cleared and focused, the results started to flow with a run of just two defeats in 24 Premier League games – a sequence which included memorable victories over Chelsea and Manchester United – saw them come close to a fourth successive European qualification.

Now a Europa League berth would appear the bare minimum given the positive vibes that have been emanating from Goodison during pre-season.

Small wonder. Mikel Arteta’s decision to sign a new five-year deal was the apex of a summer in which Moyes has made tying the spine of his squad to long-term contracts a priority, Tim Cahill, Jack Rodwell, Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines also penning fresh deals.

Steven Pienaar’s signature remains tantalisingly out of reach, although the longer the South African and his representatives decline the offer on the table, so the player may find himself increasingly marginalised.