Beyond the much-needed return of capacity crowds and the merciful decline in both VAR-enforced interruptions and lamentable handball decisions, there has been another striking difference to the new Premier League season.
A hallucinogenic blend of crimson circles — at least that's how Nike described the colour — and swirling black lines, the new top-flight football has arrived with such little positive response that you might have wondered how it got past the prototype stage.
As our columnist Danny Murphy writes in today's newspaper, the Nike Flight ball not only looks too garish, but the nauseous blend of line and colour makes it prime material for the next goalkeeper excuse for some grievous howler.