ARGUABLY THE BEST and certainly the most popular soccer league in the world—the English Premier League—gets underway tomorrow, and, per usual, there are enough Americans involved to keep things interesting for U.S.-centric fans.

With that said, do not forget about the EPL’s younger brother, the Sky Bet Championship, where even more Yanks play.

ASN POLL: What is your favorite European League?

Let’s take a look at all of the Americans playing in the top two divisions in England, and from there, you can decide which league to fully invest in this year—potential Championship fans, we hope you have beIN Sports.

PREMIER LEAGUE

In a somewhat rare occurrence, no new Americans joined the Premier League ahead of the 2014-15 campaign, aside from DeAndre Yedlin, who will stay with the Seattle Sounders until at least January 2015 (and perhaps longer). There’s still some intrigue here, though, as a few players have complex club situations.

Tim Howard, Everton—ASN ranking #1
At this point, you know what you’re going to get from Howard: consistent excellence. Everton’s league form may suffer with Europa League duties, but you can bet that Howard’s level will not drop one bit. Will Howard be a major contributor to the U.S. national team over the coming year? Hard to say. But stranger things have happened.

Jozy Altidore, Sunderland—ASN ranking #7
Hopefully Jozy Altidore’s memory works a lot like Landon Donovan’s.

Yes, Altidore's 2013-14 season in northeast England was that bad, with the 24-year-old New Jersey native scoring just once in 31 league appearances. Are his prospects brighter this time around? Who knows?. With another year of seasoning, he’s a virtual lock to perform better, but he may see less of the field. Entering the season, Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher are likely ahead of him in the pecking order.

All told, get ready for another year of anxiously checking Twitter on Saturday mornings for Sunderland’s starting XI. Sometimes you’ll be delighted, other times you’ll be disappointed. Until Altidore starts scoring regularly in the Premier League, that’s just the way it’s going to be.

Geoff Cameron, Stoke City—ASN ranking #9
Cameron’s situation is every bit as complicated as Altidore’s, although for slightly different reasons. He’s expressed his desire to play as a center back, and other EPL teams are interested in his services at that position. But Stoke prefers him at right back, and management is in no hurry to sell its talented American.

Rest assured that whatever position he plays and whatever club he plays for, Cameron will do an excellent job—as he has since his Premier League debut season in 2012-13.

Last note on Stoke: the Potters currently own Brek Shea, too, but he’s expected to move before the season starts.

Brad Guzan, Aston Villa—ASN ranking #10
It’s time for American soccerdom's favorite question: Can Brad Guzan singlehandedly keep Aston Villa in the Premier League yet again? He’s managed it in the last two years, but his luck might finally run out this time around. With Christian Benteke still nursing an Achilles injury and no impact transfers arriving this summer, Villa could be in serious trouble. Guzan will need to be at his absolute best if the Villans are to stay in the Prem. This writer doesn’t think they have enough, but Guzan could easily prove me wrong—he’s certainly done it before.

Brad Friedel, Tottenham—ASN ranking #89
With all due respect to the 43-year-old Mr. Friedel, he’s probably not going to see much—aka zero—of the field this year. If Yedlin does join Spurs in January, it’ll be awfully funny to have a fellow American teammate who’s more than twice his age, so that counts for something, right?

CHAMPIONSHIP

The EPL boasts four players in the top decile of the ASN 100, but the Championship has plenty of American talent, too. Young stars like Emerson Hyndman and Will Packwood, among others, could be top-tier Americans someday. Elsewhere, there are a few guys in their mid-to-late-twenties who may still have some U.S. national team life left in them. If you’re looking for an abundance of guys with national team situations that are a little less settled than their EPL counterparts, this could be the perfect league to keep an eye on over the next nine months or so.

Tim Ream, Bolton Wanderers—ASN ranking #27
Was Tim Ream a World Cup snub? That answer depends on whom you ask, but it’s easy to see why so many think highly of the center back who can also fill in at fullback or defensive midfield. Ream picked up the Bolton Player of the Season award for the 2013-14 campaign, and he’ll be just as essential to Bolton this time around. Is Jurgen Klinsmann paying attention? We’ll see. Ream will be hard to ignore if he maintains his form from a season ago.

Danny Williams, Reading—ASN ranking #32
Danny Williams was unlucky to miss the pre-World Cup camp, as he’d been starring for Reading before a knee injury took him out of contention. Klinsmann clearly likes the idea of a deep-lying defensive midfielder, given his extensive use of Kyle Beckerman. Who played that role for the U.S. before Beckerman? None other than Williams. He’ll be looking to win back that job with the aid of Beckerman and Jermaine Jones’ advancing age along with his own continued fine play at Reading.

Eric Lichaj, Nottingham Forest—ASN ranking #39
Like Williams, Eric Lichaj’s World Cup aspirations were dented by a late-season injury. There were never any strong indications that Klinsmann was thinking about bringing him to Brazil, but that was due more to the German’s stubbornness than Lichaj’s play, as the fullback had a very strong season for Forest.

Lichaj’s versatility has always been his calling card, and he’s played both left and right back in the Championship. He’ll hope that Klinsmann will value that versatility, too.

Will Packwood, Birmingham City—ASN ranking #44
Packwood is one of the more intriguing players in the U.S. pool. Very few Americans make their debut as teenagers in a league as good as the Championship, but Packwood did, and excelled. A horror leg break has somewhat slowed his rise, but a first U.S. cap seems imminent. Packwood is near John Brooks in the “center back of the future” department. Catch him starting just about every week for Birmingham.

Jonathan Spector, Birmingham City—ASN ranking #51
At 28, it seems possible that Jonathan Spector’s U.S. career is probably over. He’s a consistent contributor for Birmingham City, though, and Klinsmann has pulled more than a few wild cards with players thought to be out of the national team picture (Brad Davis, anyone?).

The Illinois native last appeared for the U.S. in February 2012, and acquitted himself nicely against Italy. He has recently gone on record that a move to MLS may be in the cards, and that could work out well for Major League Soccer, Spector, and his national team prospects.

Duane Holmes, Huddersfield Town—ASN ranking #80
Still just 19, Duane Holmes has already made 16 league appearances for Huddersfield Town. But he’s currently in a battle for first-team action, and it’s possible that he’ll head out on loan to get more regular minutes. He’s had success as a supersub, but manager Mark Lillis will want to see more consistency out of the speedster if he is to be a big part of Huddersfield’s plans this year.

Emerson Hyndman, Fulham—ASN ranking #100
Get the hype machine rolling! We normally reserve this treatment for forwards and attacking midfielders, but we’ll make an exception for this very gifted 18-year-old central midfielder. Hyndman started and shined for Fulham in its season opener last Saturday, completing 59 out of 66 passes in his first-team debut. With a performance like that, Hyndman should see plenty of the field all season long.

And, as Brian Sciaretta commented earlier this week: An American at Fulham? It just seems right.

Which league will you be watching more closely this year? Which England-based American are you most looking forward to watching? Let us know in the comments section below.

Blake Thomsen is a frequent ASN contributor. Follow him on Twitter.