The English Premier League is the most-watch division around the world and it attracts some of the biggest stars to its stage. It is a hugely competitive 20-strong division which regularly serves up plenty of entertainment on a weekly basis.
The season begins in August and will conclude in early-May. From the 2019-2020 season onwards, the league will take a winter break which will reduce the hectic schedule which takes place throughout December and January.
Apart from Leicester’s unexpected against-the-odds success in 2016, the Premier League title has generally been shared between four clubs over the last decade. The top teams regularly compete to finish in the top four positions the incentive of qualifying for the Champions League. Teams who finish directly below will be automatically entered into the Europa League. The bottom three sides are relegated to the second tier.
Our 2018-19 Premier League betting preview has our list of the best bets you can make for each Premier League team. In the world of soccer betting, there is no rest for the wicked and despite France’s still-fresh World Cup-winning run, it’s time to start thinking about. Manchester City is the favorite to win the 2018 English Premier League championship. Here is the full list of EPL championship odds from the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.
There are one or two midweek fixture lists throughout the season but the majority of games are played at the weekend.
It is a hugely popular league and TV rights are sold worldwide. Iconic teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool have fans who travel from afar to watch their games whereas the league provides a huge financial boost to teams who are lucky enough to get promoted from the Championship.
Manchester United are the most decorated side in the division although the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City have enjoyed the most success over the last five years.
The odds for the Premier League are often released before the previous season has concluded and the outright market is always one of the most popular ante-post markets available to punters. All of the best UK bookmakers have prices for the English top tier and the odds will fluctuate throughout the campaign.
At the end of June, Manchester City were the favourites and the implied probability suggested that Pep Guardiola’s men would be dominant throughout the course of the season. Liverpool were behind the Citizens with the Reds having a 16.67% implied probability of securing their first title in over twenty years. Liverpool’s probability increased to 17.31% in August after the club signed Alisson, Fabinho and Naby Keita. After reaching the Champions League final in May, the Reds were looking to strengthen their squad and this cause a bookmakers to reduce their price accordingly.
BigBetBookmakers.com predicted that Manchester United would come third this season with season with an implied probability of 13.33% but their lack of summer spending saw that drop to 12.90% in August. Jose Mourninho’s side have made a disastrous start to the campaign with the Portuguese manager facing criticism from fans and the media.
London duo Chelsea and Spurs also featured in many people’s predictions although the pair were given just 9.09% and 8.03% implied probability respectively. Spurs’ price drifted out and their probability went down to just 6.90% following the World Cup. The summer tournament saw the majority of their starting XI feature in the latter stages with the likes of Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier and Hugo Lloris getting very little time off ahead of the new season getting underway.
Chelsea’s probability also decreased but this may have been affected by Maurizio Sarri’s appointment at Stamford Bridge. The former Napoli coach was an unknown in the British game and that could have caused the price to lengthen. Their price also lengthened after they were easily swept aside by Manchester City in the Community Shield at the beginning of August. The Blues went into that fixture without a number of key players including Eden Hazard and Ngolo Kante.
Last season, Manchester City easily wrapped up the title by accumulating 100 points. Pep’s side finished 18 points ahead of Manchester United and their dominance was the main reason for their short odds this time around. After winning the title in such a convincing fashion, they were always likely to have the biggest implied probability going into this season.
Manchester United finished second but Liverpool could only finish fourth. Jurgen Klopp chose to focus on the Champions League and that was partly to blame for their poor finishing position in the Premier League. They have the second best chance according to the probability chart based on the strength of their squad and their record against top six rivals.
Spurs could only finish third last year with Chelsea back in fifth. It was Antonio Conte’s last season in charge in West London and a fresh start was definitely required at Stamford Bridge.
Harry Kane’s dominance in the Premier League Golden Boot Award was demolished last season by Liverpool’s Mo Salah. It was a stunning season from the Egyptian as he fired off 32 goals, two more than Tottenham’s Kane managed during the season. But the slates are all wiped clean now ahead of the 2018/19 Premier League season.
So this is a good time to take a look at the Premier League 2018/19 Top Goalscorer market at bet365, where we find the familiar faces all up there. With no real hint of a major world star striker making their way to the Premier League during the summer transfer window, other than faint links to Manchester United and Chelsea to Robert Lewandowski, it is probably going to be business as usual in terms of options.
Harry Kane 11/4
Mo Salah 4/1
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 7/1
Sergio Aguero 7/1
Romelu Lukaku 10/1
Gabriel Jesus 12/1
Alexandre Lacazette 25/1
Alvaro Morata 33/1
Alexi Sanchez 33/1
Eden Hazard 33/1
Jamie Vardy 40/1
Roberto Firmino 50/1
Olivier Giroud 50/1
Marcus Rashford 66/1
Raheem Sterling 66/1
Leroy Sane 66/1
Bar 80/1
* (betting odds taken on July 20th 2018 at 9:22 pm)
Harry Kane is back in the position of favourite to win the Premier League Golden Boot. After finishing the 2018 World Cup as the top goalscorer that has only raised his stock for the forthcoming season back on the domestic front. Kane has scored 25, 29 and 30 goals in his last three seasons of Premier League action so his output is actually increasing. With Spurs being one of the top sides in the country, he is still going to be in among the goals. He is a justifiable 11/4 favourite* (betting odds taken on July 20th 2018 at 9:22 pm)
That was some season from Salah for Liverpool. He got 32 goals in 36 appearances for the Reds but the difficulty is going to be following that up. That was a benchmark set so high that the likelihood is that he is going to struggle to replicate that kind of form. He is still a key component in the powerful Liverpool attack but with a season under his belt, defences will be more wary of him and it is going to take an even bigger, better more special season from him to get the Golden Boot again. Kane, Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry are the only three players to have won the Golden Boot in back to back years since the turn of the century.
This will be the first full season for Aubameyang who joined Arsenal in the January transfer window. So he has had half a year to find his feet in England and he scored ten goals in thirteen league games for the Gunners at the back end of last season. He is going to be the focal point of the Arsenal attack under new boss Unai Emery and this could be a big season ahead for the Gabon international. He certainly has been taking a lot of backing, having been slashed down to 7/1 odds* (betting odds taken on July 20th 2018 at 9:22 pm). He’s a very interesting candidate.
Will Aguero be staying at Man City for next season? There have been rumours that Real Madrid is going to make a move for him. If he stays at City then he naturally is going to get chances aplenty. That is if he can stay fit. He won the Golden Boot back in the 2014/15 season but even if he is spearheading a full season for Manchester City, we don’t see a tremendous amount of value on him to top the goalscoring charts outright.
The big Belgian will have plenty of backing ahead of a new season with Manchester United. Lukaku is a natural predator and seems to scores in streaks. He had a decent enough World Cup but still, there were times that he looked a bit disinterested. If Lukaku were in a more attack-minded set up he would probably be at shorter odds than this. United as a whole is not expansive enough to really give Lukaku a genuine shot at the Golden Boot.
The young Brazilian hasn’t quite gotten up there in terms of goal output that we would have expected. But you can see the potential in him and if City does let Sergio Aguero go this summer then more is going to be expected of Jesus. He is always there in the thick of things in the six-yard box and is an intelligent runner. He looks as if he could well have a real break out the season pretty soon. Will it be this forthcoming season?
Bagged himself 14 goals for Arsenal last season, but it wasn’t a season where he ever looked really settled or full of confidence. He was brought in for that extra boost of goals, a star striker to try and lead the line and it never happened. It could be different this time around under new manager Unai Emery but is likely going to play second fiddle to Aubameyang anyway.
Morata is probably going to leave Chelsea in the summer as far as we can see. Even if he doesn’t we don’t see him doing anywhere near enough. Looked a bit out of place and unwillingly to fight for more in his first season in England.
Alexis Sanchez looked a different player as soon as he went to Manchester United. He couldn’t reproduce the fluent, powerful performances that he did for Arsenal. That’s down to the United way under Jose Mourinho and it isn’t likely to happen for the Chilean. Eden Hazard probably won’t be with Chelsea next season, and whatever his position he is going to provide more in a support role than anything else to someone. Jamie Vardy had a very quiet World Cup for England. He had another 20 goals season in the top flight for Leicester last season to his credit but is unlikely to do enough.
We are looking at the value of a punt on Aubameyang in the Premier League 2018/19 Golden Boot market at bet365. He is a proven scorer without question and starting the season from fresh with a rejuvenated Arsenal could well get him in the picture. His ten goals in 13 games for Arsenal last season showed what he can do and he won’t have the kind of pressure on him like Kane and Salah will have. It’s worth considering the Arsenal man especially with Arsenal not having Champions League action to drain his tank.