With only the final of the 2024 European Championships left to play it is time to start looking forward to next season’s domestic football and see if we can find some early betting value.
Last season was a bit of an eye-opener, as Arsenal pushed Manchester City right down to the wire, and Man City won the league by two points. With that in mind, it does make this upcoming season an extremely interesting proposition.
There currently is still a little bit of betting value left for Manchester City, and at 13/10 with both Paddy Power and Betfair, it might be worth a bet at those odds. After all, unless Manchester City go on a truly horrendous run at the beginning of the season, it’s unlikely you will be able to get better odds than that.
CHAMPIONS AGAIN OLE OLE! 🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/75a5rVzeLw
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 19, 2024
Arsenal are a little more appealing and you currently can get 2/1 in the betting, from numerous online bookies, such as Sky Bet, Unibet and BetUK.
Looking past the two front runners in the betting, the odds do quickly start to improve, and maybe for good reason! Liverpool come third in the betting with the bookies, with 8/1 on offer from the likes of Ladbrokes, LiveScoreBet and Betway. 8/1 may seem generous, but we think that is tight, considering Jurgen Klopp stepped down as manager at the end of last season, with ex-Feyenoord manager Arne Slot taking over the hot seat.
With a brand new manager, with new ideas, and players like Mohamed Salah now entering their latter years, it may be too much for them to challenge for the title in 2024-25.
An interesting team in the betting is Chelsea. They are currently available at a nice 20/1 with a few bookies including Bet365, 888sport and Vbet. Although we don’t expect Chelsea to win the league, they have a good price that certainly offers some each-way value. Like Liverpool, Chelsea have a new manager in Enzo Maresca, who left Leicester City to join them after guiding the Foxes back into the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Chelsea had spent a fortune at the start of last season on players, and despite the club sacking Mauricio Pochettino, the team had just started to click across the run-in.
So, taking all that into account we find ourselves with our first two bets of the season. We have selected two bets here which we think both offer some betting value, Manchester City to win the league outright, at 13/10, and Chelsea to win the league each way. If you are unaware, each way means if you want to stake £10 on Chelsea, £5 will go on them winning the league at 20/1, and the other £5 will go on them finishing second. So, if Chelsea won the league your returns would be £144, whereas if they finished second, you’d still be able to win £44 from your bet.
In focus: Enzo Maresca 🔎⚽️ pic.twitter.com/ebefEkRd4R
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 9, 2024
Following on from that Chelsea bet, you might want to check out the bookmaker Bet365, as they have a betting market of ‘Premier League winner without Manchester City’. Currently, Bet365 are the only bookie offering this market, so it may not last long, but here you can back Chelsea at 11/1.
Before you place any season-long bets though, it might be worth seeing if there are any betting offers to claim first. There are plenty of free bet sites around, such as Free Bets UK, so it might be beneficial to get some free bet offers first.
There are more betting markets of interest though for people wanting to bet on the Premier League, with more betting value to hunt out. One of those markets is for teams to have a top-six finish come the end of the season. Only Bet365 and BetVictor are currently offering betting odds on this, but two teams stand out.
Firstly, Newcastle at 8/13 with Bet365. They fell short last season by finishing seventh, but unlike many of the top teams, they don’t have the distraction of extra European football in 2024-25, as they missed out on that.
Another eye-catching team is Aston Villa. They had an amazing season last season finishing fourth, and although they aren’t likely to drop in their standards, extra Champions League football may take its toll. Yet Bet365 have them at 11/8 for a top-six finish, and we like the look of that bet. On top of that, if you like both selections, you can have them in a double with the same bookie and get odds of 2.86/1, which again, we think is good value.
At the other end of the table, the relegation battle each season often offers as much excitement as the business end. What has made this betting market a little trickier recently, is the threat of points deductions to teams who breach FFP and PSR rules.
In the relegation betting market, Leicester City are the clear favourite for the drop, with odds of 1/2 with Betfred and Sky Bet. Although Leicester are looking at a potential point deduction for breaking the PSR laws, we do think those offer no value at all. It may even be worth trying to lay that bet on the betting exchanges.
However, despite only squeaking through the playoffs, Southampton are third favourites to be relegated, and at 6/4 with BetVictor, we do think this could be a bet worth going for. If you are looking for a little bit more betting value though, and a bit of an outside bet, we quite like the look of Brentford. They are unlikely to be able to hang on to Ivan Toney for another season and the 5/1 with BetVictor looks like it could be a worthwhile outside bet.
One last bet we think is worth looking at is for who will win the FA Cup. Last season, Manchester United pulled off a bit of a shock by beating Manchester City, which may have saved Erik ten Hag from getting the sack.
That thinking has helped us find our betting tip for the FA Cup winner this upcoming season. Unlike any of the other top teams, Newcastle United don’t have the distraction of European football. A tops-six finish will be the target for the Magpies, though the chance to get their hands on some silverware will not be overlooked. The FA Cup could be a great trophy for them.
You can find betting odds of 16/1 with BetVictor and we do like those odds, after all, it can come down to the magic of the cup.
Whatever you do end up betting on, remember to gamble responsibly. Enjoy the coming season and don’t let betting spoil that.
