The Premier League is back, with the months without football finally making way for the return of the biggest footballing league in the world.
We were treated to a small slice of the action to come during the Community Shield as Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-1 in a pulsating match, with the two best sides in the league continuing their trend of playing out enthralling matches whenever they come together.
Leading betting site bets.co.za have made three predictions for the season ahead, with this Premier League campaign threatening to be the best one ever.
Premier League Winner
The odds say this is very much a two-horse race. Unibet make Manchester City the favourites at 1.75, while Liverpool are available at 3.50. City edged to the Premier League title last season as their battle with Liverpool went down to the final day as the two continued to push each-other to new heights.
This year, it seems the bookies feel it will be a fight between the pair once again, but City are fancied to defend their title. Pep Guardiola has lost the likes of Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho, but he has replaced them with Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips. Meanwhile, the major loss for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool was Sadio Mane. However, on his performance in the Community Shield, goal scorer Darwin Nunez will do a good job of filling the gap Mane has left.
Honestly, it seems as though the two sides have been able to keep hold of most of their best players whilst also adding to their pool of talent. Both will target the Champions League this season as this is still the pinnacle of the club game, but one of them will very likely win the league. This year, we are backing City to win it yet again, with Guardiola just knowing exactly how to win a league trophy.
Premier League Winners – Manchester City
Top Goal Scorer
This betting market has become more of a shot in the dark in recent years, with the Premier League boasting some of the best goal scoring talent in the world. Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronald, Son-Heung Min, Darwin Nunez, Gabriel Jesus and Jamie Vardy will all be fancied to score goals.
A lot of the talk in the build-up to the season has surrounded the battle between Haaland and Salah. The two will be the premier scoring options for Manchester City and Liverpool, and both will be provided with a lot of chances to score, something we believe they will do with aplomb.
While we do think that Haaland will find his scoring touch, we think the increased responsibility on Salah’s shoulders following Said Mane’s departure will see him get more chances, and we expect him to score even more goals.
Top Goalscorer – Mohamed Salah
Relegation
The massive favourites to go down this season are Bournemouth, while Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Leeds, Southampton and Brentford are all also fancied to lose their Premier League status.
The three promoted teams in Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest will be the pick of most to go down, with it incredibly difficult for teams from the Championship always struggling to match the speed of the Premier League.
Leeds really rode their luck last season, but we believe the three promoted teams are far weaker than Leeds, while Southampton have a knack for staying up. For Brentford, if they can get anywhere near the level they were at last season, then we cannot see them going down.
As far as the one side we think is most likely to go down, we are backing the Cherries to drop out of the Premier League after one season.
