West Ham and Newcastle popular punts on opening day
Published:As the new Premier League season fast approaches, 6/5 West Ham and 7/5 Newcastle are proving popular with punters for opening-day success.
Both sides have home advantage on August 18th, and each faces a team in transition, as they come to terms with a new management regime.
Newly-promoted West Ham will square off against Aston Villa at Upton Park, and an impressive array of Hammers summer signings makes them slight favourites over Paul Lambert’s new charges, who are 7/4.
Indeed, Welsh defender James Collins will likely line up for his second West Ham debut against the club he has just left, while Jussi Jaaskelainen and Mohamed Diame are among other promising arrivals for the Londoners.
Also encouraging for punters siding with the Hammers is that they have won each of their last two Premier League openers played on home soil, and will hope to continue that tradition this year.
Meanwhile, last season’s surprise package Newcastle will be aiming to further the terrific home record they managed to build last season, when they suffered only three defeats all term at the Sports Direct Arena.
That led to an eventual fifth-place finish, and boss Alan Pardew will be keen to get off to a strong start to ensure accusations of being ‘one season wonders’ cannot be levelled at the Magpies.
It took until November for the Toon Army to taste league defeat during the last campaign, and punters appear to be confident in them making another blistering start this year.
They face a Tottenham side that is somewhat of an unknown quantity under new boss Andre Villas-Boas, as he aims to implement a new style upon the White Hart Lane outfit.
Villas-Boas was accused of trying to change too much too fast during his doomed Chelsea tenure though, and those who feel he could repeat such antics with Spurs will show little interest in the 6/4 about his men claiming an opening-day victory.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
