Premier League: Biggest movers include Manchester City and Leicester
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With Christmas right around the corner, it’s probably about time we took stock and had a good look at how the Premier League is shaping up and how the odds have changed since our trading team laid out their pre-season prices.
The table is certainly starting to take shape. Chelsea are guaranteed to be top of the tree when Santa comes calling, and the top six have established a gap on the rest.
West Brom, Everton and Watford are just three of six sides battling for seventh through to 12th, while the bottom eight are in danger of being cast adrift.
But how does this all correlate to the pre-season prices?
Well for Manchester City the odds have swung to and fro in Pep Guardiola’s Premier League inauguration.
As pre-season favs at 11/5, the bookies had all but handed City the trophy in mid-September, after six straight wins saw the Citizens move into 8/13.
But a dismal run since then has left Pep and his men seven points off the pace, and their odds drifting out to 4/1 behind Chelsea.
The Blues began as 9/2 shots, before a winless September saw them drifted to 20/1. But a 10-game win for Antonio Conte’s men has seen Chelsea shoot up the table and into favourites at 5/6.
City’s situation is nothing compared to that across town however, with Jose Mourinho entering his first season as Manchester United boss as 3/1 second favourites to win the title.
But despite signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and splashing out a world record £90m on Paul Pogba, United’s form has seen their odds explode to 50/1.
A recent revival has seen those odds cut back to 25s, but it would take a major run of results for the Premier League to head back to Old Trafford in May.
Liverpool have come in from 12/1 to 11/2, while Arsenal have drifted slightly from 9/2 to 7/1, but they may be happy with that when they see Spurs have gone from 7/1 in early October to 25/1 today.
Down at the bottom and Hull have done little to prove the pre-season 5/6 on them to go down was wrong. 1/5 says the Yorkshire outfit return to the Championship next season.
Sunderland have plummeted from 11/4 into 2/5 however, while Swansea have also dropped into 11/10 from 4/1.
But it’s West Ham and Leicester who are the surprise names down here. The Hammers were 22/1 for the drop pre-season, but could be backed at just 5s earlier this month. Victory over Burnley this week has lifted Slaven Bilic’s men back out to 10/1.
And as for the reigning champions, their 25/1 pre-season chances for the drop came into 9/1 before August was out. That quickly grew again to 40/1 but a failure to put any run together means Claudio Ranieri’s men are just 11/1 today.
And finally, those who backed Diego Costa to be top scorer this season will have a smug look on their face this Christmas.
The Chelsea star was a 16/1 punt to claim the golden boot, but a stunning run to net 12 goals this term has seen the Spaniard tumble into 7/5 favourite.
Sergio Aguero remains in the hunt at 7/2 despite his four-game ban, while Alexis Sanchez’s central role at Arsenal has caught the traders out, with the Chilean 7/2 today from 33s in August.
Premier League Market Movers:
Manchester City to win the Premier League: 11/5 > 8/13 > 4/1
Chelsea to win the Premier League: 9/2 > 20/1 > 5/6
Leicester to be relegated: 25/1 > 9/1 > 40/1 > 11/1
Diego Costa to be Premier League top scorer: 16/1 > 7/5
Alexis Sanchez to be Premier League top scorer: 33/1 > 7/2
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
