2019-20 English Premier League Betting Preview

This weekend marks the beginning of the 2019-20 English Premier League campaign. Manchester City completed a thunderous comeback, as they trailed Liverpool when the calendar changed to 2019 but then ran off 14 wins in a row to eke out the win over the Reds. We have some thoughts about your soccer betting selections for the championship for the coming year, the top four finishers — and those who will end up suffering relegation.

2019-20 English Premier League Betting Preview

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Who will win the title?

Manchester City (4/7) and Liverpool (3/1) are your top two favorites. With respect to City, it is not hard to see why they are the favorite. They have racked up 198 points over the last two seasons, but rather than stand pat heading into 2019-20, they opened the vault to sign Rodri in the transfer window, spending 62.8 million pounds to bring him over from Atletico Madrid. His midfield skills should make him the long-term answer to the need to replace Fernandinho. The side still needs to figure out how to deal with the loss of Vincent Kompany, whose leadership kept the team together, and whose defensive skills helped the team make up for those rare mistakes. However, his susceptibility to injury means that the team is already used to playing without him for fairly long stretches. They have the depth to rotate their lineup and still keep winning, which should help them deal with the extra matches that come with Champions League play. Liverpool did not make any additions to their first team in the transfer window, and Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have all left the team for extended time to take place in international tournaments. They did win the Champions League, though, and they do have the talent in place to push City again this year. Tottenham Hotspur (22/1) also spent big at the transfer window, bringing in Tanguy Ndombele for their midfield. The questions that the Spurs face have to do with depth, particularly at fullback, a spot where they once had solid depth at each position, but injuries piled up, and now they enter the season wondering how to replace Kieran Trippier. Harry Kane is not likely to miss a quarter of the season again, though, so Tottenham should finish with more points this season. Chelsea was the last team in the top four last year, finishing just ahead of Tottenham, but they lost Eden Hazard and face a transfer ban this season. They are looking to Tammy Abraham, Michy Batshuayi or Christian Pulisic to deliver attacking up front. Another solid top-four candidate is Arsenal, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette up front to deliver goals. They also brought in Pepe in the transfer window to key an attacking midfield. Their Achilles heel is their back line, as they are shorthanded coming in. Manchester United gave Harry Maguire the top contract for any defender in the world, and they also brought in Dan James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, so they could push into the top four as well.

And what about relegation?

Sheffield United has spent heavily, and it will be interesting to see if their investment pays off. They have made promotion twice now under Chris Wilder. However, after opening with two fairly accessible contests, they hit a gauntlet, and they could find themselves treading water. Aston Villa spent more than 100 million pounds upon gaining promotion, bringing in Tyrone Mings and Tom Heaton for the midfield, two solid players that should help them stay in the top league after this season. Norwich has spend 1.1 million pounds to tie down existing stars but not recruiting hard in the transfer window. They did win the Sky Bet Championship, but it will be interesting to see if they have the depth to make it through the long march of an EPL season. Anohter team at risk of relegation is Newcastle United, who added Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximin, along with Jetro Willems, through the transfer window, but their defense is still leaky, so they will need to figure that back line out if they want to avoid departing the EPL.