Let us football

Last season:



This season's contenders (title odds 100/1 or better):

Liverpool - 9/5 (+180), last season: first



The last time they won the league, there was no Premier League, most of us had four TV channels, Luton and Millwall were top division teams and club captain Jordan Henderson was just a foetus. But they've managed to follow up winning the Champions League and finally ended 30 years of lolplop, dropping just two points in their first 27 games and having the title effectively locked up as early as anyone ever, yet only actually clinching it later than anyone else. With minimal changes to date, it's hard to see how a formidable front three coupled the best centre back and full back pairing in the league will fail to be up there again at the end of the season.

Manchester City - 21/20 (+105), last season: second



They scored over 100 goals and conceded just a couple more than Liverpool, but despite handing out some ridiculously one sided results, lack of consistency (losing to Norwich, Southampton, Wolves twice, also letting United do the double over them) and failure to properly replace Vincent Kompany left them far enough behind, and failures elsewhere saw Pep just pick up the Mickey Mouse cup and nothing else. The centre back issue might be addressed by dropping 40 million on Nathan Ake, although Laporte staying injury free may be like a new signing. Whether they replace the departed Leroy Sane, or actually give Foads the minutes he should get remains to be seen. At least now they know they can spend what they like and nobody will care.

Manchester United - 12/1 (+1200), last season: third



The Ole at the wheel experiment is going to continue, at least for now, as despite a mediocre first half of the season, where they managed to lose to two relegated teams, Newcastle, West Ham and Palace, they would go undefeated after a home defeat to Burnley, not losing in their last 14 games and securing Champions League football on the final day. The arrival of Bruno Fernandes looks to instantly be the best buy of last season, also unlocking the best from Martial, looking increasingly important in a youthful front line where Mason Greenwood has become a key element along with Marcus Rashford. They would lose in the semi finals of three cup competitions, and it still looks as if there is a big gap to the top two, but if the best can somehow be got out of Pogba then maybe the gap can shrink quite quickly.

Chelsea - 16/1 (+1600), last season: fourth



What might have been a transitional season under the stewardship of club legend Frank Lampard, with an injection of youth from the club's academy routes, turned out pretty well, finishing in the Champions League spots which looked a long way off after they got spanked by United on the opening day. The likes of Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount amongst others saw a better than expected transformation, although Abraham may find himself on the fringes quickly again with the arrival of Timo Werner and potentially Kai Havertz. Frank will need to bring the best out of Kepa to avoid giving away too many easy points, and also hope that N'Golo Kante can avoid persistent injuries that saw him miss multiple games on several occasions.

Tottenham Hotspur - 55/1 (+5500), last season: sixth



What looked like a possible disastrous season for Spurs, with just three wins in the first twelve costing Pochettino his job in the November international break, was turned around by Jose Mourinho, who was able to turn enough around that, despite some notable blips, they were able to finish in the Europa League spots, only suffering the one loss at Sheffield United following the resumption of the season. Their attacking options look dangerous enough, but finding the right combination in central midfield, as well as potentially upgrading at full back will surely be a priority in the coming weeks.

Arsenal - 60/1 (+6000), last season: eighth



On the other side of North London, we also saw a managerial change with Unai Emery getting the sack also in November, being replaced with Mikel Arteta, and while Arteta was unable to see Arsenal get that high up in the league, he was at least able to see some silverware return to the Emirates with a record 14th FA Cup victory. Too many draws was somewhat of an issue with a division high 14, Mikel will need to try to reshape the squad and either get the best out of some of their higher paid players or move them on. Deciding what to to with Özil, Aubameyang, Xhaka and Pepe will be important, but there are plenty of ex-academy and other youngsters who will be snapping at their heels.

This season's Norwich (relegation odds 7/2 or better)

Fulham - 11/10 (+110), last season: fourth in Championship

London gets another club in the Premier League after Fulham bounce back at the first attempt, Scott Parker's outfit clinching a playoff final win over Brentford. Already slight favourites to go straight back down, they'll try to invest better than the spend ALL the money strategy which went horribly wrong two seasons ago, their defence in particular looks somewhat lightweight, but in Mitrovic they at least have a proven goalscorer that can make all the difference.

West Bromwich Albion - 6/5 (+120), last season: second in Championship

The Baggies were able to get back into the Premier League after two seasons out, playoff heartbreak in 18/19 wasn't on the cards this year, and while they needed to wait until late in the final game of the season, a solid start to the season where they only lost one game before Christmas to eventual champions Leeds saw them in the automatics after 11 games, which they never conceded. The squad lacks any real star names, and didn't have any player score more than ten league goals, so whether they have the creativity at Premier League level will be the huge question.

Aston Villa - 2/1 (+200), last season: 17th

Villa were the team who dumped West Brom out of last season's playoffs, and were able to just about do enough to survive, looking pretty much doomed following a ten game run where they picked up just two points, a controversial 0-0 against Sheffield United and then a draw at Newcastle, but eight points in the last four games saw them scrape over the line and condemn Bournemouth to a fire sale to avoid administration. Much will depend on whether Villa are able to hold on to lynchpin Jack Grealish, and if not, whether they are able to reinvest quickly enough, Dean Smith needed to bring in a lot of players last summer, so maybe a second season will bring some much needed cohesion.

Newcastle - 5/2 (+250), last season: 13th

It looks like what was the best chance to get Ashley out of the club has gone down the toilet, so while Steve Bruce was able to do a fairly good job in overachieving compared to many pre season predictions of relegation, ending up in their standard lower mid table mediocrity position, it's hard to see how the Toon Army can actually progress. Joelinton has mostly looked like a waste of money, although Allan Saint-Maximin looks like a good piece of business, generating more goals (a tally of 38 was better than only one non-relegated team) could be critical, you can't rely on Dubravka continually bailing you out.

Crystal Palace - 5/2 (+250), last season: 14th

Palace had a fairly boring season, never looking in real trouble right up until the break, which came at just the wrong time. Woy's lineup had won three on the bounce, and while they did beat Bournemouth first game back, those would be the only points they would get prior to a 1-1 draw with Spurs in the final game. They're not too bad defensively, but nobody apart from Norwich scored less goals, Jordan Ayew bagged nine but nobody else managed five, including Wilfried Zaha who's been linked with everyone and whose sale would instantly destroy a huge amount of creativity at Selhurst Park.

Burnley - 7/2 (+350), last season: 10th

Not really sure why Burnley are such a short price to go down, Sean Dyche continues to do a very solid job on a tight budget and the Turf Moor club continue to be one of the more sensibly run teams in the division. Apart from a kicking from Man City and a meaningless last game defeat to Brighton, Burnley went undefeated after the break following another seven games unbeaten just before, where they rose from a possibly nervous fifteenth to a final top half finish. Maybe the market sees Chris Wood's fourteen goal return as unsustainable?

Everybody Else

Leicester City had an amazing first half to the season, where they were coasting along in third and looking hot favourites for a return to Champions League football, but continual dropped points following the restart and eventual capitulation in a winner takes all match at the King Power to Manchester United in the final game saw Brent's team get a creditable fifth, although ultimately disappointing given the position they were in.

Wolverhampton Wanderers put aside the questions about handling the Europa League along with everything else in their second season back, Nuno continuing to do remarkable work, albeit with great backing. Only denied European football again following Arsenal's cup win, much will depend on if they are able to hold on to highly-coveted asset Raul Jiminez, although they are not lacking in attacking options outside the Mexican forward.

Sheffield United stunned everyone by finishing in the top half, Chris Wilder's side lacking any real superstars but putting together the fourth best defensive record in the league, grinding out a lot of low scoring victories. The return of Dean Henderson to Man United has quickly been addressed with the return of Aaron Ramsdale to Bramall Lane, coaxing more goals out of Oli McBurnie and the continued development of Sander Berge will be critical.

Southampton looked in real trouble after the first half of the season which featured a 9-0 home dicking by Leicester City, although they didn't panic with the side being in the relegation zone in December, stuck with Hasenhüttl, and were able to climb to comfortable mid table safety, helped hugely by Danny Ings nearly winning the golden boot. Is that sustainable?

Everton underperformed severely, eventually sacking Marco Silva and bringing in Carlo Ancelotti with the club in the drop zone following a heavy derby defeat at Anfield. Carlo was able to steady things enough to finish lower mid table, but with the investment they have, more substantial improvements will be the target, there's no reason why they shouldn't be in the conversation for seventh.

Brighton are steadily becoming a regular if unremarkable part of the Premier League furniture, hovering in fifteenth for more or less all year. Neal Maupay looks to be a decent enough signing to give them a bit more firepower as he hit double figures following a move from Brentford, but they could do with continual incremental improvements in all areas in order to not be dragged into a relegation dogfight, good news for them is that there's a lot of mediocre sides this year.

West Ham were another team to sack their manager in 19/20, releasing Pellegrini over Christmas with things looking rather dicey and recalling David Moyes for a second spell. Michail Antonio did alright but big money spend on Sebastian Haller didn't work out quite as intended, and there's still a bit of a goalkeeper question to answer. Whether they can retain Declan Rice is also a concern, but there should be enough talent in the squad not to end up quite so low as this season, and they did finish with a decent run of results.

Finally, Leeds United are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2004, Marcelo Bielsa managing to have them not fall apart again and taking the Championship title and promotion with a few games to spare. They've probably got enough quality in defence and midfield to be able to survive fairly comfortably, but questions over whether Patrick Bamford is good enough to lead a Premier League front line are very real and they ought to be looking to strengthen that area.

Elsewhere

Watford, Bournemouth and Norwich were relegated to the Championship, while Coventry are back there for the first time in ages, Rotherham continue to yoyo between tiers 2 and 3, while Wycombe Wanderers are in the second tier for the first time in their clubs history. With Bournemouth needing to sell and Norwich probably going to sell some players, it's as wide open a Championship as ever.

League One will now feature Hull City after an epic collapse following selling Jarrod Bowen, Wigan Athletic following administration shenanigans, and Charlton Athletic after Sheffield Wednesday had points deducted this season rather than last. Swindon, Crewe, Plymouth and Northampton have all been at this level somewhat recently.

League Two has seen Barrow enter the Football League for the first time since 1972, while Harrogate Town won the playoffs to play in the League for the first time in their history. Stevenage survived after yet another points deduction for Macclesfield the other week, while Bolton, Tranmere and Southend were varying levels of awful in the third tier in 19/20 and shouldn't really threaten to jump straight back up.

Sporting Index projections for all your betting needs



Fan list (c&p from last year, half on this list probably never here, PM a mod to update):

Manchester City
8bus
PNHH
daca
Wilfred1

Liverpool
Consty
LFC_USA
NicReynolds
Liverpool
heh
valenzuela
BertieWooster
Jake7777
ChrisV
PBAL
StormBorn
Dean Manifest

Man United
kevin21
kingweed
xXDeuce7Xx
EnglishLad72
t3hbandit
JoeDiego
SenseiSingh
ashley12
thedeezy
Sven O
KDawg
Hap_Hazard
ukbilly

Tottenham
mw828
Human Halo
ChopSueyyy
Elrazor
martymc1
Lars1
Stu Ungar
thedinergetsby
ikestoys
thenickh
Empire Man
TheGramuel

Chelsea
Cinarocket
ZAIDS
O.A.F.K.1.1
72off
Yippee ki-yay
Bjorn ?
Wooders0n
Ghost of Langer

Arsenal
Mindfckr
Ducksauce
cashy (probably when not busy)
aoFrantic
PoseidonCubed
raheem
Giroudgeous
theshocker7
kingofcool
Adolph Hipster
Aidan
marek_heinz
Nandos v2
Ledders
ceire
NOZE

Misc:
Burnley
Tall Paul

Everton
LostOstrich
S.K
SaulGoodman

Leicester City
andre006
thethethe

Middlesbrough
ffire

Southampton
joejoe1337

Swansea City
kidcolin

West Brom
tchaz

West Ham
Hoopie1
MedicorePlayer2.0

Phil Foden
BAIDS

Sheffield United
sixfour

Bolton
bazooka87

Aston Villa
Burnss / 100zAndUp

PSG
andre006
EL RATA

Toon
TehVader

Sheffield Wednesday
thechef

Celtic
martymc1

Schalke
royalblue

Leeds
PeteBlow

Great poast. Looking for arsenal vs spuds season bet.

Fine work, sixfour, apart from one thing...
You forgot me!

Blame bus

Nice one for getting things started off sixfour, cant believe i got left off the fans list though.

Added (you are mun, right)

Thanks man, i will respond by being an upstanding member of this thread and will be kind and respectful to all.

Nice post sixfour very analytical.subd

In for another season of exceeding expectations and getting the haters mad.

This is Martials year. QUOTE ME!

Also Leeds 45 points with Sheffield Utd 42 seems way off to me. Am gonna take a look online at betting the over on 42.

I’ll take this just a friendly £25?

Everton fan here, hoping to steal a top 6.

Agreed. It would certainly take something illegal for Everton to make the top 6.

chelsea fan checking in

---------

clayton's unsexy but +ev wagers

united over 73.5 points
chelsea under 69.5 points

southampton over 50.5 points
brighton over 43.5 points

palace under 38 points
newcastle under 36.5 points

observations:
- united's fixtures to start is a cakewalk and they keep their core, there is probably some worry about injuries if ole plays such a tight rotation but i'm happy risking that. everyone seems to be on the correct side of the age curve and they may give henderson some reps ahead of de gea which is an upgrade. they wont compete for the title imo but they're gonna look just as good to start this year as they did ending last year, i wouldnt be surprised at all if it went city/united/liverpool in standings to end year.

- chelsea overperformed last season imo, they will need a little time to get chemistry between ziyech/werner and the midfield plus their defense is a complete trainwreck, not sure whoever they sign outside of chilwell could have me feeling less bad. i heard they may try for thiago silva but he's old idk. they will score a good chunk but give up more. no faith in their center backs outside rudiger. the wingbacks dont jive together so great. they will score a lot and be entertaining as hell but there will be way too many games where they give up 2-3 goals to **** teams.

- southampton has good fixtures to start and was playing quite well to end the season, hassenhuitl deserves credit for the job he did post leiecester annihilation. mccarthy has been good, no reason to suspect ings and armstrong wont continue to play super well, i think they'll attempt to sneak into europa for this year and this year only.

- newcastle just a pure xPTS bet, they should have been relegated last year and i dont see them adding anyone to help, plus they may sell ASM midseason.

- my strongest feel bet (if i could bet, it would be the biggest bet), brighton, i think they will be like 8th-9th in table and not 13th as projected. all their important players are on the correct side of the age curve, i am bullish on tariq lamptey for all the obvious reasons, they got unlucky in xPTS last year.

- palace is just a pure gutfeel bet, the entire team looks washed and hates to be there, the coach looks 110 years old and tired. relegation incoming. they have okay fixtures to start so if theyre hovering bottom 6 after week 10 you can comfortably bury them.

Quality OP 64. In.

You'd have spuds +1.5 pts at evens then correct?

Yeah

In

On the Chelsea front whilst I agree we over performed last year we were 3rd most in chances created and 3rd best at chances created against. With an abysmal saves to shots ratio. If we get a keeper and add some defensive help which we should I think we'll do well. Add in to that we should have a striker who will finish at a higher rate I would optimistically take the over.

Silva would be a great signing. The back line lacks leadership.

If kepa is in goal then I agree with you but surely we can find some cheap old keeper as a stop gap for a couple of years. I.e. Ben Foster or someone of that sort.

So I'd defo take the over 69 points or whatever the line is

Yeah chelsea over stands out for me as well.

Wouldn't touch United over unless woody finds the key to the warchest sometime soon.

BREAKING: United do not want to pay Maguire's entire bail money upfront - want to put down a small initial payment and spread it over 3 years based on performance in the show banged up abroad

Happy for joe to do the saints bidding on here

Burnley over looks like free money (as long as SD doesn't go anywhere, which seems unlikely now).

Need as many of us around here as possible!

Will happily take Soton -4 vs Leeds if anyone fancies a gentlemanly wager. Thinking in the £20 sphere but would go up a bit if someone wants.

Edit: will also short Newcastle for around the same amount if someone is keen!

Cross-posting from last year's thread:

Ok going to take the bull by the horns, who's in for eggball this year? Quote for expressions of interest or post here: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...l#post56447367