It’s Manchester City’s world. The rest of the English Premier League merely lives in—and endures—it.
Or is it?
The Premier League isn’t likely to be newly promoted Ipswich Town’s world for very long. The question is how low is low for the Tractor Boys. And come next May, will they take their fellow promoted cohorts Leicester City and Southampton back down to the Championship with them?
And those are only three of the numerous storylines surrounding the opening of the 2024-25 Premier League season. The world’s most popular league begins its nine-plus month season Friday with Manchester United playing host to Fulham. Four-time defending champion Manchester City visits Chelsea Sunday morning in what is the opening week’s marquee match.
With all those storylines come a wealth of wagers. Here, we explore a few ways to get money down before the first ball is kicked on Premier League futures that offer our perpetual quest of value meeting opportunity.
Gunning for Glory
It’s been 20 years since Arsenal lifted the Premier League trophy. A long 20 years of watching Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and even Leicester City schedule parades, while the Gunners flowed, ebbed and flowed again below the summit.
After two years of finishing second to Manchester City—including blowing an eight-point April lead two years ago with a horrific run-in—this should be the year Arsenal regains the summit.
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First, manager Mikael Arteta brought Arsenal back from mediocrity; the Gunners were eighth in 2019-20 and 2020-21, on a defensive foundation that will only get better this year—courtesy of newly imported Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori. Considered one of the best young defenders in the world, Calafiori joins an Arsenal team that conceded the fewest goals (26) and kept the most clean sheets (18) in the Premier League last year.
Second, Arsenal won 16 of its last 18 games—including the final six—during last year’s run-in. The mental strength Arteta has instilled in his squad over the last four seasons pays off here. There are two ways to play the Gunners: to win the Premier League and to win the league without Manchester City, meaning they merely have to beat everyone else. We like either bet.
Best Bet: Arsenal to win the Premier League (+190 at Caesars Sportsbook) and Arsenal to win the Premier League without Manchester City (-110 at Caesars)
Tractor Boys Get Plowed Under
That brings us to the other end of the table: the always-entertaining (that is, for everyone but the fans of these teams) relegation scrap. And expect Ipswich Town to entertain you during its first season in the top flight in 22 years.
Just don’t expect it to last.
Ipswich fans haven’t stopped partying since earning promotion last spring. Consider two years ago, the Tractor Boys were playing in League One—the third tier of English soccer. But here’s where the party ends and the hangover begins.
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It begins early, with opening games against Liverpool and Manchester City. It continues with a team that allowed 57 goals in the Championship last year, only three fewer than 17th-place Stoke and 18th-place QPR. Do not expect the Tractor Boys to duplicate their league-leading 92 goals scored against this company—even with manager Kiaran McKenna vowing to continue the hell-bent-for-leather style that produced those 92 goals.
If this sounds familiar, well, it should. Luton Town’s manager Rob Edwards brought his debutantes into last season’s Premier League devoted to a free-flowing attack. It flowed the Hatters right back to the Championship. The -135 odds for Ipswich to get relegated aren’t great for a nine-month bet here, so we’re going to call our drop shot in a different way. A way that will bring you worse odds should McKenna get lured away to greener (i.e. safer) pastures.
Best Bet: Ipswich Town to finish 20th (last) (+275 at Caesars)
Falling Backward
While we’re on the subject of relegation, there’s a bet we like that involves more than Ipswich falling through the trap door. It’s a bet that cashed last year—for the first time in nearly 30 years.
That’s for all three promoted teams: Ipswich, Leicester City and Southampton, to go right back down.
When Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United came up last year, only to finish 18th, 19th and 20th, respectively, it marked the first time since 1997-98 (Barnsley, Bolton and Crystal Palace were your victims) that the three promoted teams went right back down.
Ipswich, we covered. Leicester, which won the Championship last year, is facing a points deduction for an alleged breach of profitability and sustainability rules. Add in the defection of manager Enzo Maresca to Chelsea—who took star Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall with him to Stamford Bridge—and the Foxes are already in trouble.
Southampton came right back up after dropping two seasons ago and the Saints have the best chance of the trio of staying up. But the playoff winners are a mirror image of Ipswich when it comes to spitting up goals; they allowed 63 last year and will play the same high-wire game as their fellow travelers.
Best Bet: All three promoted teams to be relegated (+600 at bet365)
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Other Bets We Like
Here are a few more wagers we like:
- Tottenham Hotspur to finish in the top four (+225).
- Aston Villa Under 59.5 points (-110).
- Tottenham’s Dominic Solanke to finish as the Premier League’s top goal scorer (+2,000 each way). An each-way bet pays if he finishes among the top four goal scorers.
- Chelsea’s Cole Palmer to finish as the Premier League’s assist leader (+900 each way).
- Crystal Palace to finish in the top 10 (-110).
