It can sometimes take punters a while to adjust to the new season. Sure, everyone with a passing knowledge in English football could have predicted that Man City and Liverpool would be flying high once more, but did anyone envisage Wolves’ early season struggles? Or, that Crystal Palace would be positioned above Manchester United after seven games?
In light of that, we have scoured the data to see what bettor should be looking at, and what looks like it might continue. Moreover, some of the match analysis has shown that stats can be deceiving. Here’s what has stood out in the early part of the season:
Bournemouth Are a Punter’s Dream Team
Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth might not end up bothering the Top 4 places, but punters are learning to love them because of the eventful matches. They have scored and conceded in every match so far this season, making them perfect for BTTS markets. They have also been involved in matches with over three goals in six out of seven games. Forget the result, Bournemouth are making punters money in the goals markets.
Watford Need Target Practice
Watford are stuck at the foot of the Premier League table without a win. However, it’s not as if they have been stuck in their own half. They have hit 105 shots in their first seven games and hit the woodwork three times. The problem comes in that only 30 of those 105 have been on target, and that the Hornets have a leaky defence. Bookies rate them as odds-against, a price of 8/5 according to online football betting with 888, to be relegated, despite being four points from safety already. The point is that Watford have shown enough to warrant some confidence that they can get out of trouble.
The Top 4 Door is Open Wide
Yes, this isn’t something we have learned from reading data; it’s plain as day that Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Spurs have issues. The more apt question, however, is who is best placed to pip at least one of them to the Champions League spots? Many will cite Leicester at 11/4 as a good shout. After all, they have been tight at the back and not wasted any chances up front. Yet, it’s the 25/1 for West Ham that looks the most value. There is a good team somewhere in there; it’s just a matter of “The Engineer” Manuel Pellegrini getting it right.
Wolves Have Big Problems
There may have been some sighs of relief when Wolves got their first win of the season against Watford, but this was not a swaggering victory against the bottom club. As we mentioned above, Watford have had lots of shots and it was no different in this game. The problem for Wolves is goals, specifically making goals count. Yet, fans should also be worried that they have had a relatively easy run of fixtures to start the season; Manchester City are next.
A Yawning Gap
After sticking three past Everton, Manchester City have already a better goal difference than the combined tallies for the eight teams below them; Liverpool already have a 12-point lead over Manchester United. The title race will likely go down to the wire once more; but make no mistake that it will be only two teams involved in the race – City and Liverpool. That’s been reflected in the betting odds, with City being priced at 4/5 and the Reds at 23/20. Everyone else is around 80/1 or more.
