The new Premier League season is only a matter of weeks away, with 2017-18 promising to be a riveting campaign after a summer of lavish expenditure by English football’s biggest teams.
The race for the title will surely be eagerly contested again, with a handful of realistic contenders ready to try and wrestle top spot away from defending champions Chelsea.
After analysing the new faces to arrive at the Premier League big boys and looking at the squads of the potential contenders, Manchester City are the bookmakers’ favourites to finish first in 2017-18.
Pep Guardiola’s men have spent an eye-watering amount of money on new recruits this summer, with acquisitions bolstering the already star-studded Etihad Stadium squad.
City have looked to address problem areas, with the full-back and goalkeeper positions reinforced, while in Bernardo Silva the Manchester club have signed an absolute star.
If Guardiola can balance his team given the sheer amount of talent at his disposal and sort out a defence that let the side down last season, the former Bayern Munich man could well taste domestic triumph in a third consecutive country.
Odds of around 19/10 are on offer at the bookmakers, while football predictions at Betegy
have a probability of 22 per cent for City to taste glory come next May.
With Antonio Conte’s contract sorted out, Chelsea will surely be there or thereabouts in the title race again.
The Stamford Bridge outfit have added Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata to their ranks over the summer at considerable expense and have strength in depth in all positions.
There are a number of question marks of their chances, with Diego Costa looking destined for an exit and the potential that opponents will have worked out Conte’s 3-4-3 system.
Despite this, Chelsea look strong and are a 19 per cent probability to lift the title with Betegy, while odds in the range of 7/2 are commonplace.
Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United fans have been waiting for a season where they can be identified as realistic title hopefuls – and 2017-18 looks set to be the one.
Jose Mourinho’s fierce will-to-win coupled with more sizeable expenditure make the Red Devils an ominous proposition going into the new campaign.
While more new faces are expected, Romelu Lukaku’s signing adds a new dimension to the United attack and Paul Pogba will surely play a more prominent role this season.
Odds of around 3/1 make Mourinho’s men third favourites, at a probability of 17 per cent with Betegy.
Of the remaining contenders, an exemplary effort will be needed to overcome the spending power of the afore-mentioned three favourites.
Betegy place Liverpool at fourth on the list at a probability of 12 per cent, with the signing of Mo Salah looking like an inspired move by Jurgen Klopp.
If the Reds can hold onto Philippe Coutinho and rediscover the form of the first-half of last season, they could be in the running.
Tottenham are the only side in the division yet to sign a new player this summer but holding onto their star men seems more important for Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs arguably played the most expansive and free-flowing football in the country last term but the transition from White Hart Lane to Wembley will be critical in their hopes of winning a first league title since 1961.
Betegy state there is a 11 per cent probability of this happening, while the best odds on offer are around 10/1.
Of the final contenders, Arsenal need to hold onto Alexis Sanchez and bring more quality into their squad to stand a chance, while Everton’s new faces must hit the ground running.
Betegy states probabilities of nine and seven per cent respectively for either to lift the crown this term.
With the action set to return soon, the fight to become English champions looks set to be more hotly contested than ever.
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