The new Premier League season kicks off tomorrow, and here is a look at the major contenders ahead of the 2020/21 season. Will Liverpool be able to win back to back trophies? Or will the title return to Manchester, with both City and United having improved significantly over the back end of last season?
Liverpool (+225 | 9/4 | 3.25 ), defending champions
It might come as a surprise to some that defending champions Liverpool are not the punters’ first choice for the 20/21 campaign despite finishing a whopping 18 points clear at the top last season. Most of it is probably down to the Reds’ lack of investment in the current transfer window- their only major signing has been Greek left back Kostas Tsimikas for £11.7m.
Manager Jurgen Klopp has defended his side’s lack of spending, saying that his club “cannot be a Chelsea”- the Reds have spent only about 1/20th of the Blues’ outlay in the current market.
Some fans feel that Klopp is missing out on the opportunity to build a hegemony of sorts, and are worried whether the current lot of players, who have already claimed European and Premier League honours under the German, will have the hunger to produce a campaign like they did last season.
Manchester City (-125 | 4/5 | 1.80 ), last season finish (2nd)
City were the only team to win back to back titles in the last decade, and Pep Guardiola has set his sights on bringing the trophy back to the Etihad after a relatively underwhelming 19/20 campaign. Defence was a major issue for City last season, and Guardiola has attempted to solve it by adding Dutch international Nathan Ake to their ranks. There are also strong rumours circulating around a move for Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, and if that deal does go through, City will have the makings of an unbeatable side, with the Senegalese potentially capable of having a Van Dijk-esque impact for them.
City have always been strong on the attacking front, but have further reinforced it by adding Ferran Torres to their ranks. To understand what -125 means, there is a section that talks about implied probability in this article on how to read odds. Taking -125 and converting it would give City an implied probability of 55.56% to win the title, and that makes them clear favourites. Keep in mind that there is a different way to calculate implied probability for teams with positive odds- the corresponding figure for Liverpool for instance, in this case (+225) would be 30.77%.
Chelsea (+1000 | 10/1 | 11.00), last season finish (4th)
Chelsea have spent heavily in the transfer market and have acquired the cream of Europe’s top young footballing talents, with the likes of Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, Malang Sarr and Hakim Ziyech all moving to Stamford Bridge. Werner, in fact, was heavily linked with Liverpool, but with the Reds dithering on how to arrange funds for the transfer, Chelsea swooped for the German international.
If manager Frank Lampard adds some more strong defensive reinforcements as well, this team could surprise one and all next season.
Manchester United (+1600| 16/1 | 17.00), last season finish 3rd
United have also been quiet on the transfer front- their only big acquisition has been Donny van de Beek, who, if we may say, is an addition in an area that particularly doesn’t seem to require reinforcement. United fans are hoping for Jadon Sancho, but that deal hasn’t happened yet.
The United first XI is capable, but they do seem to lack of a bit of bench strength, and that explains why the Red Devils are behind LFC, MCFC and CFC in the eyes of pundits and fans alike.
Other “Big Six” contenders– Arsenal (+3300 | 33/1 | 34.00) and Tottenham (+5000 | 50/1 | 51.00)