Having already covered League One and League Two in Part One, plus the Championship in Part Two, we have now moved on with our coverage of the new English football season by focusing on the Premier League, which gets underway this coming weekend.
Last season Manchester City were the team to land the famous trophy as they won the league at a canter from their rivals Manchester United, with injury-hit Liverpool third and Chelsea snatching fourth spot from Leicester on the final day of the season.
Following on from the European Championships this summer, this season’s Premier League will be keenly contested after some interesting transfer moves in the summer, as well as a number that are still ongoing that could well impact things at the top, and bottom, of the table.
As always, if you want to have a bet on the Premier League this coming season, then bet365 Sport is the place to head as the site offers excellent betting across the competition all throughout the season, including In Play betting on every game.
And if you are based in the United States, then BetRivers Sportsbook offers a fantastic selection of Premier League bets on every game all throughout the season.
The Premier League 2020/21 Data
- Champions – Manchester City
- Champions League Qualifiers – Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea
- Relegated From The Premier League – Fulham, West Brom, Sheffield United
- Promoted From The Championship – Norwich City, Watford, Brentford
- Leading Goalscorer – Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 23 goals
- FA Cup Winners – Leicester City
- Carabao Cup Winners – Manchester City
- Champions League Winners – Chelsea
The Premier League 2021/22 Season Preview & Tips
Over the last few years, the Premier League has effectively become four different mini-leagues within the one division. At the top of the table, there are around four or five teams contending for the title. Beyond them, there are another 5 or 6 teams that are pushing for a place in the top six.
There is also a number of teams that tend to be mid-table and finally those that tend to get drawn into the relegation battle. The resources available to teams also varies greatly with the top teams generally having much better financial clout than the teams in mid to lower table positions.
Over the past few seasons it has been Manchester City and Liverpool that have been the main contenders, but last season Liverpool dropped off due to a horrendous injury list to key defenders. Manchester City won the league comfortably with Manchester United and Chelsea emerging as contenders alongside Liverpool too.
You can’t discount Leicester either as they beat Manchester City in the Community Shield last weekend and have made some astute signings under Brendan Rodgers this pre-season.
As always, it should be a very interesting season, so let’s take a look at things in a bit more detail.
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The Premier League – Outright Winners – Chelsea (5/1)
I’ve backed Chelsea here on the understanding that Manchester City do not sign Harry Kane, which seems unlikely at the moment. Without Kane, I feel City are too lightweight in attack and that I feel hands a big advantage to their rivals of whom I feel Chelsea are the best placed to step up.
Thomas Tuchel’s team won the Champions League last year, beating City in the final, and they’ll want a league title to prove they are no flash in the pan. However, I do expect Man Utd, Liverpool and Leicester to be in amongst the thick of things at the top of the table for a good proportion of the season and I think the gap between the teams will be the closest it has been for many years.
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The Premier League 2nd, 3rd, 4th – 2nd Man City, 3rd Man Utd, 4th Liverpool
With Chelsea winning the league, I’d back the two Manchester clubs to come next with City second and United third with Liverpool in fourth and Leicester City, once again finishing in fifth place in the table. I do feel these teams will finish some way ahead of the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton and Aston Villa who would be my next four in the table (in that order).
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The Premier League – Relegated – Watford (Even), Brentford (11/10), Brighton (6/1)
Who will go down into the Championship? Well, history shows that newly promoted teams can find life very difficult in the Premier League and I think this season will show that. I think Brentford, in their first attempt in this division, will struggle and will go down and I also feel that Watford haven’t really made enough quality signings to push them into serious contention for staying up.
Of the newly promoted teams, I feel that Norwich City may be the best suited to stay up and may achieve that this season. So who will go down instead of them? While the likes of Crystal Palace, Burnley, Newcastle United and even Wolves have been mooted, my feeling is that Brighton will be the team to join them with the Seagulls losing a key man in Ben White over the summer to Arsenal.
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The Premier League – Leading Scorer – Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 10/3
This is a market that could be hugely competitive and although I have gone with the favourite Harry Kane here, there is a proviso with that and that is that he completes his move to Manchester City at some point before the transfer window closes at the end of August.
If Kane doesn’t move, then I would not back him to finish top scorer at Spurs and instead, I would probably back either Romelu Lukaku (if he joins Chelsea), Liverpool’s Mo Salah (who is 9/2) or Edinson Cavani of Manchester United, who is a 33/1 shot.
I think if Kane moves to City, he will win this and if Lukaku also moves to Chelsea, then it will be between those two for the top scorer title. However, if things stay pretty much as they are now, then I think it will be between Salah, Vardy (25/1), Bamford (25/1) and Cavani.
I think the best move here would be to hang fire on placing your top goalscorer bet in the Premier League until the future of Kane and/or Lukaku is sorted one way or the other.