Welcome to the first full season of myself, the 'SundayLeagueShark' taking over the soccer tips at BeforeYouBet. We have a jam packed soccer season to look forward to and as well as giving you tips for of course the EPL, we will be covering the A-League, Champions League and Europa League using the units format this season. My stats will be available week to week in a hope that we can finish the season with a tidy profit.
It feels like only yesterday we were crowning Real Madrid European Champions for another year and closing the book on the EPL and FA Cup seasons. After just a few months down time, it’s time to fire up the 2017-18 European Football season with most of the major competitions kicking off over the next few weekends! Today we preview the upcoming EPL season and give our betting tips for all things Premier League but be sure to check our soccer tips page in the coming weeks as we continue to preview the top flight European competitions.
It’s been a busy off season in the English Premier League, with most of the top contenders for the 2017-18 title picking up some valuable pieces that should help them immensely this year. Before we start getting into who we like to take out the various prizes, we’ll run you through some of the major acquisitions that were made by the top teams throughout the EPL.
Arsenal
In: Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), Sead Kolasinac (Schalke)
Out: Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus)
Chelsea
In: Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid), Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco), Antonio Rudiger (Roma), Willy Caballero (Manchester City)
Out: Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Nathan Ake (Bournemouth), Jaun Cuadrado (Juventus), Asmir Begovic (Bournemouth), Bertrand Traore (Lyon), John Terry (Aston Villa), Kurt Zouma (Stoke City).
Everton
In: Jordan Pickford (Sunderland), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Michael Keane (Burnley), Davy Klaassen (Ajax).
Out: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona), Tom Cleverley (Watford), Aiden McGeady (Sunderland).
Liverpool
In: Mohamed Salah (Roma), Andy Robertson (Hull City), Dominic Solanke (Chelsea)
Out: Kevin Stewart (Hull), Lucas Leiva (Lazio), Andre Wisdom (Derby)
Manchester City
In: Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Danilo (Real Madrid), Bernardo Silva (Monaco), Benjamin Mendy (Monaco), Ederson (Benfica), Douglas Luiz (Vasco da Gama)
Out: Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City), Fernendo (Galatasaray), Nolito (Sevilla), Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Pablo Zabaleta (West Ham), Gael Clichy (Basaksehir), Jesus Navas (Sevilla) Joe Hart (West Ham)
Manchester United
In: Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Nemanja Matic (Chelsea), Victor Lindelof (Benfica).
Out: Wayne Rooney (Everton), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Free Agent), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad)
Tottenham Hotspur
In: NONE
Out: Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Nabil Bentaleb (Schalke), Federico Fazio (Roma)
2017-18 Title Chances
On first glance and definitely when measured by money spent, Manchester City have had the biggest impact this off season. After securing the services of wing backs Kyle Walker and Danilo they went about picking up Monaco pair Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva for over 40 million Euros each. The moves have the Sky Blues as early favourites to win the title, and rightfully so after only losing relative role players from their squad.
The 2017 Champions, Chelsea, were also busy during the off season, picking up Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata to sure up their attack which looks likely to lose Diego Costa. The exit of some key defensive pieces in Nemanja Matic and Kurt Zouma could hurt their depth, but all in all they are primed to make another run at the title. Eden Hazard looked set to take the next step towards the end of last year and the defensive structures put in place by Antonio Conte last year resulted in one of the best team defences ever seen in the EPL. Write Chelsea off at your own peril.
Manchester United secured arguably the most prized off season signing, acquiring the services of Everton star striker Romelu Lukaka. Chelsea looked to be in the hunt but as Manchester United do so often, swooped in at the last minute with a massive offer. They also picked up Matic from Chelsea who will make a formidable defensive midfield pairing with Paul Pogba. The Red Devils are back in the Champions League this year after winning the Europa so should be motivated and firing. The signature of Zlatan Ibrahimovic still eludes them but he is looking likely to stay with Manchester as each day passes.
In a competition that is dominated year in year out by the richest teams (except 2016), the fourth team we really like is Arsenal. They addressed their main concern of finding a reliable goal scoring forward when they signed Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette through the offseason and managed to keep all of their other key pieces. Looked like one of the better teams in the league through the middle part of last season and will be hoping they can find that form again.
All in all, we can’t look past the Blues to go back-to-back. Sure, Manchester City have spent a bucket load of cash through the offseason but they lacked a real star signing. We think it’s going to be a much tighter race than it was last year but we can’t refuse the $4.50 being offered for the Conte lead team.
TIP: Chelsea to win the title - $4.50 at Bet365
Dark Dark Horse
Ever since Leicester in 2016, we have to throw at least one really smokey chance into the mix, because the Foxes proved to us that anything is possible. This year we really like how West Ham have gone about their off season. Sure, they won’t win the Premier League, but they could be a smokey chance for a top ten finish or better after winning the signature of prized Stoke forward Marko Arnautovic. They also picked up Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen and the Manchester City veterans in Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta.
TIP: West Ham to finish top 10 - $2 at Sportsbet
Player Awards
When scrolling down the list of potential ‘best players in the league’ one name stands out above the rest. Paul Pogba has now had a year to acclimatise himself into EPL football and we feel he is ready to explode. He possesses every attribute desired in a top level midfielder and could elevate him in to the top tier of world footballers with a good 2017-18 season.
TIP: Paul Pogba to win the PFA Player of the Year - $11 at Ladbrokes
How can we deny what Harry Kane has done over the last three years in the EPL. Many thought he would be a one hit wonder with his break out year of 21 goals in 2014-15, however, he has backed it up the last two seasons with two Golden Boot titles. Had challenges last year in the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez but with both players having a change in roles this year, we like Kane to run away with the Golden Boot.
TIP: Harry Kane to win the Golden Boot - $4.25 at William Hill
Relegation
In my opinion, the most exciting thing to watch unfold throughout the course of the relegation race. There are plenty of chances in the relegation zone this year as we see some lesser known teams come from the Championship to join the big boys. Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town will both be making their first foray into the Premier League but it’s the Welsh team Swansea who we like to as our main chance for relegation.
The Swans barely held on to stay in the EPL last season and haven’t done much in the way of making their side betting heading into the new season. There might be better chances floating around but at $3.10 we think it represents great value.
TIP: Swansea to be relegated - $3.10 at CrownBet
Sack Race
By far our favourite market of the year, the manager’s race to be sacked. We’ve only got one guy in mind this year and that is Stoke City manager Mark Hughes. Hughes has been at the helm of Stoke since 2013 now, which is an abnormally long time for a mid-tier team. If the Potters get off to a bad start, which is highly likely due to losing some key players, there’ll be no second chances for Hughes.
TIP: Mark Hughes first manager sacked - $7 at Sportsbet
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