after what has seemed like ages (on account of there being no world cup or european championship to enjoy in the summer months!) the premier league is finally about to return. here we take a look at the opening round of top flight english matches, being played over the 8th, 9th and 10th august, and give our betting tips, predictions and analysis. we also have live betting odds comparison available for these, and indeed all, premier league matches to ensure you get the best betting value for all your football bets, whether you like the sound of our tips or not.
manchester united v tottenham betting tips – 8th august 2015
match betting oddsthe early afternoon kick off on saturday, and hence the first match of the new premier league season, sees tottenham hotspur visit old trafford to take on manchester united.
louis van gaal has been spending freely in the transfer market during the summer, bringing in the likes of german legend bastian schweinsteiger, former saints man morgan schneiderlin and memphis depay from psv. with the departure of robin van persie to fenerbahce, rumours of a move to psg for angel di maria and the lack of any strengthening up front, united will become heavily reliant on wayne rooney for goals. that said, there’s still plenty of time for lvg to get that chequebook out once again.
spurs have been less active with their purchasing, but boss mauricio pochettino will be hopeful he can get another fine season from his young super-striker harry kane. he will certainly need him to be firing on all cylinders if the north londoners are to have a chance of breaking into the top four come may. clearly a win here would give spurs great confidence, but – despite them having managed victory at the theatre of dreams the season before last – they could be very much up against it here… at least if you believe the bookies.
tottenham are priced at best betting odds of 5/1 with betvictor to get the three points, with united the 4/6 odds-on favourites with paddy power and the draw at 3/1 with ladbrokes and others. our main tip for this one is for united to do the business, but after a tentative start, so back the draw at half time with united winning at full time at very nice odds of 4/1 with 888sport.
chelsea v swansea betting tips – 8th august 2015
match betting oddschelsea begin the defence of their title against a swansea side who have never tasted victory against them in the premier league. after finishing in a very creditable eighth position in the table last season, however, the swans will go into the opening match of the new season full of belief and will go all out to get at least a point at stamford bridge.
despite not going mad in the transfer market – having added the services of radamel falcao, asmir begovic and danilo pantic – chelsea clearly have a squad that is well capable of defending their crown, and in some style. the bookies certainly think they’ll get off to a winning start on saturday as the champions are priced at betting odds of just 1/3 with betvictor, which is probably not too far off the mark given the last meeting between the sides (in wales) saw chelsea run out 5-0 winners.
having said that, opening games of a new season are sometimes very unpredictable and we’d caution against simply piling in on the champions at those short odds. instead our betting tip for this one is to take the excellent odds of 21/20 with william hill for swansea to score in the match. chelsea’s usually stoic defence has been somewhat leaky in pre-season and we fancy the swans will throw caution to the wind to bring home a nice profit for us.
arsenal v west ham betting tips – 9th august 2015
match betting oddsthe gunners will be hoping to mount a serious title challenge this season after showing positive signs last term, not least in winning their second fa cup in succession. the addition of former chelsea stopper petr cech could well prove an inspired signing, and the plethora of attacking talent could well see arsene wenger’s men become the main challengers to mourinho’s charges in the race to be crowned champions.
west ham, meanwhile, decided to get rid of big sam allardyce, a move that has backfired with other clubs in the past. whether new man slaven bilic will have a positive effect on the team remains to be seen, but we can’t see him guiding his side to anything other than defeat at the emirates in this one.
the bookies agree, pricing the hammers as 10/1 prospects for the win. arsenal should cruise to victory in our eyes and we predict they’ll get the win all but wrapped up by half time. backing the home side to win both halves is our main betting tip here at nice odds of 21/10 with coral.
west brom v manchester city betting tips – 10th august 2015
match betting oddsdespite what many saw as a rather disappointing season, man city still managed to sneak into the runners-up spot last season and finished just eight points behind champions chelsea. with the purchase of raheem sterling from liverpool and – to a lesser extent – fabian delph from aston villa, manuel pellegrini is hoping to push for the title this season, but much will depend on the fitness or otherwise of main man sergio aguero.
west brom, under tony pulis, are a stubborn and hard to beat side, but city have had the measure of them in recent years, winning seven of the last eight league matches against them and drawing the other. we feel the baggies will go into the game with containment in mind and therefore backing the draw at half time with city winning by the final whistle is our betting tip at betting odds of 39/10 with 888sport.
other matches
match betting oddsnew boys bournemouth host aston villa in their opening game, and it is one that is eminently winnable, especially since tim sherwood’s team no longer enjoys the services of the aforementioned fabian delph or belgian striker christian benteke. we predict a home win here.
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everton host watford in another match in which we see the home side prevailing, while leicester versus sunderland has “draw" written all over it. newcastle host southampton in a real north v south battle, one which we think the south will just about edge.
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norwich versus crystal palace is a little more unpredictable given the canaries’ strong finish to the championship season, but alan pardew’s men should have enough attacking flare to put the promoted side to the sword.
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finally, stoke versus liverpool will give us the first chance to assess whether brendan rodgers’ men are likely to mount a title challenge or struggle after losing sterling and captain fantastic steven gerrard. we fear the latter and we predict a stoke victory at very nice betting odds.