The first three rounds of the EPL season have been played, and now the clubs will go into the international break as World Cup qualifiers need to be played. However, the two Manchester clubs look to be the class of the league, along with the defending champions.
1. Manchester City
EPL Title Odds: +140
City needed a late winner from Raheem Sterling to defeat Bournemouth 2-1 away last week, and Sterling got a red card for going into the crowd to celebrate his goal. Gabriel Jesus also scored for City, who are rumored to have offered Sterling and cash to Arsenal for Alexis Sanchez, so that’s something to watch for before the transfer deadline on August 31st. However, their big problem might be at the back, where central defense has been a problem.
2. Manchester United
EPL Title Odds: +200
United sit atop the table on nine points, three places and two points ahead of their city rivals, after a 2-0 win at home over Leicester. After a ton of pressure and a missed penalty by Romelu Lukaku, substitutes Marcus Rasford and Marouane Fellaini scored to give United a perfect start to their campaign. They’ve probably been the best team in the league so far, but it is still very early in the season. The central-midfield pairing of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic has been devastating for United.
3. Chelsea
EPL Title Odds: +550
Chelsea looked more like themselves in a 2-0 home win over Everton, in which Alvaro Morata scored one and set up Cesc Fabregas. They’ve certainly settled down after their shock loss at home to Burnley to start their season, and it has been a total team effort, although Morata has been excellent. Fabregas has been allowed to conduct things in midfield with N’Golo Kante destroying things as he does. If any team is going to hang with the Manchester clubs this season, it is Chelsea.
4. Liverpool
EPL Title Odds: +1100
Liverpool ran riot in a 4-0 home rout of Arsenal, getting goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge. While Arsenal were extremely poor in that game, you could argue that Liverpool’s press demoralized them into submission. It was a very good performance for Liverpool, but they’ll still need a lot to go right before they can be mentioned as a serious title contender.
5. Tottenham
EPL Title Odds: 1400
The same goes for Tottenham, who drew 1-1 at home with Burnley. Dele Alli scored for Spurs, who then allowed a late equalizer at Wembley Stadium, which is their temporary home until their new building is done. They really need to do something about their troubles at Wembley, where they’ve won just once in their last 11 games. That isn’t going to cut it if Tottenham is going to be there for an entire season.
6. Arsenal
EPL Title Odds: +2500
Where to start with Arsenal? They have a win and two losses to start the season, but they have no excuses for basically giving up in the loss at Liverpool. Players weren’t tracking back on defense, they weren’t staying in their positions, they were yelling at each other; it was a pretty embarrassing situation. The fans started back up with their chants to get the manager out, but Arsene Wenger just got a two-year deal. Something has to happen at Arsenal or they might not even be a top-half team by December.
7. Everton
EPL Title Odds: +12500
Everton looked completely overmatched in their loss at Chelsea, which is fair because they were the second they stepped on the pitch. The Wayne Rooney story has been nice and he has scored twice for his boyhood club, but he won’t be able to replicate the goals that left with Lukaku and no one else has scored for Everton. There are still a couple days left before the transfer deadline, but Everton has to look for another goalscorer if they want to challenge for a European spot.
8. Leicester
EPL Title Odds: +30000
Leicester were definitely second-best in their loss at Manchester United, but they played smart, sitting back to take pressure and then trying to hit them on the counterattack. It didn’t come off, but Leicester acquitted themselves well and if they can keep Riyad Mahrez, they can be a major threat. However, they look like they’re going to lose him in the next couple days, which would be a shame because he is a very good player when he wants to be. Danny Drinkwater could also be headed out of town, and these losses would leave Leicester with a lot of work to do.
9. Huddersfield
EPL Title Odds: +50000
Promoted Huddersfield is third in the table with a pair of wins and a draw, which came at home as they played Southampton to a 0-0 stalemate. Huddersfield isn’t backing down from the competition at the top level and while they only have four goals in their first three games, they have yet to allow one, joining Manchester United as the only teams with no goals against. Now, will this keep up? Probably not. But You should take all of the early points that you can and Huddersfield has done a great job so far.
10. West Bromwich Albion
EPL Title Odds: +50000
West Brom got a goal from Jay Rodriguez, but a defensive lapse handed Stoke City a 1-1 draw and West Brom won’t be happy to drop two points at home in a game they should have won. However, they also have two wins and a draw from three games and every point counts. To the surprise of many, this team is fifth in the standings through three games. However, the odds makers are simply not buying it. Even though they are just two points out of first place in the EPL standings table, nobody is under the impression this team has a shot to win. That’s why they’re such a massive long shot.
This is another team that has to be solid defensively to get points, and they’ve allowed just one goal to date. However, they can’t make mistakes like they did against Stoke.
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