Manchester City were an all-conquering force in England last season, as Pep Guardiola’s men stormed the domestic game to take Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup honours, and the Sky Blues are odds-on favourites to win their third top-flight crown next term.
The new Premier League campaign is still more than a month away, but bookmakers have been taking bets on who will lift the trophy next May ever since Vincent Kompany held it aloft in Brighton, after the Etihad Stadium outfit narrowly piped Liverpool to the post on the final day.
It is anticipated to be another two-horse race for the Premier League going by the current odds, but Jurgen Klopp’s Merseyside men will have their work cut out to go one better, with the Reds slipping away from City in the stakes.
Liverpool are currently best priced to lift their first top-flight title in thirty-years at 11/4, which are quite long odds for those of you who need betting odds explained, whereas Man City are backed at 2/3 by various outlets to become just the second ever side to win three consecutive Premier League titles.
The only team to do such thus far in the competition’s history was their local rivals Manchester United, who took three on the bounce under Sir Alex Ferguson between 2006/07 and 2008/09, meaning Guardiola will have the chance to break an eleven-year record come the end of the new term.
Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Guardiola has already achieved one title-clinching accolade with City by becoming the first Sky Blues boss to take back-to-back crowns, following Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini’s failure to retain the title, and now has the chance to rubber stamp his name in the history books.
Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on the other hand, may need a miracle to stop their inner-city rivals from sweeping another league title, as last season’s sixth-placed finishers are only the fifth-favourites to win the Premier League, with their odds at 66/1 falling behind 40/1 manager-less Chelsea and 20/1 Tottenham Hotspur.
The Old Trafford outfit, however, are the fourth-favourites for a top-four finish, with Oddschecker noting Solskjaer’s side are 6/5 for a Champions League place, ahead of 5/4 Chelsea and 13/8 Arsenal.
Relegation, meanwhile, should be something the likes of Premier League new boys Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Norwich City should fear, with the trio favourites to go straight back down at 4/5, 9/4 and 21/20 respectively.
