PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW: The Striker previews the upcoming new Premier League season with recommended BETDAQ bets in the outright, top four and relegation markets.
Premier League Outright Preview
The 2025/26 Premier League season is just around the corner, and we have a fascinating Outright market on Betdaq Betting Exchange. Last season was one with quite a dramatic change – Spurs and Manchester United finished just outside the relegation zone and Manchester City lost their grip on the title. In stepped Liverpool who won quite easily, and it’ll be interesting to see if Arsenal or Manchester City can close the gap on the Reds this season. Arteta has been given quite a war chest in the transfer window; perhaps he pressure is on like never before? Arsenal have gone close so many times now; after spending big they need to see results under Arteta.
You could break down the Outright market however you like. You could call the “big two” Arsenal and Liverpool – you could call it a “big four” and include Manchester City and Chelsea. The reality is only four sides have a chance at winning the title – the rest don’t matter in my opinion. Next in the betting come Manchester United, and while the manager commands respect, the situation at clubs just doesn’t breathe success and will take years to fix. It’s no surprise to see Liverpool as the favourites, the surprise for me was Arsenal being shorter than Manchester City – Guardiola made a number of signings and City will be a force again in my opinion. Lots went wrong last season, but they still had very strong under-lining numbers and you just cannot write off Guardiola.
From the big four, I would much rather back Liverpool at 2.84 or Manchester City at 4.8 compared to Arsenal at 3.45 or Chelsea at 12.5. Chelsea were being talked about as title contenders last season around the midway points but then completely fell off the wagon. They’ve had a hard summer, although winning the FIFA Club World Cup was worth it for them. They’ll have to deal with the Champions League pressure too. I just don’t see them being involved in the title race despite being quite strong.
That leaves the top three in the market to fight it out, and as I said above I’d much rather be on Liverpool or Manchester City at the prices. Arsenal have definitely grown a backbone under Arteta – but they did bottle the run-in when Manchester City put the heat on. They were never really in the title race last season, and they didn’t create enough chances either. I feel the best value position in the Outright market is an Arsenal lay at 3.45. I would also consider a smaller bet on Manchester City at the odds.
Top Four Outright Market
Last season we saw an extra Champions League spot for the Premier League, so the Top Four might not become as important as it once was in the future. With the new UEFA rules, you’d have to expect the Premier League to do very well in that regard. However, the Top Four will always be one of the most talked about things in the Premier League. In my opinion, this season it writes itself. I would be shocked if Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea weren’t the Top Four – not in that order; that’s just in order of their odds.
Liverpool and Arsenal have proved themselves to be quite consistent over the last number of seasons, and I just don’t see either of them dropping off to finish outside the Top Four. As I said above, I’m keen to be against Arsenal in the Outright market but I don’t see them outside the Top Four. From a Manchester City point of view, pretty much everything went wrong for them last season and they were still bang there – with the quality they have the firepower I just don’t see them not challenging for the title to be honest. With City, you additionally have the fact that if things aren’t going well they will spend big to fix it in the transfer window.
The one question might be Chelsea, and they are the biggest price – currently around 1.73 to finish in the Top Four. The negatives for Chelsea are that they had a longer summer than most other clubs, and that they now have to deal with bigger European commitments. It was easy in the Europa Conference League last season; now the squad will be tested in the new Champions League format. However, I still feel that the 1.73 offers a lot of value when you look at the opposition. Newcastle haven’t had a good summer, and their under-lining numbers were quite average last season – they conceded far too many chances.
Then the next two in the betting are Manchester United and Aston Villa. It’s funny how Manchester United are shorter to win the title than Newcastle, but Newcastle are shorter in the Top Four market! I feel Aston Villa will be a big danger than United; there’s just so many problems at Old Trafford and it will take a while to work through the squad issues. Similar to Newcastle, Villa are quite average last season when you look at their figures and I just don’t see them being a strong force in the Top Four. The 1.73 on Chelsea looks cracking value here – my most confident Outright bet this season. We landed a five point lay on Manchester United Top Four last season, we can land another Five Star NAP here!
Relegation Outright Market
Finally, we have the relegation battle – never a good thing when your club is favourite for this! We have seen in recent seasons the huge gulf in class between the Premier League and the Championship given the amount of money in the top flight at the moment. It’s been exceptionally difficult to stay in the Premier League and we’ve had a number of seasons with the sides coming up, going back down. Burnley was probably the biggest surprise two seasons ago – they were actually outsiders for relegation given their performance levels in the Championship.
They are back this season though, and the odds on favourites to go back down. The three newly promotion sides are actually the three favourites for relegation. Burnley are 1.37, Sunderland 1.5 and Leeds 2.36. Leeds have a massive fanbase and their home ground will be rocking each game, but they really struggled in the Premier League the last time. It’s been a while for Sunderland, and the 1.5 looks value on them heading back down to be honest.
Outside of the “big three” in the relegation market, we have Brentford and Wolves – you could also include West Ham too. Obviously West Ham have a good history of staying up and getting themselves out of trouble; you could probably say the same for Wolves. We had a lot of red flags with Wolves last season but they battled well in fairness. Outside of the big three, Brentford conceded a huge amount of chances last season and you’d have to include them but it’s hard to argue with the market here. We’re in this loop of Championship sides coming up and going back down; in terms of value here I see Sunderland being the best bet at 1.5.
The Striker Says:
Outright Market: Three points lay (liability) Arsenal to win the Premier League at 3.45 and One point win Manchester City to win the Premier League at 4.8 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
Top Four Market: Five points win Chelsea Top Four at 1.73 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
Relegation market: Two points win Sunderland to be relegated at 1.5 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
