PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW: The Ultra previews the upcoming La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga seasons with recommended BETDAQ bets in the outright markets.
La Liga Outright Preview
Another blockbuster European season awaits on Betdaq Betting Exchange! We had some superb drama last season, and hopefully we have another cracking season. I’m going to take a look at the Outright markets for La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga – we start in La Liga and you don’t need me to tell you that this will be a straight shootout again between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Atletico Madrid will obviously be a force, but I don’t see them challenging for the title when the heat comes on – their under-lining numbers last season were quite average. They didn’t create close to enough to get into a title battle with Real Madrid and Barcelona, and they were exposed in the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup too.
That leaves Real Madrid and Barcelona; no surprise there and that’ll be the opinion of most football fans. Real Madrid come into the season as favourites at just a shade of odds on at 1.96 with Barcelona trading 2.22. Obviously the massive talking point coming into this season is the appointment of Xavi Alonso at Real Madrid. I was keen to see how his side would play at the FIFA Club World Cup, but to be honest it looked like the usual Real Madrid. They played a very open game; however Alonso wasn’t in charge for that long when that tournament came around. It will surely look to improve things at the back – and another massive question is will he find a system that Mbappe fits into.
Another massive question will be Mbappe’s work ethic, and how much not tracking back or pressing will annoy Alonso. PSG have certainly benefitted from Mbappe leaving; and we’ve all seen the viral videos of Luis Enrique trying to get through to Mbappe. Barcelona had a major blip in the middle of last season, but overall they were much better than Real – they finished the season with the best attacking figure and the nest defensive figure. In my opinion, with all the question marks about Real Madrid heading into this season I feel we have the wrong favourites here. I’d have Barcelona as the favourites, not Real, and the 2.22 looks cracking value to me. Given the blip mid-season too, there is obvious room for improvement as well.
Barcelona also had the summer off to relax while Real were at the FIFA Club World Cup; Barcelona not being there a reflection on how FIFA selected their sides more than anything! With La Liga, you know it will be a tight battle and probably go right to the wire with plenty of drama along the way, but from an Outright point of view I’m very happy with Barcelona at 2.22.
Serie A Outright Market
We move over to Serie A next, and this should be another cracking title race. We went all the way to the final day last season with Napoli edging out Inter Milan, and we’re sure to have another dramatic title race this time around too. There’s definitely a big four in the market compared to the rest, but I actually feel for the title race there’s only a big two. That’s Napoli and Inter Milan – I just don’t see Juventus or AC Milan being good enough to win the title. Their performance level last season wasn’t high enough; and then you have the likes of Roma who went through a tough season last time. I don’t see them even challenging for the title. Atalanta might attract a few bets at 50.0 given they played exceptionally well last season, but you could make the argument that was their moment and they missed it.
That leaves us with Napoli and Inter Milan when all is said and done; Napoli are the favourites at 2.66 with Inter on 3.5. There really wasn’t much between the sides last season, Napoli have bounced around the table in recent years – Champions – mid-table – Champions! They actually over-performed quite a lot last season, but as I said at the time it was hard to begrudge them some luck in front of goal given the season prior they finished mid-table with the best attacking figure. I do feel compared to their performance level last season though, that the 2.66 is much too short.
Inter have been rock solid for a number of seasons now, and they are the standout value pick at 3.5 in my opinion. They basically tick every box to land the title in Italy – they had a hard season last time too; getting to the Champions League Final. They had to go to the FIFA Club World Cup so didn’t get a massive break; I’m not going to go mad with the stakes here but the 3.5 is too big to ignore in my opinion. They are so solid at the back and have some superb attacking options – they bounce back this season.
Bundesliga Outright Market
Finally, we finish with the Bundesliga. I don’t think we need to go into as much detail here as we do with La Liga and Serie A. With Xabi Alonso moving on from Bayer Leverkusen, that has basically left the door open for another Bayern Munich title. I have to say it was superb viewing when Leverkusen and Bayern were going toe-to-toe – Leverkusen produced an incredible run but they were brought back down to earth last season. Bayern won easily, and although Leverkusen were playing some nice football there was a huge gap in performance levels to Bayern. Now with Alonso gone, that’s left the door open for another easy Bayern victory.
It’s no surprise to see them trading as short as 1.25 in the Outright market, and it’s very difficult to see past a Bayern victory to be honest. I’m not going to recommend a bet here, but I couldn’t put anyone off adding Bayern to your pre-season Acca’s!
The Ultra Says:
La Liga: Three points win Barcelona to win La Liga at 2.22 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
Serie A: Two points win Inter Milan to win Serie A at 3.5 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
