Premier League Football Betting Update

The big question facing football betting fans is whether or not the title race for this season is already over with Chelsea holding a five point advantage. With thirteen games having been played by each team the midway point in the season is fast approaching and Manchester United and Arsenal cannot afford to let Chelsea race into the distance. I am going to look at each of the top four teams in turn, which will hopefully help you further analyse your outright Premier League football betting selections. As always, football betting odds are only correct at the time of writing and are subject to change at any time by bwin.com.

Bet on Chelsea at 1.70

Football betting odds can often tell you a lot. Chelsea are currently offered at odds of 1.70 which is less than 50% of the current odds for Manchester United at 3.50. For Chelsea to be viewed as twice as likely to win the title as Man Utd at this point of the season tells me that a tip on Chelsea is valid. Due to their imminent transfer ban after the next transfer window I think that they will spend big in January to secure their immediate future and this will only help strengthen their squad.

Bet on Man Utd at 3.50

This is probably the value bet of the current market although they have it all to do to haul back the mighty Chelsea. Wayne Rooney has stepped into the role of principal goalscorer excellently. Whilst the team miss the sheer brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo, many players who had to assume defensive duties to accommodate Ronaldo are now able to flourish as attacking players once again. I believe that this season may be the one season where Chelsea holds a definite edge as the Man Utd team adjusts. Historically, Man Utd always does well after Christmas so Chelsea will need to win most of their games to win the title. 3.50 may look very high odds for Man Utd to win the league come the end of the season. Today’s news reports that Vidic may want to leave for a warmer climate but he will not be sold before the end of the season so football betting fans should not worry about them selling him during the January transfer window. Manager Alex Ferguson never allows this sort of disruption mid season. The edge Chelsea may have is that they will probably strengthen in January whilst Man Utd probably will not.

Bet on Arsenal at 5.25

Arsene Wenger is currently three points behind Manchester Utd but with a game in hand. They are certainly contenders but have no recognised left back after Keiron Gibbs suffered a broken foot this week. It is devastating for Gibbs who is being watched by Capello for possible late inclusion into the England World Cup squad. First choice left back Gael Clichy is still three weeks away from returning to action. You question whether Arsenal can win the required amount of points to win the Premier League and they lost to Sunderland despite being favourites for that match. They do seem to have a habit of losing winnable matches they should win, a habit not shared by the other top teams.

Bet on Liverpool at 25.00

The newspapers are hammering Liverpool with article after article about manager Rafa Benitez who is again facing the sack after Liverpool exited the Champion’s League in the group stages. This will put great financial strain on the club who are already struggling under large debts and needed the TV revenue from a good Champions League run to help service the debts the club has. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for the Merseysiders and I would not bet on them at the moment even at 34.00. I know from personal experience supporting Newcastle Utd that when off field activities go wrong this is often reflected on the pitch.

Slowly but surely it looks like the 2009/2010 football season will be a two horse race between Chelsea and Manchester Utd. Manchester may rue the decision not to splash some of the cash on a replacement for Ronaldo but are performing well so far. You worry about them if they get an injury crisis and have some important decisions to make regarding long term squad players as Scholes, Van Der Sar, Neville and Giggs are almost at the end of their careers.

My tip for the Premier League at the moment is Chelsea at 1.70.

By Malcolm Clarke