EPL Title Odds: Chelsea Almost Clear Of Contenders
We’ve updated our Premier League odds pretty regularly this year, and one thing has remained constant: Chelsea (19-2-3, 59 points) are the favorites. After 24 rounds, that hasn’t changed.
The Blues have been at the top of the league for some time now and have showed no sign of slowing down. In fact, they’re leaving the others for dead. Week after week, we’ve seen title contenders choke against lesser-ranked teams and drop points at crucial moments. But we haven’t seen that from Chelsea. The Blues have been steadily raking in three points round after round. Their 14-game win streak may have been broken by Tottenham, but it did little to slow their momentum. They are currently nine points clear of the league.
If Chelsea are going to be caught, it will probably be by Tottenham (14-8-2, 50 points) or Manchester City (15-4-5, 49 points). Tottenham don’t have a roster comparable to the star-studded lineups of Chelsea and Man City, but they have been remarkably consistent so far. Apart from their recent draw against last-place Sunderland, the Spurs have been pretty reliable at scooping up easy points. Meanwhile, City have been hit-and-miss all season. They have managed to beat Barcelona in the Champions League, but also recently lost 4-0 to Everton in the Premier League. They’re currently in pretty good form at the moment, and if they can hold onto it, they might have a chance.
In terms of points, Arsenal (14-5-5, 47 points) and Liverpool (13-7-4, 46 points) aren’t too far from Manchester City and Tottenham, but they’ve been way too inconsistent this season to have much chance of catching Chelsea. The Gunners recently suffered a horrible 2-1 loss against 10th-place Watford and followed that up with a 3-1 loss to Chelsea last week. Meanwhile, Liverpool are winless in their last five league games, which includes crippling defeats to 17th-place Swansea and 18th-place Hull. It’s only February, but I think we can safely rule out the Gunners and the Reds.
Some pundits have already declared the title to Chelsea. But I think it’s still a little early. Tottenham are three wins clear of the league, which is an extremely tough gap to close. But they’ve been exceeding expectations all season long and Manchester City are constantly (albeit very slowly) improving under manager Pep Guardiola. Chelsea haven’t sealed the title yet, but they’re pretty darn close.
Odds to win the 2016-17 Premier League title:
Chelsea: 1/5
Manchester City: 16/1
Tottenham: 16/1
Arsenal: 66/1
Liverpool: 70/1
Manchester United: 85/1
Photo credit: “Liverpool FC’s Steven Gerrard faces the Chelsea FC crowd at Stamford Bridge” by Ben Sutherland, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.
Don Aguero is a man of many talents, writing about nearly anything you can put odds to. Don has been writing for SportsBettingDime since 2015, covering sports, entertainment and politics. You name it, he's covered it! He is also a steadfast West Ham fan, and has learned to embrace that suffering.
