Soccer Odds: Pre-season Favorites in Europe

With the European season starting in just over a month, let’s take a moment to preview the favorites for the major competitions. I’ve already covered the Bundesliga, and placed early odds on the Champions League, but what about the others?

The EPL is set for a shake-up, as the Manchester clubs look to reclaim their place on top. Serie A is getting more competitive, though Juve still remains a few notches above the rest. And, of course, Barcelona and Real Madrid are neck-and-neck for La Liga. 

Here are the numbers!

2017-18 Soccer Odds

English Premier League

• Manchester City: 2/1
• Manchester United: 3/1
• Chelsea: 7/2
• Tottenham: 10/1
• Arsenal: 11/1

Now that Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have found their footing in Manchester, Man City and Man United open as the pre-season favorites. Mourinho just dropped €84.7 million on Romelu Lukaku and he’s still got his eye on a few other costly players. Guardiola has been quiet so far, but he’s taken some steps to repair City’s back line.

Defending champs Chelsea are a weakened side after Diego Costa announced his intention to return to Atletico Madrid, and failing to snap up Lukaku as a replacement has left them nervous. Regardless, the squad has a killer line-up and there’s still time to lure a star striker before the transfer window closes.

North Londoners Arsenal and Tottenham are once again the outside favorites. Wenger picked up Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette for an absurd €53 million. It may end up being a decent purchase, but it’s a lot to pay for an untested player. Meanwhile, Tottenham has lost star defender Kyle Walker to Man City.

La Liga

• Real Madrid: 11/9
• Barcelona: 11/9
• Atletico Madrid: 30/1
• Sevilla: 100/1
• Athletic Bilbao: 200/1

No surprises here. Barca and Real Madrid open as La Liga favorites, while the other title contenders wallow with a slim outside shot. Barcelona will start fresh under incoming manager Ernesto Valverde, but the starting lineup so far appears relatively unchanged. Real Madrid has loaned James Rodríguez to Bayern, but the Colombian superstar wasn’t getting much game time at Los Blancos anyway.

Atletico has been hindered by a transfer ban, but it looks like Diego Costa is willing to sacrifice half a season to return home. Alongside Antoine Griezmann (who appears to be staying), they’ll form a deadly counter-attack.

Serie A

• Juventus: 2/3
• Napoli: 6/1
• Roma: 13/1
• AC Milan: 13/1
• Inter: 19/1

As always, Juventus open as the heavy odds-on favorite. And with Chelsea’s Juan Cuadrado and Bayern’s Douglas Costa joining the squad, they’re only going to get better.

Napoli and Roma put up a strong fight last season and prevented Juve from pulling away. Both teams, along with quite a few other top-table Italian squads, managed to sneak a win by the Italian giants. The entire league is improving, so the days of Juventus dominating may be coming to an end.

The Milan Derby is becoming more relevant as Inter and AC Milan slowly improve. They’re still a shell of their former selves, but it’s a start. AC Milan especially has been extremely active over the summer.