Ante-Post Betting
Time to get our ante-post crystal ball out and hopefully pick winners for the season ahead.
The 2019/20 Premier League starts on Friday night when last year’s runners-up Liverpool host Norwich at Anfield.
The big question that needs answered is can anyone stop Manchester City from winning a third successive league title after their past two years of success under Pep Guardiola? Other questions that we will try and answer - who is getting relegated? Who will be the surprise package? And finally, who makes the top 4?
We start with the Premier League outright and champions, Man City are 1/2 on with Sean Graham Bookmakers to retain the title they won by a point last season from the Reds.
So far they have added midfielder Rodri for a club-record £62.8million from Atletico Madrid, a talented Spanish midfielder who is being tipped as a long-term replacement for the ageing Fernandinho. This ultra-strong Pep Guardiola side will be tough to beat this season and they could well add before the transfer window shuts.
Liverpool (5/2) ran Man City oh-so-close in the title race last term and Jurgen Klopp will be determined to go one better this time around and so far he has not added to his side, but expect a few more to come in before the window closes.
Klopp has assembled a high-class team at Anfield and the 5/2 on offer for Liverpool to win the league is more appealing that the 1/2 odds about City.
It looks a two-horse race in our book so expect another tight tussle at the top this season. So who makes the top four this season? It’s the usual six teams battling for us. Man Utd (25/1) have just splashed a staggering £80 million pound on Harry Maguire to make him the world's most expensive defender as I said - staggering.
The Reds will be in the mix for the top four, no doubt about that with money splurged on Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still rebuilding at Old Trafford and if things go pear-shaped he might not get the time he needs.
Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham (14/1) looked like genuine title contenders to Man City and Liverpool for the first five months of last season before the wheels fell off in February and end of season inconsistency just about saw them hold fourth place.
They have made just two signings so far with £11million for Jack Clarke, a promising youngster who has since been loaned back to Leeds, while the second was club-record £55million signing for midfielder Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon.
They are in the shake-up for top four yet again, but might just miss out this time round.
Chelsea (25/1) have took a massive gamble in rookie boss Frank Lampard and despite their transfer embargo, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham are all set to figure as they target another top four finish but I think they could miss out. The Eden Hazzard sale to Real Madrid will be a massive dent to that.
Unai Emery's Arsenal (40/1) will be hoping to secure a top-four place next season after two seasons of Europa League football and spent £72 millions on Ivory Coast winger Pepe who arrived from Lille for a club-record.
Add Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and that is formidable front three who will score lots of goals.
They need to get the defence sorted but the Kieran Tierney signing will help that.
Our Top Four: 1.Liverpool 2. Man City 3.Arsenal 4. Man Utd - that tri-cast pays around 18/1.
So who goes down? We think Aston Villa, like Wolves last season, will be the surprise package and look the best of the new clubs promoted from the Championship. Sheffield Utd (8/11) will struggle and we think they will go back down along with Norwich (11/10), while Brighton (13/8) could head back to Championship football next season.
The Golden Boot betting is led by Harry Kane at 7/2, but like last year we look to Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for some value and he looks a good punt at 7/1. He shared it with Mo Salah and Sergio Aquero who get a pricing of 5/1 and 6/1 respectively.
Sadio Mane will also have his supporters at 12/1 after last season while Man Utd fans will hope Marcus Rashford has a good season - he’s as big as 18/1 in places. Chelsea will look to Tammy Abraham and he gets a 25/1 quote from layers.
We head to the Championship and what a tough league this is to be win.
We got it down to three teams with Cardiff and Leeds big players, but Scott Parker has done good business in summer and his FULHAM (7/1) team could be the team that has the squad and endurance it takes to win this league.
Onto League One and we think IPSWICH (6/1) could oust the likes of Sunderland and Portsmouth, while in League Two we like the chances of MANSFIELD (10/1) who could surprise the likes of Bradford and Salford - that would be some trixie.
Into the Scottish Premiership and it looks all set for a Old Firm shoot-out, but we expect Celtic (1/3) to make it nine in-a-row.
Into the Scottish Championship and Dundee Utd (6/4) will be hard to stop and should see off neighbours Dundee, while Falkirk (4/7) will take some stopping in League One.
It’s four favourites for us in Scotland with Cove Rangers (11/10) another stand-out bet in League Two - the ante-post Scottish quad pays 10/1.
We had two English teams battling it out in the Champions League last season - this year will be different.
Juventus (10/1) has spend big and wisely in the summer and are a cracking bet at double figures this season - Barcelona at 5/1 are the big dangers. On to the Europa League and this could be last year’s beaten finalists Arsenal (7/1) only chance of a trophy this season - two singles and a double advised for the Euro bets.