Manchester City Opens as English Premier League Title Favourites

Ricky Rothstein
Last Updated: August 12, 2016

The 2015-16 English Premier League season won’t soon be forgotten as little Leicester City was crowned the champion. Not only was it the biggest upset in the history of major soccer but arguably the biggest shocker in worldwide sports history over the course of a full season. Can the Foxes accomplish the impossible a second straight year? Sports Interaction oddsmakers don’t believe so as they are fairly long shots at +2900 on soccer odds to win the EPL. Manchester City is the slight title favourite at +259 over rival Manchester United who are priced at +298. The new season starts Saturday.

Leicester City Odds

Over in the United Kingdom, you could have gotten odds of +50000 on Leicester City to win last year’s Premier League title before the season started as the side was almost relegated in the 2014-15 season and spent a majority of that campaign at the bottom of the EPL table. The Foxes eventually finished in 14th place. Last July, Leicester City hired manager Claudio Ranieri to replace the fired Nigel Pearson. Ranieri was considered an uninspired choice by many as he had recently been fired by the Greek national team. He hadn’t managed in England since 2004-05 with Chelsea.

But needless to say, Ranieri was named the Manager of the Year last season as the Foxes finished with 81 points, 10 clear of second-place Arsenal. The Foxes become the first club since Nottingham Forest in 1977-78 to win the English Premier League title for the first time, having only once previously even finishing second and that was way back in 1928-29. Ranieri has since signed a new contract with Leicester City until 2020. The Foxes are +2900 on soccer odds to repeat as EPL champions. They open Saturday at Hull City as -104 favourites.

Leicester City can’t compete financially with the top clubs in the Premier League and thus lost midfielder N’Golo Kante to Chelsea. He played in all but one of the Premier League matches for Leicester in 2015-16 and led the league in tackles and interceptions as well as being named in the PFA Team of the Year. Leicester’s big off-season acquisitions were midfielder Nampalys Mendy, goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler and defender Luis Hernandez.

Hull City Odds

Hull City was promoted to the Premier League after beating Sheffield Wednesday last May in the English Championship playoff final. Hull City is the +111000 on soccer odds for this season. It is +275 to have the best finish of the three promoted clubs with Middlesbrough at -105 and Burnley at +220.

Manchester City and Manchester United Odds

Man City finished fourth in the table last season with 66 points. The club has a new manager and he is one of the best in the world in Pep Guardiola. He has been ultra-successful with world powerhouses Barcelona and most recently Bayern Munich. Man City this week added Everton defender John Stones in a big-money transfer. Stones is City’s eighth signing of the summer, following deals for Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Aaron Mooy, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Marlos Moreno. The Citizens are looking for their third Premier League title this decade, also winning in 2012 & ’14. City’s Sergio Aguero is the betting favourite to lead the Premier League in goals.

Storied Manchester United slipped to fifth in the table last year with 66 points, losing a tiebreaker for fourth place with Man City. Thus United just missed on qualifying for the Champions League. The Red Devils made the biggest player acquisition of any English team in signing midfielder Paul Pogba from Italian club Juventus for a world-record transfer fee of $116.4 million (U.S.). It’s Pogba’s second stint with United as he played in seven matches for the club in the 2011-12 season as a substitute. Pogba made 124 appearances for Juventus and scored 28 goals. He also was a key part of the French team that reached the final of Euro 2016.

Manchester United was able to beat out Real Madrid for Pogba’s services. He is the fourth signing since new manager Jose Mourinho was hired in May to replace the fired Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford. Mourinho has won a major title in his first season as manager at every club. Pogba joins additions Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. United opens the season Sunday as a -144 favorite against Bournemouth.