As we head into the weekend, it promises to be one of the
most exciting races for the Premier
League title in living memory, and certainly a more exciting finale to the
season than last year when Manchester City were the runaway champions and had
the title wrapped up, in all honesty, many weeks before they were actually confirmed
as winners.
This time around both Liverpool, who lead the Premier League
champions by one point, and Tottenham, who are five points behind Manchester
City in the table, both harbour ambitions of succeeding City as champions. What
are the realistic prospect of either of these three teams winning the Premier
League?
In this article, we decided to take a look and give you our
verdict on how we see the run in going for each of the teams.
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Before we take a look at each team’s run in for the Premier
League, let’s first give you a quick recap on how the current Premier League
tables stands for the top three.
Premier League Table Top 3
As of 11.30am Wednesday 27th February
Pos
|
Team
|
Ply
|
For
|
Ag
|
Pts
| Goal Difference |
1
|
Liverpool
|
27
|
59
|
15
|
66
|
+44
|
2
|
Manchester City
|
27
|
74
|
20
|
65
|
+54
|
3
|
Tottenham Hotspur
|
27
|
55
|
27
|
60
|
+28
|
Each team has 11 games remaining in the Premier League, with
the first of those games taking place this evening.
The table below outlines each team’s final 11 games of the
Premier League season.
Match
Number
|
Liverpool
|
Manchester
City
|
Tottenham
|
28
|
V Watford (H)
|
V West Ham (H)
|
V Chelsea (A)
|
29
|
V Everton (A)
|
V Bournemouth (A)
|
V Arsenal (H)
|
30
|
V Burnley (H)
|
V Watford (H)
|
V Southampton (A)
|
31
|
V Fulham (A)
|
V Fulham (A)
|
V Crystal Palace (H)
|
32
|
V Tottenham (H)
|
V Cardiff City (H)
|
V Liverpool (A)
|
33
|
V Southampton (A)
|
V Crystal Palace (A)
|
V Brighton (H)
|
34
|
V Chelsea (H)
|
V Tottenham (H)
|
V Huddersfield (H)
|
35
|
V Cardiff City (A)
|
V Man Utd (A)
|
V Man City (A)
|
36
|
V Huddersfield (H)
|
V Burnley (A)
|
V West Ham (H)
|
37
|
V Newcastle (A)
|
V Leicester (H)
|
V Bournemouth (A)
|
38
|
V Wolves (H)
|
V Brighton (A)
|
V Everton (H)
|
Looking at the run in, it seems like Liverpool and
Manchester City have the easier of the three teams in terms of remaining fixtures.
Liverpool face just two top six teams in their final 11 games, Chelsea and
Tottenham and both these games will be held at Anfield. Man City also face two
top six opponents, but only one of those games is at home (to Tottenham) with
the other away to fierce rivals Manchester United. Spurs face four of the top
six (Chelsea and Arsenal in their next two games, as well as away matches at
Liverpool and Manchester City).
It’s clear that if Spurs are to challenge then they are
going to have to pick up results at both Anfield and the Etihad Stadium in
their remaining games. That looks a big ask for a team that were beaten by
Burnley last weekend and who now face two crucial London derby games in the
space of four days.
Liverpool have tough games against Everton and Wolves most
notably, while the away trip to Newcastle on the penultimate weekend of games
could also be tricky. Man City face both Crystal Palace and Leicester, teams
who have beaten them this season, in the run in while Burnley away is also
looking likely to be a tough game.
It is worth noting that as teams progress in tournaments,
the dates and times of these final league fixtures are likely to change as
teams rearrange games due to fixture congestion and similar.
Extra Fixtures
However, on top of their Premier League campaign, each team
is also guaranteed at least one more Champions League fixture, the second leg
of their Round of 16 ties, while Manchester City are also still in the FA Cup
and have a quarterfinal tie against Swansea City to play in a couple of week’s
time.
This means that of the three teams, they could also have the
following fixtures to play over the remainder of the season.
- Liverpool
– 6 possible Champions League ties (1 x Round of 16 2nd leg, 2x
quarterfinal, 2x semifinal, 1x final) –
6 games
- Manchester
City – 6 possible Champions League ties (1x Round of 16 2nd leg,
2x quarterfinal, 2x semifinal, 1x final) and 3 possible FA Cup ties (1x
quarterfinal, 1x semifinal and 1x final) – 9
games
- Tottenham
– 6 possible Champions League ties (1 x Round of 16 2nd leg, 2x
quarterfinal, 2x semifinal, 1x final) –
6 games
While Manchester City (who beat Schalke 04 3-2 in Germany in
their Round of 16 first leg) and Tottenham (who defeated Dortmund 3-0 at
Wembley in their Round of 16 first leg) look set to progress into the
quarterfinals of the Champions League, Liverpool’s chances of progress are
slimmer having drawn the first leg with Bayern Munich 0-0 at Anfield in their
Champions League Round of 16 tie.
Current Form
There’s no doubt that in terms of current form Manchester
City are the team to watch. They have cut Liverpool’s lead from seven points
down to just one point over the last few weeks as the Reds have drawn three of
their last four Premier League games. This is a fact that they must put right
in tonight’s game at Anfield against Watford if they are to stand any chance of
keeping pace with City.
Tottenham’s form has not been particularly good of late
either and that defeat at Burnley was damaging, another defeat in their games
with Chelsea or Arsenal could well put an end to their realistic hopes of the
title, so it is an important week for Spurs in terms of their title aspirations
and I am not sure that their current form makes it likely that they’ll come
through both these tough games with six points.
Form at present seems to suggest it will be Manchester City’s
title and bet365 make the Citizens the 8/15 favourites to defend their title.
Liverpool’s drop off in form has seen them drift to 13/8 despite being top of
the table at present, while Tottenham are rated at 66/1 to lift the title.
The smart money seems to be on Manchester City to win the
Premier League, but in what has already been a season with a few surprises, who
knows what is in store over these last few weeks of the season and whether City’s
squad has the depth and fitness levels to cope with what will likely be the
busiest fixture list of the top three sides over the next couple of months.
Something tells me that there may be a few twists and turns
yet to come in this Premier League title race and that the value bet may well
to back Liverpool at 13/8 to pip City to the title.