Powered by unprecedented spending, Manchester City have lifted the Premier League trophy in four of the last five seasons. Pep Guardiola’s team are heavily favoured to make that five out of six in 2022-23.
Liverpool have been the only team capable of getting close to Guardiola’s winning machine in recent years. Fresh off another epic title race in 2021-22, Premier League outright betting suggests Jurgen Klopp’s team are the only other side with a reasonable shot at the title this season.
Which team will lift the trophy next spring? And what else can we expect from the 2022-23 Premier League season?
We’ve picked out the best preseason outright Premier League bets…
Winner: Manchester City
It doesn’t feel fair that a team as brilliant as Guardiola’s City can add a player like Erling Haaland. The absence of a pure centre forward didn’t hurt City much last season, but there’s no doubt Haaland makes them an even more dangerous team.
Guardiola also reinforced his midfield with the signing of Kalvin Phillips from Leeds. This City team has only improved during the summer. With such a deep squad, it would take a massive injury crisis to derail their season.
This is an underwhelming preseason price given the strength of Liverpool, but these odds could shorten considerably with City handed a favourable early season schedule.
Winner: Liverpool
Decimated by injuries in 2020-21, Liverpool bounced back in 2021-22. They pushed City all the way in the league, ultimately finishing one point behind.
It’s been an eventful summer at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah finally signing a contract extension and Sadio Mane departing for Bayern Munich. Liverpool matched City’s Haaland move with their own big-money striking addition in Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
Injuries are a bigger threat to Liverpool than they are to City, but there’s still value on Klopp’s team at this price after a very impressive 2021-22 season.
Without Manchester City & Liverpool: Tottenham
The preseason odds give Tottenham almost no chance of winning the title. Instead, let’s look at their chances of being the top team without City and Liverpool.
Remove their torrid start under Nuno Espirito Santo and Spurs were the third-best team in the league last term. They accumulated 56 points after hiring Antonio Conte, which was four more than Arsenal and seven more than Chelsea over the same span.
Spurs have broken their usual transfer policy to give Conte the players he wants. The signings of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski in January have been followed by Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma, Clement Lenglet and Richarlison this summer.
Under an elite manager in Conte, Tottenham are a great price in this market.
Relegation: Southampton
Only the relegated duo of Watford and Norwich picked up fewer points than Southampton in 2022.
The new owners have invested in the squad this summer, but youth has been the priority. While there is potential for this window to be deemed a success in a few months’ time, there is considerable risk attached for a team which slumped in the second half of last season.
Ralph Hasenhuttl is a good manager, but Saints to go down is still a good bet.
Odds odds are subject to change
