Manchester United, Tottenham and Aston Villa stumble as a chaotic opening weekend leaves bettors plenty to digest
Week 1 of the English Premier League schedule wraps up today with Chelsea on the road taking on Fulham at Craven Cottage in London, starting at 3 p.m. EST.
For sports bettors, it’s been a wild weekend on the EPL front – upsets, up-and-down matches, some established clubs looking unprepared for the new season.
Arsenal, the defending champions, did what they were supposed to do on Friday, beating promoted Coventry City handily, 3-0.
Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard all scored, so everything went according to script.
Then on Saturday came the upsets, none bigger than Hull City beating Manchester United 2-0. Brentford beat Tottenham 3-0, another upset, while Leeds travelled to Nottingham Forest and won 1-0.
Also on Saturday, Everton beat Crystal Palace, 2-0, and Ipswich beat Sunderland 2-1.
On Sunday, Aston Villa fell 4-0 to Brighton, with Brighton scoring all four before half-time – a massive warning bell for bettors about Aston Villa.
Manchester City barely escaped an upset in their game – a 2-1 victory over Bournemouth, which led the game until City equalized late, then won in stoppage time on a goal by Josko Gvardiol. Liverpool needed a marker in the 99th minute by Dominik Szoboszlai to escape with a 2-2 draw at Newcastle.
All in all, not a good weekend on the betting front if you backed traditional powers.
In soccer betting on Betway today, Chelsea is the -118 favourite, with Fulham at +280, and the draw at +260.
Pretty even matchup today; the Premier League debuts for Xabi Alonso as Chelsea manager and Alvaro Arbeloa as Fulham manager. Both clubs finished with 52 points last season.
I am taking Chelsea moneyline today. At -118, the price is reasonable for the favourite, especially against a Fulham side adjusting to a new manager and replacing key pieces after the departures of Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez. Chelsea has the deeper squad and more attacking quality.
Over 2.5 total goals is priced at -134 (over 3.5 is +187), and is another strong lean. For bettors looking for a bigger payout, Chelsea to win and both teams to score (yes) at +260 is another intriguing option if you expect Fulham to score at home.
There are also some interesting alternatives if you see a close Chelsea victory. A one-goal winning margin is +137, compared with +320 for Chelsea to win by two. Both teams to score (yes) is priced at -150.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is the main player prop focus here, so go anytime goalscorer at +162.
