With the new football season fast approaching, in this article I’ll be taking a look at a potential league winners accumulator bet for you spanning across some of Europe’s top leagues. Of course it is extremely hard to pick the winners of multiple leagues, but the odds on offer if you get it right are enough to make it an enticing prospect.
English Premier League
The English Premier League is one of the toughest leagues to predict the winners of with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool all holding ambitions of lifting the trophy come May next year. Last season I predicted Chelsea to win the title due to their lack of European football, but with five teams involved in the European Champions League this season and Arsenal in the Europa League it is tougher to find a stand out reason for anyone to emerge victorious this time around. Manchester City have already spent more than £200m this summer and they are favourites for the title at odds of 15/8 (Ladbrokes), but I don’t think Pep Guardiola’s side have quite what it takes to win the title.
I believe that their Manchester neighbours, Manchester United, managed by Jose Mourinho will step up and win the Premier League title this time. Mourinho has, again, spent bucket loads of money this summer bringing in Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof for over £100m and he looks likely to add at least two more players to that list as the season approaches. Nemanja Matic appears to be on the brink of a transfer from Chelsea and Mourinho continues to pursue Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan. Manchester United have a superb squad and if Paul Pogba can hit the ground running this time around then I think the odds of 10/3 (Ladbrokes) represent great value.
Winners – Manchester United 10/3
Spanish La Liga
The title race in Spain looks like a straight shootout between Real Madrid and Barcelona this season. Atletico Madrid have battled the two Spanish giants in recent years, but a transfer ban has probably put pay to any hopes they had of winning the title this time around. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona are available at odds of 10/11 (Ladbrokes) and it certainly is difficult to separate the two sides.
Real Madrid picked up the title last season, but they have since lost Danilo, Pepe, James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata without really replacing them. Manager Zinedine Zidane has been linked with a huge £160m transfer for Kylian Mbappe in recent weeks and you would expect the club to make some big moves before the season starts to improve their squad.
Barcelona’s main change has been in the managerial role with Ernesto Valverde replacing Luis Enrique on the bench for the coming season. If he can get his team firing and bring in a couple more recruits in defence and midfield, then I think it could well be Barcelona who wrestle back the title from Real Madrid this time around.
Winners – Barcelona 10/11
Italian Serie A
The Italian league is a little simpler when picking a winner, with Juventus having won the Serie A title in each of the last six seasons. The odds reflect this, with Ladbrokes installing Juventus as big favourites at odds of 4/6. AC Milan have spent money this summer and could well challenge Juventus at the top of the league, but I think it will be a bridge too far for the resurgent club this time around.
An interesting bet could be on AC Milan to win the title Without Juventus at 11/4 (Ladbrokes) as I can see them finishing above Napoli and Roma this time around. Overall though, it’s hard to look past Juventus and even though they are big favourites, they are still worth adding to your accumulator.
Winners – Juventus 4/6
English Championship
I’ve left this one till last as it is arguably the hardest league in the world to predict the winners of and the odds reflect this. Middlesbrough and Aston Villa are favourites for the title according to Ladbrokes, but even as favourites they are available at odds of 7/1. Beyond those two, Fulham are 8/1, Norwich City are 12/1 and free spending Wolverhampton Wanderers are available at odds of 10/1. It is sure to be a hotly contested league this time around without a clear favourite like Newcastle United were last season.
I think Middlesbrough are well set up to bounce straight back to the big time though and they have shown a willingness to spend money this summer bringing in Ashley Fletcher and Darren Randolph from West Ham United as well as Martin Braithwaite and Britt Assombalonga for big money. All things considered I think they have a squad strong enough to win the title if they can score enough goals, something that was a big problem for the club last season in the Premier League.
Winners – Middlesbrough 7/1
TOTAL ACCUMULATOR – 109.3/1
As you can see, just this four team accumulator containing three favourites and one second favourite gives you huge odds of over 100/1. Make sure to get your bet in before the season starts as the odds can change drastically should a team start well.