With the Premier League AND the Football League seasons kicking off this weekend we take a look at the top-4 tiers of the English footballing pyramid & provide some betting insight..

Premier League

Last season’s runaway winner Liverpool get their season underway against newly promoted Leeds United at Anfield on Saturday evening.

​Jurgen Klopp has made just the sole signing this Summer in adding Greek full-back Kostas Tsimikas to his Merseyside squad. Having collected 97 and 99-points over the last 2 Premier League seasons it’s fairly easy to make a case for the Reds to retain their crown this coming season.

BACK MAN CITY TO WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE @ 4/5

Championship

Last season’s relegated trio Norwich, Watford and Bournemouth dominate the ante-post market for next season’s Championship title. 

Bournemouth have since parted company with long-serving manager Eddie Howe as well as key figures Callum Wilson, Aaron Ramsdale & Nathan Ake all departing while Norwich & Watford have more-or-less retained their squads from last season with the Canaries arguably strengthening during the Summer.

BACK NORWICH TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP @ 6/1

League 1

For the 3rd season in a row, Sunderland are set to go off favourites for the League 1 title but having finished 5th in 2018-19 and 7th last year it makes sense to look elsewhere.

BACK PORTSMOUTH TO BE PROMOTED @ 11/4

League 2

Bolton were an established Premier League side not so long ago but financial turmoil has seen the Trotters free-fall to England’s 4th tier. Keith Hill’s side were always playing catch-up last season after starting the season with a 12-point deduction and their young squad performed with credit at stages to avoid defeat in 16 of their 34 league fixtures played.

Having guided AFC Barrow to the Conference title last season, Ian Evatt is an interesting appointment as manager and the former Blackpool defender has added a whole flock of new signings including Eoin Doyle who scored 25 times for Swindon last season.

BACK SALFORD CITY TO BE PROMOTED @ 6/4

All odds correct at time of posting
(10/09/2020 16:00)

The top 2 go head-to-head in the Bundesliga this Tuesday evening (17:30 K.O) as top of the table Bayern Munich travel to Signal Iduna Park to face 2nd place Borussia Dortmund in the 125th renewal of Der Klassiker.

The league’s leading goal-scorer is 11/5 to open the scoring and 2/5 to score anytime.

Bayern won the reverse fixture at the Allianz Arena back in November 4-0 but the Bavarians haven’t won away to Dortmund since 2017.

Bayern are odds-on favourites at 17/20 to claim all 3-points while the home win is 13/5 and the draw is 10/3. ​

The Bundesliga return weekend draws to a close with Werder Bremen against Bayer Leverkusen at the Weserstadion on Monday night (19:30BST K.O).

Leverkusen are currently in the hunt for a place in the top-4 while Bremen have endured a very contrasting season, currently occupying 17th position in the league with just 4 wins all season.

The bookmakers make the visitors firm favourites at 13/20, the home win is available to back at 4/1 while the draw is 16/5.

Werder Bremen have managed just 1 clean sheet this season, away to Fortuna Dusseldorf at the start of the year- while Leverkusen have scored an impressive 45 goals in their 25 league matches this season. 

With that in mind, over 2.5 goals makes plenty of appeal at 4/6.​

This weekend sees the much anticipated return of the 2019/20 Bundesliga season in Germany. We preview the 6 games taking place on Saturday (14:30BST K.O. unless stated otherwise):

AUGSBURG v WOLFSBURG

Wolfsburg are general 11/10 favourites with the bookmakers and the Wolves are likely to feature in many punters accumulators this Saturday.

BORUSSIA DORTMUND v SCHALKE

Dortmund versus Schalke represents arguably the tie of the weekend as the two sides go head-to-head in the 156th renewal of the Revierderby. Dortmund currently sit 2nd in the Bundesliga table, just 4-points behind Bayern, whilst Schalke occupy 6th place.

Unsurprisingly, the home side are odds-on favourites but it’s worth noting that 5 of the last 8 meetings between Dortmund & Schalke have ended as a draw. The value could instead be to back both teams to score.

FORTUNA DUSSELDORF v PADERBORN

Neither side have been prolific goalscorers which is understandably given their shared predicaments and therefore under 2.5 goals at around EVS makes the most appeal as regards a bet in the game. ​

RB LEIPZIG v FREIBURG

HOFFENHEIM v HERTHA BERLIN

Hoffenheim against Hertha Berlin sees two of the Bundesliga out of sorts sides go head-to-head. Hoffenheim were winless in their last 5 before the outbreak of COVID-19 including shipping 6-goals at home to Bayern Munich in their penultimate league fixture. Hertha Berlin, meanwhile, have won just 1 of their last 5 and that came against bottom side Paderborn back in mid-February. 

A game which could feasibly be decided on the flip of a coin and not one to have an overly strong opinion about.

EINTRACHT FRANKFURT v BORUSSIA M’GLADBACH (17:30BST K.O)

Gladbach, on the overhand- currently sit 4th in the Bundesliga with only Bayern & RB Leipzig conceding fewer goals than Die Fohlen this season. At a general 5/4 with bookmakers, the away win represents terrific value for money. ​​

​After what has felt like an eternity since a football was last kicked in any of Europe's top divisions, the German government has given the green light for the Bundesliga to resume on the Saturday 16th May.

Dortmund sit 2nd in the table and will be hoping to continue their fine run of form prior to the break which saw them record 4-straight games, scoring 9 times and conceding just 1.

With that being said, form can often go out of the window in a derby situation. The last 9 matches between Dortmund & Schalke have seen BTTS land on 6 occasions and it is 4/5 with bet365 that both sides find the net again on Saturday afternoon.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, reigning champions Bayern Munich travel to Union Berlin bidding for a 10th successive win in the league, A run which saw interim boss Hansi Flick given the job on a permanent basis with many believing it’s only a matter of time before Bayern are crowned champions for a staggering 30th time.

Full fixtures from the opening weekend can be found below (all times are BST):

Saturday 16th May

Dortmund vs Schalke 04 - 14:30
Augsburg vs Wolfsburg - 14:30
Fortuna Düsseldorf vs Paderborn - 14:30
RB Leipzig vs Freiburg - 14:30
Hoffenheim vs Hertha Berlin - 14:30
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Mönchengladbach - 17:30

Sunday 17th May

FC Köln vs Mainz – 14:30
Union Berlin vs Bayern Munich – 17:00

Monday 18th May

Werder Bremen vs Bayer Leverkusen – 19:30

This weekend sees the 182nd renewal of Manchester Derby and neither Manchester United nor Manchester City could be in better form going into the Sunday showpiece.

January signing Bruno Fernandes has impressed many since his arrival in England, scoring 3 times & providing 2 assists in his first 7 appearances for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. 

The Portuguese playmaker is 3/1 anytime goalscorer.

All odds correct at time of posting 
(16:00 06/03/2020)

Liverpool put their unbeaten record in the Premier League this season on the line when they travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening (17:30 KO).

Spurs’ form has been somewhat inconsistent since the appointment of the self-proclaimed 'Special One'- winning 6, losing 4 & drawing twice. 

Meanwhile, there has been nothing inconsistent about Jurgen Klopp’s side. The Reds are 13-points clear at the top of the table having won their last 11 consecutive games in the Premier League inc. a 2-1 win over Tottenham in October.

Tottenham continue to struggle defensively having kept just 2 clean sheets in the league this season, conceding 30 times in the process- more than twice as many as Liverpool have shipped this term (14). ​

All odds correct at time of posting
(17:00GMT 10/01/2020)

The Premier League returns after a brief hiatus on New Years Day with a bumper 9 fixtures to start 2020 with a bang.

Firstly, Frank Lampard’s Chelsea make the trip to the South Coast to face Graham Potter’s Brighton in the lunchtime kick-off at 12:30pm.

Later at 3pm, top-4 chasing duo Tottenham & Wolves are both on their travels with Spurs away to a rejuvenated Southampton while Wolves travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford.

Nigel Pearson’s Hornets lifted themselves off the foot of the Premier League table with a 3-0 win against Aston Villa at the weekend. Nonetheless, Bet365 make Nuno Espirito Santo’s side firm favourites to put their Anfield disappointment behind them at 6/5 while a home win is priced up at a rather appealing 9/4.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin made it 5 goals in as many games in the Premier League with a brace against Newcastle at the weekend & the English target man is 3/1 to score at anytime.

Bringing proceedings to a close at 8pm is Arsenal v Man United at the Emirates. Mikel Arteta is still seeking his first win since taking the helm as the Gunners boss after overseeing his side draw with Bournemouth on Boxing Day before a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Chelsea on Sunday.

The Red Devils, meanwhile, enjoyed a much more productive Festive period with wins over Newcastle and Burnley with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer likely to be particularly buoyed by the improved form of his strikers Anthony Martial & Marcus Rashford.

A 4fold accumulator on Chelsea, Leicester, Man City & Man Utd all to win returns 9/1.

It’s a case of ‘The Master versus The Apprentice’ at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday as Jose Mourinho’s Spurs take on Frank Lampard’s Chelsea (16:30 K.O).

The Blues have rather lost their way in recent weeks, losing 4 of their last 5 in the Premier League including home defeats to West Ham & Bournemouth.

Interestingly a win for Spurs will take them level on points with Chelsea in the Premier League table and Bet365 make the home win the most likely outcome at 13/10, with an away win available to back at 19/10 while the draw is currently 27/10.

All odds correct at time of posting
(17:30 20/12/2019)

Manchester City could find themselves 17-points adrift of Liverpool in the Premier League title race when they line-up to face Arsenal at 4:30pm on Sunday.

Guardiola’s side were beaten 2-1 by arch rivals Manchester United last weekend and although they regained the winning thread when beating Dinamo Zagreb 4-1 in midweek, there remain question marks over the backline with the Citizens failing to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 matches (all comps).

Arsenal too were involved in European action during the week, drawing 2-2 with Standard Liege on Thursday night. The Gunners silenced some of their critics when coming from behind to win 3-1 against West Ham on Monday night with Summer signing Nicolas Pepe impressing with a goal & an assist.

A Manchester City win is currently priced up at just 4/9 with Bet365 and the value could be backing a City win and over 3.5 goals at 6/4 instead.

All odds correct at time of posting
(13/12/2019 17:00GMT)