By David Butler
At the beginning of the Premier League season the markets priced Manchester City at just over 3/1 to lift the trophy in May. The OPTA models suggested they had an 18.8% chance of finishing first. The market odds have risen to 7/1 after three rounds of fixtures – Manchester City only have 3 points out of a possible 9, suffering two surprising defeats.
Can Pep forget about winning the Premier League? Probably. I would think these odds are not very generous. We’re starting to get signals now and eventual winners tend to incur few losses, especially so early in the season. The bookmakers now think it is a two-horse race. While there is more to play for outside of winning the league, when it comes to lifting the trophy, seasonal uncertainty quickly evaporates for the majority of clubs. In this case, even for a club with high hopes just three weeks ago.
Early slips can be detrimental. Over Premier League history, Manchester United are the only club who were in a similar position to City after three rounds but still lifted the title. Ferguson’s sides started slowly three times (92/93, 98/99 and 07/08) - they only accumulated 2/3 points after the opening three fixtures but still ended up on top in May
At the beginning of the Premier League season the markets priced Manchester City at just over 3/1 to lift the trophy in May. The OPTA models suggested they had an 18.8% chance of finishing first. The market odds have risen to 7/1 after three rounds of fixtures – Manchester City only have 3 points out of a possible 9, suffering two surprising defeats.
Can Pep forget about winning the Premier League? Probably. I would think these odds are not very generous. We’re starting to get signals now and eventual winners tend to incur few losses, especially so early in the season. The bookmakers now think it is a two-horse race. While there is more to play for outside of winning the league, when it comes to lifting the trophy, seasonal uncertainty quickly evaporates for the majority of clubs. In this case, even for a club with high hopes just three weeks ago.
Early slips can be detrimental. Over Premier League history, Manchester United are the only club who were in a similar position to City after three rounds but still lifted the title. Ferguson’s sides started slowly three times (92/93, 98/99 and 07/08) - they only accumulated 2/3 points after the opening three fixtures but still ended up on top in May
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