16 July 2026
Premier League 2026/27 Early Odds: Which Clubs Are the Markets Backing After the World Cup Break?
The 2026 World Cup has taken football's centre stage during the summer, and the eyes of football fans have been focused on USA, Canada, and Mexico stadiums. Now that the WC is almost over, the focus of most fans whose nations have ended their participation are moving toward Europe, where we're only mere weeks removed from new season kicks off in most football leagues on the Old Continent.
As it's usually the case, the one league that attracts the most worldwide coverage is the Premier League of England. There's no doubt that we're talking about the world's most popular football league competition. The new season kicks off on 21st of August, with the duel between the champions, Arsenal, and the newly promoted side, Coventry, led by former Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard. So, there's more than one month to go until the 2026/27 Premier League season starts, and here are who the football betting odds see as the favourites to make the most serious title challenge in the coming season.
Arsenal
It is hard to look past the reigning champions. Arsenal didn't have a dream campaign last season. Yet, they did what was necessary to win the title after a two decade long drought, but it was not pretty. The Gunners had a cagey affair in the 2025/26 season, and they played with a lot of constraints as far as their creativity goes. The team was built on being defensively solid, and a massive threat in dead ball situations. It paid off, despite the fact there were fans calling for Arteta's head throughout the season, dissatisfied with the attacking output the team had at times.
This season is going to be different. With the title packed in the trophy cabinet, Arsenal will play without the burden of expectation and that will do wonders for their creativity and attacking prowess, with no longer feeling that the expectation of the entire fan base falls on the back of a couple attacking players. While you can expect for Arsenal to play with more fluidity upfront, it's no secret that their main strength is going to be defence. Gabriel and Saliba are one of the best CB pairing in the world. With healthy Mosquera, Ben White, Hincapie who is now signed to a permanent deal, and Riccardo Calafiori they have enough pieces for good rotation, and then some more.
Of course, a lot of their game will rely on the captain, Martin Odegaard, and Declan Rice, both of whom are main cogs in Arsenal's midfield. Together with Zubimendi and Merino, both of whom are in the final of the World Cup, and Eze and Madueke, the Gunners will play to the best of their ability. Of course, we should not forget about Bukayo Saka who should be fully fit for the upcoming season, and his best days in London are ahead of him. Also, there is a small matter of the reinforcements that surely the Arsenal top brass is planning for the summer. At the same time, it is not expected that any of the players that carried Arsenal last year is to leave.
Viktor Gyokeres is also a part of the equation, and while fans expected more from him after massive transfer from Sporting Lisbon, he did more than different Arsenal strikers in the past couple of years when the team fell short of winning title. Together with Kai Havertz Arsenal has good attacking options, with more firepower coming over the summer for sure. Everything we said makes them favourites to retain title, and the bookmakers recognize this and have set their odds of winning the Premier League at 2.50.
Manchester City
Can the new manager bounce back to help Manchester City win the title? No offense to Enzo Maresca, in most situations he would be seen as an improvement on the previous manager. This time around, he has massive shoes left to fill after Pep Guardiola left the team after a decade in charge. The Spaniard is no more, but at least Citizens fans can rest assured that the same philosophy will still be there in the blue part of the city, considering that Maresca developed as a coach under Pep.
He will inherit more than a good team, with players such as Rodri, Haaland, Donnarumma, Guehi, Cherki, Nico, Doku, Marmoush, and Semenyo making the backbone of the City that will be contending for the 2026/27 PL title. As it's usually the case, Manchester City is expected to spend heavily in the summer, to bring a few players that will fit into what Maresca wants to do with his team. So far, there were no deals completed, most likely due to the World Cup. With more than one month to go until the season starts, we can expect for this City side to look quite different under their new head coach.
The bookies do not believe that City is going to be as dominant as they were under Pep, and thus, they get a head start on Arsenal. Yet, City is not far away from the Gunners, and their odds of winning the next season's title are set at 3.75. These are some good odds, and if you are a betting man, you could take advantage of Manchester City being underrated for the first time in the last decade. No such thing was allowed under Pep.
Liverpool
The Reds were a massive disappointment last season. After winning the title in his debut season, Arne Slot was given one of the biggest budgets in world football to reinforce Liverpool and make them a dominant force on the island. Instead, what the fans received was a team battling to secure a Champions League spot. While Isak, Ekitike, and Wirtz are amazing football players, their addition to the team failed to bear the fruits. The team looked unbalanced throughout the year, and no tactical adjustment by Slot resulted in improvement on the field. At times, during the season it appeared that players have given up on his ideas.
In the end, the results that were not good enough by Klopp standards, cost Slot his job. His replacement is Andoni Iraola. During his stint at Bournemouth, the Spaniard has shown that he can create miracles with close to nothing . At Liverpool, he will have a fabulous team to work with, with a hefty budget to boast. Alisson is still at the top of his game, with Mamardashvilli waiting in his shadow waiting for a chance to shine. The biggest issue for this Reds team is their defence, which lacks any serious depth to contend for the title. Van Dijk is still there, but at 35 years of age, it is only a matter of time before his quality drops below what's the standard for a team contending for a PL title.
The team's biggest strength is up front with attacking options that include Isak, Ekitike, Gakpo, Chiesa, Wirtz, and Szoboszlai. This team has the quality to contend, but they will have to start fine, avoid injuries, accept the ideas of their new coach, and of course add depth to their defence. With the youngster Leoni still recuperating from last season's injury, they will have to be very active on the transfer market. With everything we've said, it's no wonder that Liverpool's odds of winning the title stand at 6.00. That's a real gamble, but if they compete in the transfer market in fashion, anything is possible. In any case, do not wager on the Reds before the end of the summer.
Manchester United
It's now or never for Manchester United. The Red Devils have not won a title since Sir Alex Ferguson left. On a few occasions they were in the mix, but never a real contender. The worst part is that they're often subpar, and not even contending for the top part of the table. To add to the misery of their fans, the managerial carousel they've been a part of during the past few years did nothing to help Man UTD get back closer to the glory days of old.
This season is a perfect opportunity for Manchester United to get back into the pod with the big fish. Michael Carrick is their manager, and he is a person that has United's DNA. He's also a former disciple of Ferguson, and since he took over, United has been undergoing a renaissance. They have a quality squad on paper, as they have for the past few years. It's just that now they play like it. The likes of Mbuemo, Cunha, Dorgu, Sesko, Yoro, and Lammens have been good additions in recent times.
Despite being active last summer, United is not sleeping this summer either. They already brought in the likes of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans showing that they mean business under Carrick. With Bruno Fernandes leading the way as captain, and now we can say, a club's legend, they can finally disport the dominion that belonged to Liverpool, Chelsea and City in the past ten years, and now belongs to Arsenal. With their odds set at 7.00, United is your genuine dark horse for the 2026/27 title.