Liverpool, Favorite for the 2025-26 Premier League
For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Premier League will start without Manchester City as the main favorite in US betting. The current champion, Liverpool, leads the betting to win the Premier League in the 2025-26 campaign. Liverpool is positioned as the favorite, with odds of +175. Arsenal, last season’s runner-up, follows with odds of +225, and Manchester City completes the top three with +350. This is Pep Guardiola’s first period, which began in the 2016-17 season, in which Manchester City is not the favorite to win the league. Furthermore, it is the first time since 2011-12 that City is not among the top two favorites. The lack of confidence extends from the betting houses to the bettors themselves. Manchester City has only 11.2% of the bets and 7.6% of the total money wagered in the league winner market on ESPN BET, the fifth highest in both metrics. In contrast, Chelsea has been one of the clubs most supported by bettors during the preseason. This is due to the significant movement of the odds after their victory in the Club World Cup in July. The “Blues” started with odds of up to +2500 in some betting houses and have now been reduced to +800.Although Liverpool is the favorite and leads the ticket count on DraftKings and ESPN BET, Manchester United (+2000) has also attracted the attention of bettors. BetMGM and ESPN BET have the “Red Devils” as leaders in the market, with more than 30% of the money share.They were very impressive during the Club World Cup, including a dominant performance in the final against what is arguably the best team in Europe, PSG. They have also considerably strengthened their squad with players like João Pedro, Estão, Delap, Binoe-Gittens, Essugo, and Hato during this transfer window.
Adam Landeka, VP of strategy and growth of sports betting at ESPN BET
The Premier League is the most bet-on football league in American sportsbooks. According to BetMGM, 80% of their bets on the league winner are for the Premier League, compared to the other four major European leagues. Regarding individual matches, the Premier League attracts twice as many tickets and money compared to LaLiga. In LaLiga, competition is expected between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Real Madrid is the favorite with odds of -120, followed by Barcelona with +110. The bets indicate that 97% of the bets support one of these two clubs, with Barcelona attracting 93.2% of the total wagered. In other leagues, Napoli (+150) leads in a more contested Serie A, with five teams within +900. On the other hand, Bayern Munich (-400) and Paris Saint-Germain (-800) are the big favorites in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, respectively.Chelsea has been heavily bet this year because they won the Club World Cup last month… They showed they could win a tournament like that, so at 25-1, bettors saw value in that and obviously there was because they are now in eight. Man United is also being heavily bet on in the futures. So those two I would say are probably our biggest risks.
Johnny Avello, DraftKings sports betting director
