It’s a slap in the face to Manchester United and Arsenal but most of the major bookmakers are running a market for the Premiership without Chelsea. Punters with huge amounts to invest might well grab at Chelsea’s 1/66 odds as a way of topping up their funds but clearly it would take something miraculous to prevent the title going to Stamford Bridge.


Essentially it’s a four horse race to finish second with Spurs as the outsiders of the field, despite sitting fourth at the moment. All the firms place Liverpool as favourites at around evens or odds-on with Man United very close. Arsenal are out as far as 8/1 reflecting the current 8 point gap to second place for them.


However, as the Gunners haven’t ever finished outside the top two under Arsene Wenger there may still be value in those odds. The Champions League could well muddy the waters when it opens up again- Liverpool could reach exhaustion point at some stage and Arsenal could draw confidence if they beat Real Madrid etc.


United are certainly not back to their best as the derby result showed, so Arsenal’s situation isn’t a hopeless one yet. A few more performances like the hammering of Middlesbrough and the Gunners could match Liverpool’s recent unbeaten surge and make it a close-run thing.


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