The Verdict: Our best Premier League bets as top-flight football returns - Manchester United, Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane
Ahead of the Premier League's return, our football team select a best bet to consider before the end of the season.
To be honest there's nothing hidden in the betting markets. The prices are based on what everyone has seen and what we'd obviously expect from each team over the remaining nine games, or 10 for Manchester City, Sheffield United, Arsenal and Aston Villa.
The only team that particularly catches my eye for the required strong finish is Manchester United.
The 7/4 for them to finish in the top four has now been added to the Tempest Premier League portfolio. I've opposed United for most of the season but if you want to talk about great signings that can transform a team, then step forward Bruno Fernandes.
He’s been nothing short of sensational since he signed in January from Sporting Lisbon. I didn’t know much about him before he arrived but to have Roy Keane and Gary Neville singing your praises from day one you must be doing right.
His attitude is spot on. He leads with energy, excitement and quality, and he’s been the catalyst to a much-improved United side. Let’s remind ourselves: six wins from seven including a win at Stamford Bridge and the defeat of Manchester City.
If Paul Pogba thinks he’s getting back in the side as a number 10 then he’s got another thing coming. Pogba is generally a negative in the dressing room but I’m expecting even he’ll get on board now the team is winning.
With a fully-fit Marcus Rashford and a decent run-in of only Leicester, Spurs and Sheffield United still to play from the top half of the table, then 7/4 has to be a play.
There weren't many prices that really stuck out to me over the past few weeks while preparing for the Premier League's big restart, but this one really did.
For a striker as potent as Sergio Aguero, with his club-record 254 goals for Manchester City, to be 5/1 to finish the season as the top flight's leading marksman, when all he needs to do is catch up three goals on Jamie Vardy in 10 matches, with a game in hand, I find incredible.
What makes it most enticing for me is the fact that the game in hand is first up, rather than buried in the midst of the clustered end to the campaign.
So come 2200 BST on Wednesday night, Aguero could quite easily be the division's top scorer already, and those odds would then be a distant memory. Even if he scores one then they will be long gone.
And Arsenal's defence hardly has a reputation for being watertight does it.
Aguero is the most likely player in Premier League history to be able to quickly close a three-goal deficit in the scoring charts, having bagged more hat-tricks (12) than anyone else. He is also one of only five players to have netted five times in the same game.
City's run-in is pretty mediocre too, playing six of the current bottom eight to finish the campaign.
With Aguero's 2019/20 Premier League strike-rate of a goal every 88 minutes - 29 minutes better than Vardy's - the Argentine might well fill his boots in those closing games.
George Pitts (GeorgePitts_)
This is a great price on a man with plenty to play for as Tottenham look to keep their slim hopes of making the top four alive.
They are seven points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea, but they have 27 to play for and if Harry Kane can stay fit then he can be the driving force behind them finishing strongly.
The extended break has allowed Kane time to recover from a hamstring injury that saw him sidelined since New Year's Day and they missed their main man massively, going winless in six games in all competitions before football's suspension.
Not only is Kane fit, but Spurs' forward line will also be boosted by the return of Heung-min Son and January signing Steven Bergwijn, so they can come back with more creative, attacking options and could be firing after having more time to adapt under Jose Mourinho.
Kane has scored 17 goals and assisted two in 25 appearances for Spurs this season and he will be hungry to add to that after six months without first team football.
The end of last season was also disrupted by injury before the Champions League final, but Kane has historically finished campaigns quite strongly:
- Six in his last eight in 17/18 before the World Cup
- Eleven in his last eight in 16/17
- Nine in his last 11 in 15/16
With 11 league goals to his name this time around, he is eight off leading goalscorer Jamie Vardy, so it would be some return to see him secure a third Golden Boot.
But saying that, it would not be beyond the realms of possibility for Kane, who netted seven goals in the last two games of 16/17 (against Leicester and Hull) to pip Romelu Lukaku to the accolade.
For Kane to be top goalscorer in this 'mini tournament', between now and the end of the campaign, is not a ridiculous shout as one of the league's best strikers of the last few years and 9/1 looks a tad generous.
Premier League restart guide
We've got previews, stats and every betting angle covered for the return of the Premier League in our bumper restart guide. Take a look by clicking the image below...
Odds correct as of 1415 BST on 16/06/20
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