Premiership Relegation Battle - Betting Preview and Odds Comparsion
14th July, 2008
The relegation battles of the Premiership always guarantee excitement. Some say that staying up is more important to clubs and their fans than winning the league.
You can see why, as Premiership survival means TV rights worth millions and increased funding to help strengthen the side over the summer.
Last season saw Derby out of the picture early on, as they struggled to deal with the pace, skill and strength of the league. Reading uncharacteristically had a very poor ending to the season
and even beating Derby 4-0 on the last day of the season, was not enough to save them from the drop. This was due to Danny Murphy’s winner for Fulham, against Portsmouth. Birmingham were
also relegated even after beating Blackburn 4-1.
This season’s relegation battle will produce some equally exciting moments, and Stoke City, West Brom and Hull City will all face the challenge of staying in arguably the best league in the world.
Hull City
Favourites to return to the championship are Phil Brown’s Hull City side. After beating Bristol City in the playoffs last season, Hull will need to be at their very best to have a chance of staying up. Priced at 1/3, by Coral they are firm favourites by most bookies to be relegated.
Stoke City
Stoke City will also have their work cut out and will have to train hard over summer, whilst bringing in some new faces to have a chance of surviving. They have already agreed a £4m fee for England international Scott Carson and are held at 2/5 by Bet 365 to be 18th or lower by the end of the season.
West Brom
West Brom have experienced relegation battles, surviving on the last day in the 2004/05 season. The baggies beat Portsmouth 1-0 to pull off a miraculous escape. Last season in they won the Championship and will be looking to repeat some of the attractive attacking football instilled by manager Tony Mowbray. The baggies are priced at 11/10 by Betfred and are held at evens by some bookies.
Other teams who may well be involved in a dog fight at the bottom of the table include Fulham, Sunderland, Bolton and Wigan.
Betting Alerts Tip:
Wigan (10/3 with Sky Bet) will struggle if they don’t find a consistent goal scorer, even then they will most likely be flirting with the drop.
Check our odds comparison service for a full list of the Premiership betting Markets.
By Jamie
