The 2018/19 Premier League will soon be upon us.
And while much of the talk among SBOBET fans surrounds the top six from last season, I have some names of my own which may surprise you and upset a few Premier League 2018 betting odds over the course of the next nine months.
First of all, here is a name many of you won’t be expecting.
It’s been the norm for the side which scrapes promotion through the Championship play-offs to be among the favourites to make an immediate return.
Yet the team which claimed the last promotion place via the playoffs may well provide a number of the Premier League 2018 highlights.
As I write this, newly promoted Fulham have confirmed the signing of central defender Alfie Mawson in a deal which could rise to £20 million.
You may think that’s odd, considering he was part of the Swansea City side which was relegated from the top flight last term.
But it’s not his signing which has excited me.
It’s the way boss Slavisa Jokanovic has shaped a squad returning to the Premier League for the first time in four years.
Among half a dozen new recruits, it is the capture of former Chelsea and German forward Andre Schurrle – a real match-winner on his day – and Serbia international striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, a loan star at Craven Cottage last season, for a reported £22 million which have caught my eye.
Fulham, for me, are definitely ones to watch and should not get embroiled in a relegation dogfight.
Nor indeed should London rivals Crystal Palace who finished last season in the heady heights of 11th spot, thanks in no small part to the influence of men at differing ends of the age spectrum.
They may have struggled for much of the early stages of the last term – indeed Roy Hodgson’s predecessor was never given a chance – but manager Hodgson and the talisman Wilfried Zaha helped lead a turnaround which included a spell near the end of the season of eight wins in 10 games.
They have kept Zaha, will expect big things of Christian Benteke – someone who can be devastating when on form – and even added German midfielder Max Meyer to their ranks after his contract expired at Bundesliga runners-up Schalke.
With Yohan Cabaye departed but Cheikhou Kouyate in from West Ham, the Eagles can expect to be a match for most teams, certainly at Selhurst Park, and should not face another basement battle.
After a campaign in which they had three managers (one caretaker), Everton will be a fascinating project to watch. In Marco Silva, they have one of Europe’s most talented young managers.
This, of course, will be a test for him as much as it will for the Merseyside club which has said farewell to Wayne Rooney (now followed out the door by Ashley Williams) and Davy Klaassen but welcomed in one of Silva’s old charges in Brazilian winger Richarlison and French defender Lucas Digne from Barcelona.
If they can break into the top six, Silva will have done well. But the seventh spot will mean progress despite the harsh sacking of Sam Allardyce who took the Toffees from 18th to eighth place after his appointment in late November yet was widely criticised by his club’s supporters for his style of play.
Of the other teams, I expect West Ham to improve both league position and be more aesthetically pleasing on the eye with the appointment of Manuel Pellegrini, who has recruited well and early.
Southampton won’t exactly be a dark horse, but they should not quite have the worries they had last season when only the March arrival of Mark Hughes led to a turnaround in fortunes and, ultimately, a secured survival on the final day. I don’t expect them to be much higher than 17th spot again, however, but an improvement is likely.
My final dark horse is another newly promoted outfit in Wolves.
I still expect them to be in the lower reaches of the table but, at worst 17th and, at best, in line for a mid-table finish.
They were emphatic winners of the Championship last term and have since bought wisely with Portuguese number one Patricio a real opportunistic signing and a snip to take advantage of Sporting Lisbon’s chaotic summer.
Benik Afobe, snapped up from Bournemouth for £10 million, has already proved he can score goals in the top flight. Patricio’s fellow national team team-mate Joao Moutinho’s arrival from Monaco will add a presence and calmness in midfield alongside countryman Ruben Neves who was named in the 2017/18 Championship team of the year.
With full-back Jonny Castro Otto also arriving on a season-long loan from Atletico Madrid, experience will not be in short supply. Nuno Espirito Santo and his men will be quietly confident in causing a few surprises in the West Midlands between now and next May.
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