With a break in the Premier League in order for the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup to take centre stage, it is a great time to look at the betting odds for the relegation battle, which is turning into a fascinating battle at the bottom. For each club, it is so crucial to maintain your place in the Premier League now due to the money involved and for fans, they all want to see their side playing against the big boys nearly every week.
There are currently an astonishing 11 teams involved in the relegation battle this season and any of these sides could still find themselves playing Championship football next season. If you have a good knowledge of football you could actually make a bit of money from betting on relegation markets, as all of the big bookmakers will take bets on relegation.
While you are spending time on the bookmaker sites, you may be able to benefit from the technique known as matched betting. Matched betting sites such as Oddsmonkey and Matched Bets will give you expert advice on exactly how you could make an expected profit from the special offers that bookies list. We highly recommend a membership with one or more of these matched betting sites. We will have more information on matched betting a little bit later in this article.
First though, we will take a look at all 11 of the relegation candidates and see how likely they are to make the drop.
Relegation Betting Odds
West Bromwich Albion
Best Odds – 2/5 (Sky Bet, Unibet)
It has been an absolute disaster of a season for West Brom. They sacked manager Tony Pulis back in November when they were just outside the relegation zone, but new manager Alan Pardew has had an awful start, taking them to the bottom of the league with just 20 points.
Their recent form can be summed up by the fact that loan signing Daniel Sturridge lasted just 3 minutes in Monday’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea. It looks extremely bleak for the Baggies.
Stoke City
Best Odds – 10/11 (BetVictor)
Stoke have also changed their manager this season after Mark Hughes was simply not getting the results that were required. Ex-Aston Villa and Norwich manager Paul Lambert is in but it remains to be seen if he has enough to keep them up.
Though, if they’re going to survive they have to beat teams around them and take their chances. The missed penalty against Brighton may come back to haunt the Potters.
Huddersfield Town
Best Odds – 10/11 (Sky Bet, BetVictor)
It has been a strange first season at Premier League level for David Wagner and his side. They started really well, epitomised by their 3-0 away win at Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season. Since then it has not been an amazing run of form at all.
This may be turned around now with the great 4-1 victory against Bournemouth on Sunday. They sit 1 point above the relegation zone at the moment on 27 points.
Swansea City
Best Odds – 9/4 (bet365, Betfred, Betway)
There is a lot to be said about the ‘new manager bounce’ but even Swansea City’s most optimistic fans wouldn’t have thought they would turn their form around so quickly under Carlos Carvalhal. The Swans have climbed up to 16th with a few fantastic wins.
It really has been an incredible run, which includes victories against Liverpool, Arsenal and Burnley at the Liberty Stadium. 27 points gained so far with a better goal difference than Huddersfield.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Best Odds – 3/1 (10Bet)
Chris Hughton’s side have been fairly solid all season but have not really set the league alight. When they do lose a game, it is never by more than a couple of goals as they are so solid defensively. Their home form looks like it will be crucial in whether or not they stay up.
The Seagulls grabbed a point at Stoke on Saturday to take them up to 14th on 28 points. Keep winning at home and they should be fine.
Crystal Palace
Best Odds – 7/2 (Sky Bet, Unibet)
When Roy Hodgson first came in to Crystal Palace they looked completely doomed, so the turnaround has really been great. The former England manager has rejuvenated the club and he’s got their key players performing brilliantly.
What may cost them is their injury problems, most notably for their main star Wilfried Zaha, who is currently on the sidelines. Their next few fixtures are awful on paper too, as they face Spurs, Manchester United and Chelsea. They are 15th at the moment, with 27 points.
Newcastle United
Best Odds – 4/1 (Sky Bet, Ladbrokes)
The Magpies had by far their best day of the season on Sunday as they beat Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United side by a goal to nil at St James’ Park. It was well deserved too, as they fought and won every second ball. Matt Ritchie grabbed his first goal of the season with fantastic performances from Jonjo Shelvey, Mo Diame and Martin Dubravka as well.
Manager Rafa Benitez could be the key for Newcastle United, as he is a tactically astute boss that knows how to get results. The win on Sunday boosted Newcastle up to 13th with 28 points and they are now outsiders for relegation.
Southampton
Best Odds – 5/1 (Sky Bet)
These odds may come as a surprise considering the league position of the Saints. 5/1 for Southampton to get relegated from the Premier League looks like good value as they are currently in the bottom three with just 26 points so far.
They did not look great at the weekend either, not causing Liverpool many problems at all. Mauricio Pellegrino is under a lot of pressure and fans are understandably not too happy.
West Ham United
Best Odds – 14/1 (Betfred)
David Moyes has managed to drag West Ham away from the relegation zone since his appointment back in early November. Not everything has gone their way and the fans still aren’t thrilled but they have managed to gain enough points so far.
With West Ham, the feeling is that they are always just a few defeats away from a crisis so they can not be considered completely safe just yet, even though they are 12th with 30 points.
Watford
Best Odds – 18/1 (Sky Bet)
Watford’s season so far can be summed up perfectly by their last two results. Last Monday they had an amazing 4-1 victory against reigning champions Chelsea which was then followed up with a massively disappointing 2-0 defeat against West Ham.
New manager Javi Gracia will hope to get more time in the job than many of his predecessors. Watford are currently 11th with 30 points and unlikely to be dragged in.
Bournemouth
Best Odds – 40/1 (10Bet, BetVictor)
Looking at the table, Bournemouth are in the top 10 and many would expect that means they are safe. However, their last performance at Huddersfield was terrible and with the league table so close, stranger things have happened.
Eddie Howe and his players should have enough to survive fairly comfortably though.
Benefiting From Matched Betting
As mentioned earlier on in the article, with the help of top matched betting sites such as Oddsmonkey you could potentially make a profit from the special promotions while you are spending time on bookmaker websites. This is through the proven technique of matched betting, which involves placing a back bet on a selection to win with a bookmaker and a corresponding lay bet on the same selection not to win with a betting exchange.
As an example of how matched betting works, if a bookie offered you a £10 free bet when you sign up for an account and place your first bet, you could make money through matched betting. The back bet and the lay bet will cover all outcomes with a minimal qualifying loss and thus allow you to qualify for the free bet.
In this example, once the £10 free bet is credited to you, you can then repeat the same back and lay strategy using the free bet stake in order to make an expected profit. Matched betting offers a number of potential money making opportunities, both short term and long term.
Signing up with a premium site like OddsMonkey or Matched Bets will provide you with access to some matched betting tools that are not available for free. These include Odds Matching software, which finds close matching selections between the bookmaker odds and betting exchange odds. This will help you reduce qualifying losses when using your own funds and will help maximise expected profits when using a free bet stake.
Try matched betting today, you certainly will not regret it.