Premier League / Ari Last / 31 May 2009 / Leave a comment

As English football fans come to terms with the end of the domestic season, Ari Last lifts the doom and gloom by turning his thoughts to next year's title race...

Manchester United are unsurprisingly the favourites to lift next years' title at odds of [2.46], with Chelsea and Liverpool currently being backed at [4.2] to prevent United from lifting a fourth consecutive Premier League tophy.

It will be interesting to see how the Champions' price reacts to movements in the "Ronaldo to stay" market. Currently the Portuguese is odds-on to remain at Old Trafford [1.36], although should that drift, so may United's title odds.

Arsenal are priced at [10.0] to win their first title in what would be six years, and if Arsene Wenger listens to his critics and signs a couple of established stars early on in the summer, that price could shorten significantly by the time August comes around.

Looking further out, Manchester City can be backed at [44.0] to usurp their city rivals as champions next season. A tempting price perhaps if you believe that the likes of Kaka is on his way to Eastlands, although with Roque Santa Cruz a more likely City signing, it may be worth putting your "speculative" bet on something else.

One set of fans who are always delighted at a season's end are the Spurs faithful who are famous for already looking forward to "Next Season" only a few games into the current one! Tottenham can be backed at [130.0] to win the title, a generous price when you consider that Aston Villa and Everton - two sides who have out-performed Spurs in recent years - are currently sitting at [210.00] to emerge as Champions.

The Premier League is often criticized for being dominated by the rich and powerful, and the current prices in the Winners and Relegation markets for next season highlight this point.

Amazingly, the top four and Manchester City are the only sides currently being given more of a chance of winning the title then being relegated. The likes of Everton, Villa, Fulham & Spurs can all be backed at shorter odds to go down then to win the league, granting credence to the view that there's one league at the top and another one for everyone else.

Favourites to go down are newcomers Burnley. The Betfair market has failed to be swayed by the fabulous achievement of Owen Coyle's side at Wembley and has quickly installed the play-off winners as odds-on favourites for the drop at [1.66].

Birmingham and Wolves, the two other promoted sides are at [1.87] and [2.08] respectively to only last a year in the top bracket, while Hull can be backed at [2.28] to suffer from the fact that an incompetent Newcastle won't be around to keep them afloat next season.

So as the markets open, the forecast is predictable at both ends of the table. Yet with the transfer window soon to open, these two markets are well worth keeping an eye on throughout the close-season, with levels of optimism responding to who heads in, and out of each club's revolving door.