Premier League Tips: Our writers' best bets for the 2021-22 season

Paul Robinson: Back Liverpool to win the title at 7.613/2

It is hard to deny that Liverpool's title defence was hugely disappointing, and they start this season as third favourites to win the league.

There were mitigating circumstances for last year's third place finish though, and the things that hindered them last time could work in their favour now.

Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez were big misses for the Reds for the majority of the campaign, but they are back now, and should be raring to go.

It is also worth noting that the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Trent Alexander Arnold all had the summer off, while their main rivals had the majority of their key players at the Euros or the Copa America.

The fans being back in the stadiums will also be a huge help to Jurgen Klopp's men.

Back Paul's selection here

Mark O'Haire: Back 5 or more corners in each match of the 2021/22 English Premier League (500/1)

We all like a bit of loose ante-post change at a 500/1 shot, don't we? Well, this corners angle piqued my interest. Why? Looking back at my detailed records across the past nine Premier League seasons, we can see the average number of corners per-game comes in at a hefty 10.57 - 81% of those matches have featured a minimum of eight flag kicks.

Last term (without supporters) saw corners drop to a per-game average low of 10.15 since 2011/12, yet 78% of all 2020/21's matches produced at least eight corners per-game. With that in mind, reaching five or more corners in in all 380 fixtures - whilst still improbable - looks to have a stronger chance of landing than the advertised 500/1 suggests.

Back Mark's selection here

Steve Rawlings: Back Brighton to go down at 8/1

Brighton finished their 2020/21 campaign by beating the champions, Manchester City, at home in their penultimate game, finally rewarding xG fans who had followed them off a cliff.

Game after game the Seagulls goal tally fell short of their xG figures and game after game they conceded more goals than the numbers suggested they should have, with their home defeat to bitter rivals, Crystal Palace, epitomising their plight. They were beaten 2-1 by the Eagles with an xG of 3.03 for and 0.27 against!

At the end of the season, they'd racked up a total 40 goals and conceded 46 but the xG suggested they should have scored at least 16 more and conceded five less. They finished in 16th place and that was the fourth time in-a-row that they'd finished no more than three places above the drop zone since they were promoted to the Premier League in 2017.

A glass half full Seagulls supporter would point to the numbers and suggest an improvement is imminent but I'm not convinced. They've not yet managed to replace their talisman Glenn Murray up front and the loss of the top-class Ben White from the back-line is a huge loss.

We can debate whether he was worth the £50 million that Arsenal have paid until the cows come home but there's very little doubt that he'll leave the Seagulls a weaker side defensively and at an industry-wide best of 8/1 with the Sportsbook, Brighton are a sporting price for the drop.

Back Steve's selection here

Kevin Hatchard: Back Chelsea to do the double @ 40/1

Manchester City are odds-on favourites to retain their Premier League title, but Chelsea were outstanding under German coach Thomas Tuchel last term, edging out Pep Guardiola's City in the Champions League final. The European champions have a deep squad which they are trying to further enhance, they have a tactical framework and solidity they lacked under Frank Lampard, and they are blessed with an array of matchwinners. It's also worth noting that Tuchel's Chelsea beat City three times across three competitions.

While they were busy securing a top-four finish and conquering Europe, Chelsea also found a way of reaching an FA Cup final. The Blues lost to Leicester, but they have now reached back-to-back FA Cup finals, and they have the depth of squad to secure another run to Wembley. At 40/1, I think it's worth backing the Blues to do the double.

Back Kevin's selection here

Andrew Atherley: Back Southampton to be relegated @ 5.24/1

The relegated teams in the Premier League tend to be drawn from two groups - the three promoted clubs or the three worst survivors from the previous season - and Southampton look vulnerable after finishing 15th last season.

Ralph Hasenhuttl's side were the worst team over the second half of the season with just 14 points from 19 games and they face a tough start to the new campaign with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea among their first eight opponents, along with Everton, West Ham, Wolves and Leeds.

Danny Ings, scorer of 35% of Southampton's goals over the past two seasons, has been sold to Aston Villa and he will be hard to replace. Overall the squad lacks quality and confidence could drain quickly if they are involved in a relegation scrap from the start.

Back Andrew's selection here

Paul Higham: Back Harry Maguire and Virgil van Dijk to both score 5+ headers @ 28/1

Forget backing Salah or Kane's goals, De Bruyne or Fernandes' assists - I'm going for some good old-fashioned centre halves banging in headers from set pieces.

Van Dijk will return from injury this season and regardless of how sharp he is he'll still be a big threat in the opposition box. He also won't be Liverpool's biggest target as new signing Ibrahima Konate is officially 1cm taller!

The Dutchman scored five headed goals in his last full season for the Reds and three in his first season and has Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago to deliver the bullets.

Maguire is more of a worry after just two league headers last season, but he bagged five goals overall if you count England and now gets Jadon Sancho to add to Bruno Fernandes - that's a lot of quality on deliveries from set pieces. At a big price these two will give us a run.

Back Paul's selection here

Jamie Pacheco: Back Crystal Palace to finish rock bottom @ 7.06/1

Palace did extremely well to not be relegated these last few seasons and a lot of that was down to Roy Hodgson. The football wasn't always the most exciting, but he was exactly what they needed at the time.

Patrick Vieira is a huge gamble. Great player but what's he done as manager? Not much and this is hardly a league where you quickly find your feet just by using your reputation as a player and a bit of charisma. Frank de Boer, anyone?

Conor Gallagher is a good signing, as is Nathaniel Clyne. But as ever, I'm not sure where the goals are going to come from. They would have been well-advised to get rid of some of the dead wood up front and splash out on someone who was certain to start every game, rather than rotating all the time.

This season, more than ever, if Wilfried Zaha doesn't come to the party, they could be in trouble.

Back Jamie's selection here

Alan Dudman: Back Fernandes and Toney goals, Leeds and Villa top half and Norwich down @ 22/1

I've gone for a 22/1 chance on Bruno Fernandes to score 15+ goals, Ivan Toney 10+, Leeds and Aston Villa to finish in the top half and Norwich to be relegated.

My good chum Kev Hatchard always goes for Fernandes (he pronounces it 'Fernanch') to score at anytime, and with 18 last season we should bag that one. Toney has been linked with West Ham so, as a Hammer, I'll be delighted with that if it ever comes off. He's another penalty taker and with 33 in the Championship, I'd be surprised if he doesn't hit double figures.

Villa are the conundrum without Jack Grealish, but they improved last season and have money to re-invest. And Leeds won 10 times on the road last term and were full of entertainment.

As for Norwich, they won just five times in 2019/20 and were relegated in bottom. More of the same please.

Back Alan's selection here

Simon Mail: Back Ivan Toney to finish top Premier League goalscorer each-way @ 40/1

Ivan Toney does not look the worst each-way outsider to finish as top scorer. Toney appears to have all the tools to take the Premier League by storm following Brentford's promotion.

Toney top scored with 33 goals in 52 games last season to spearhead the Bees' charge to the top flight. The 25-year-old also netted 26 goals in the previous campaign for Peterborough which earned his move to Brentford.

The powerful striker has an exceptional all-round game and Brentford's entertaining brand of football should create opportunities for him.

Toney also has a point to prove after not being given a chance to impress at Newcastle United earlier in his career.

It would not be a huge surprise if Toney was pushing for a place in the England squad by the end of next season and the prolific finisher could also threaten the places in the top goalscorer market.

Back Simon's selection here

Andy Schooler: Back Harvey Barnes to score 10+ Premier League goals @ 2/1

The Leicester winger would surely have reached this target last season had he not picked up a season-ending knee injury in February, one which played a big part in derailing the Foxes' top-four bid.

He had nine goals from 25 appearances at the time, having been deployed in a more attacking role than the previous campaign.

Clearly he's got to prove his fitness after a long period out but he's already scored in pre-season, against Villarreal.

Barnes' form had him knocking on the England door and it's difficult to see how Brendan Rodgers will be able to leave him out, despite now having increased attacking options.

Certainly Rodgers' side performed much better with Barnes in the team playing as part of a front four. The post-injury formation change saw results suffer.

Back Andy's selection here