Premier League 2026/27: Arsenal 6/4 favourites to defend title with City, United and Liverpool the main rivals

Will Arsenal defend their crown? Champions are title favs

The Betfair Sportsbook's Premier League 2026/27 Winner market says yes. Arsenal have been installed as 6/42.50 favourites to defend their title, and it's all too easy to see why.

While some of their closest rivals in the market can be considered to be going through a transitional period - more on that later - the Gunners have a rock solid platform to work from going into the 2026/27 campaign.

Having shaken off their 'bottlers' tag by winning their first Premier League title in 22 years, Arsenal appear to be in a brilliant place. A strong squad, no player unrest, a manager who is now adored, and star players approaching peak age.

Mikel Arteta has strong options in every department, though adding a world-class striker - should one become available - to his squad will likely be a priority, while signing a left-sided attacker who can nail down that starting position might also be high on the list.

In a nutshell, there's nothing negative to say about the champions. You can only see them becoming stronger next season, and that means that this season's also-rans have a lot of catching up to do.

Are Man City and Liverpool fancied?

Available to back at 5/23.50 and 6/17.00 respectively, both Manchester City and Liverpool are also fancied to win next season's Premier League title, and so too are fourth favourites Manchester United, who are listed at 13/27.50.

But all three clubs have question marks over them.

A very strong City squad, under the guidance of arguably the best Premier League manager of all time - just ask Alan Shearer - fell seven points short of Arsenal during the most recent campaign, and with Guardiola leaving, as well as captain Bernardo Silva, you have to question how they can improve.

Failed Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is very likely to be the club's next manager, but you do wonder how many of City's stars, who bought into the way Guardiola coached them and asked them to play, will want a move away from the club. Top of that list is, of course, Erling Haaland.

As for Liverpool and Manchester United, the question marks simply revolve around their managers.

Arne Slot came in for a lot of stick last term, overseeing one of the worst title defences in Premier League history, and although he undoubtedly suffered some bad luck with injuries to some of his summer signings, you have to question whether he has the full backing of everyone at Anfield. From the outside looking in, it doesn't appear so.

Over at Old Trafford it's impossible to knock what Michael Carrick has done since taking charge of United, and on results alone it's hard to say that he didn't deserve a permanent contract.

But as Lewis Jones correctly says at length here, United are risking repeating old mistakes similar to the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appointment.

Who are best of the rest?

The 2025/26 season was a turbulent one for Chelsea, eventually finishing 10th in the table and missing out on European competition, so it's a little surprising to see them installed as fifth favourites at 11/112.00 to win the title.

But there are a few matters very much in their favour. The most obvious one is the appointment of Bundesliga-winning manager Xabi Alonso, who is a major upgrade on previous boss Liam Rosenior. And the second is that having no European football to play can be a huge benefit on squad freshness and knowing what competition is the priority.

On the flip side however, is that having no European football could mean some big-name players leaving Stamford Bridge, most notably Enzo Fernandez.

As for some other clubs, Aston Villa are sixth favourites to win the title at 28/129.00 ahead of Newcastle at 40/141.00.

Villa will once again mix Champions League football with Premier League football and the last time they did that - during the 2024/25 season - they finished sixth in the table, but for Newcastle it's a similar situation to Chelsea in that having no European football to play for could be a huge benefit.

And what about the forgotten member of the original 'Big Six', Tottenham?

Spurs only avoided relegation by winning their final game of the season on Sunday, and it's now back-to-back 17th place finishes in the Premier League for the North London outfit.

But it's impossible to envisage them having another season that will be littered with serious long-term injuries to so many players, and now that they have Roberto de Zerbi - a manager who could go to the very top - in charge, then we can expect serious improvement from 50/151.00 Spurs next season.

To Win the 2026/27 Premier League:

You can follow the Premier League Winner market changes in real time on the Betfair Exchange below (first eight teams listed):

English Premier League: English Premier League (Winner)

Saturday 22 August, 3.00pm

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