Premier League 2021/22 Top 3 Odds

Last season the Premier League’s top three saw Manchester City come out as champions for the seventh time in their history, whilst a much-improved Manchester United under the management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were the closest challengers to Pep Guardiola’s side, finishing 12 points behind on 74 points.

The third and fourth positions were occupied by Liverpool and Chelsea who both had strong finishes to the season. Jurgen Klopp’s side were top of the table at the start of December but succumbed to long term injuries to the likes of Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, leaving them short and exposed in defence, whilst Chelsea’s good run of form came from the appointment of Thomas Tuchel following the sacking of Frank Lampard in January, with the German’s management inspiring the Stamford Bridge club to become the champions of Europe for a second time in late May.

If the top three is to finish in this exact order once again, then there will be some key factors that will need to take place, hence for the pricing of 12/1. United will need to carry on their progress via some good recruitment in the summer transfer window by adding another centre-back and defensive midfielder to their ranks alongside Jadon Sancho if they are to stand any chance of beating Liverpool to second place.

Another factor would be Chelsea not making too many improvements on their squad, as under Tuchel their league form significantly improved, picking up 38 points in 18 games and managing, their main issue was goalscoring last time out, having only found the back of the net 58 times meaning that not signing a striker could keep them out of the top three.

Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United to all Finish in the top in any order is also priced at 3/1.

Next up is Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City to all make the top three, meaning that this would be at the expense of United.

As mentioned above, United arguably have a fair amount of work which they will have to do in the transfer market if they are to finish in the top three for a third season running, as Chelsea ideally lack a high-quality centre forward of which they are rumoured to be in for, as they’ve been linked to the likes of Erling Haaland and Antoine Griezmann this summer.

Solskjaer’s squad often lacked balance last season due to playing Fred and Scott McTominay as a defensive pairing in front of the back four, as well as lacking a consistent centre-back partner for Harry Maguire. They look to have fixed their right-wing issue due to the imminent arrival of Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund, however, unless they fix their defensive woes then they will likely struggle to compete for the title.

City on the other hand are expected to compete for the Premier League title once again, whilst Liverpool will need to fix up from last season, having fallen apart between late December until the end of April, failing to win 13 games, seeing them fall 30 points short of their previous season’s total of 99, having scored 17 fewer goals.

The Anfield club will be expected to put on a much-improved showing from last time out, whilst Chelsea are also expected to make the acquisitions required to compete for the title against City, hence why the odds stand at 9/4 for each of these sides to finish in the top three in the 2021/22 season.

Finally, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United to all make the top three is priced at 7/2.

This would obviously mean that on the basis of last season’s results that Liverpool would fall out which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility as their confidence might be slightly damaged following their inconsistencies last campaign, as despite not having their two first-choice centre-backs available for the majority of last campaign, a huge problem they had was scoring goals.

As mentioned above, if Chelsea and United make good acquisitions in the areas of their squads that they are expected to, then they will likely improve on last season’s points tally by a significant amount, whereas it would be a huge shock if City don’t manage to finish in the top three having ran away with the league title last campaign.

Guardiola’s side have been rumoured to be in for the likes of Jack Grealish and Harry Kane this summer, with the latter being a key player to try and sign, as City effectively won the Premier League title without the presence of a centre-forward for much of the campaign due to Sergio Aguero having injury and fitness problems.