Arguably the best football league in the World and in Europe, English Premier League has almost reached its half-way point of 2019/2020 season.
Liverpool and West Ham have their game in hand to be played in the unforeseeable future, but the rest of the clubs have played 18 of their 38 total games. There has been ups and downs during the first half of the season for many teams and here we will have a look at how the current table reflects to Accusore’s pre-season predictions and the overall betting markets at the time.
Liverpool has definitely been the team of the season so far. They are yet to lose in the EPL and only drawn once, and they’re leading the league by 10 points difference to second placed Leicester and 11 points to Manchester City. In Accuscore’s pre-season simulations it was City and Liverpool fighting side-by-side for the title and Accuscore picked Liverpool as champions with odds of 4.33.
The other headline story this season is Leicester City. Their performances have been even better than anticipated, while Accuscore simulations pegged them to reach top six and Accuscore also picked them as a good bet for top-6 position with hefty odds of 11.00. Leicester has lost three games and drawn three times, but had their nine game unbeaten run snapped by Manchester City in the previous round.
Even a bigger surprise than Leicester’s success has been newly promoted Sheffield United. Not even Accusore’s simulations had the Blades rising from the relegation battle, but had them almost certain to go down – oddsmakers had Sheffield United dead last in pre-season odds as well. Sheffield has defended their way to fifth and they’ve been overwhelmed a couple of times. They’ve gotten the results so far, but might be on their way lower down the table in the second half of the season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers is chasing Sheffield at sixth, only one point behind. Wolves have continued their successful spell under Nuno Espirito Santo and are targeting the continental qualification once again. Accuscore had Wolves taking the seventh place, two seeds higher than most of the betting companies and picked the team to make it into top-six with odds of 7.00.
With the positive surprises, there has to be negative ones as well. Tottenham Hotspur was predicted to have an outside chance to even push for the title, odds of 21.00, but they’ve been an infamous disappointment. New manager Jose Mourinho has his hands full in order to salvage anything from the season. Everton on the other hand was pegged for top-six challenge once again with odds of 7.00, but their start has been miserable as well. Arrival of Carlo Ancelotti might turn the tables, but it is likely to be too little too late for Everton.
At the bottom of the table, Accuscore predicted Southampton to be close to relegation and picked the team to go down with odds of 6.50. Currently Soton is three points clear of relegation, but they’ve not looked particularly good and just might struggle heading to the second half of the season.
The English Premier League continues on Boxing Day the 26th of December with a full array of games.
