Premier League Betting: Everton shortest ever price to win the title
It’s been a funny old start to the Premier League season with defeats for Manchester City and the Champions Liverpool. One team who have sailed through the sea of uncertainty and managed to make it to the first International break of the season with a perfect, four wins from four, is Everton.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side have amassed an impressive 12 points from four games with their latest victory coming against Brighton last Saturday. Several names have arrived at Goodison Park during the transfer window such as James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Brazilian midfielder Allan. All three look to have settled into life on Merseyside with Rodriguez the stand out performer, contributing three goals and two assists in his first 332 minutes of Premier League football.
Ben Godfrey has also been added to the squad, completing a deadline day transfer for £25m to round off a summer of positive recruitment at the club. A week into October and the Toffees are sitting three points clear at the top of the table, with bookmakers starting to take note. We’ve taken a look at Everton’s price in various Premier League betting markets to see how their odds have changed since the start of the season.
Top Six Finish - 9/2 into 8/11
Qualifying for Europe, whether that be the Europa League or Champions League is the main priority for Everton this season. This ultimately means finishing in the top six for Carlo Ancelotti’s team, something they have not achieved since 2013/2014 under the guidance of Roberto Martinez.
Stoke based bookmaker bet365 had given Everton an 18% implied chance of finishing in the top-six before a ball was kicked in this season’s campaign, with odds of 9/2. However, wins over Tottenham, West Brom, Crystal Palace and Brighton have seen their odds slashed into the odds-on price of just 8/11, a 58% chance of happening.
Top-Four Finish - 16/1 into 11/4
David Moyes was the last Everton manager to guide the Blues to a top-four finish. That feat came back in the 2004/2005 season where Tim Cahill was the topscorer for the Toffees in the league as they finished fourth but failed to qualify for the group phase of the Champions League.
16/1 was the price punters could have got their hands on before the first game of this season for Everton to finish inside the top-four. After four positive Premier League performances, that price has now contracted to just 11/4 with most firms, giving the Toffees an implied chance of a top-four finish of just 27%.
Winner - 200/1 into 16/1
Leicester City had four points less than Everton did at this stage, the season they went on to clinch the Premier League at the historic price of 5000/1. It would be some ask for Carlo Ancelotti’s side to mount a title challenge this season, although after a flurry of bets the price on a first top division title since 1987 has shortened considerably.
200/1 was on offer from most bookmakers at the start of September before the start of this campaign, an implied probability of just 0.5%. That three-figure price has well and truly evaporated with most firms now going just 16/1 for Carlo Ancelotti to win his first Premier League title since 2010, when he did so with Chelsea.
Most bookmakers now have Everton as the third-favourites to win the league this season, behind Manchester City (6/4) and Liverpool (5/4). Ladbrokes have even shortened their price to just 14/1, which is the shortest price to lift the trophy, that the Toffees have ever been in the Premier League era.
Premier League Top Goalscorer - Dominic Calvert-Lewin 80/1 into 13/2
No team has scored more goals so far in the 2020/21 season than Everton, who have found the back of the net on 12 occasions. Six of those goals have come courtesy of striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The 23-year-old is the first English player to score in four consecutive Premier League games for Everton since Francis Jeffers in 2000.
He’s a man in fine form and is thriving under the guidance of Don Carlo and Big Duncan Ferguson. I recommended backing Calvert-Lewin as an each-way prospect for top goalscorer this season at the huge price of 80/1 on BettingOdds.com, which can be seen here.
With six goals already his price has now been cut to just 13/2, at second favourite in the market behind Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah. The sky’s the limit in my opinion for how many goals DLC can achieve this season, but if he continues this scoring form, he will surely be in the mix for the award come the closing stages of the season.
Having a look ahead, and next up for Everton they have the small matter of a Merseyside derby, as the Champions will make their way across Stanley Park on October 17th. After Jurgen Klopp’s side were beaten 7-2 by Aston Villa in gameweek four, plenty of Evertonians will be hoping they can throw down a real statement of intent and potentially beat their rivals which would really get mouths talking about a potential title challenge. Everton are currently priced at 3/1 to win that encounter with the Reds. If they were to come out victorious we would see their price dramatically shorten once again in the Premier League winner market
