Premier League Relegation Betting: 20/1 Trio to face the drop this season

There’s ten teams priced at 7/2 and shorter for relegation in the Premier League this season and each of those could have a case made for them to face the drop. I’ve therefore delved a little deeper into depths of the relegation markets and have picked out a 20/1 shot that is made up of three teams to drop down into the Championship in the coming season.

First up in the treble is West Brom. The Baggies finished second in the Championship last season behind Leeds, and in my opinion they were rather fortunate not to be pipped to the post by Brentford who lost both of their last two fixtures. 

Slaven Billic’s side are favourites with most firms in the Premier League relegation betting market, priced at around 10/11. They’ve been up and down like a bride’s nightie over the last couple of decades and I see that trend continuing in the forthcoming campaign. 

My main issue with West Brom is that I feel they are lacking in Premier League quality and experience. Yes they have some exciting players such as Matheus Pareira and new signing Grady Diangana but it’s a big ask for them to both step up and be the flag bearers at this level for the Baggies.

When you compare the West Brom squad to their rivals around them in the bottom half it really does show a distinct lack of quality and I think it would take a monumental effort for them to stay up; I’d be happy to have them as the cornerstone of any relegation based treble this season.

The second team I’m fancying to face the drop is Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace. Their main issue over the last couple of years has been scoring goals and the fact that Christian Benteke has just six league goals in the last three seasons sums this up perfectly.

Only Norwich scored less goals in the Premier League last season than the Eagles, who managed to muster a rather measly 31 in 38 games. Roy Hodgson’s side lost seven of their last eight league games before picking up a point off Spurs on the last day of the season and will struggle if that sort of form continues in the early points of that campaign - I can’t see Roy lasting till Christmas.

Another problem for Palace in my eyes is that they are too similar in the middle of the park. They have central midfielders Cheikhou Kouyate, James McCarthy, James McArthur and Luka Milivojevic who are all very defensive minded and lack that attacking flair which was missing from the side in large spells of last season.

The signing of Eberechi Eze from Queen’s Park Rangers should help address this issue in the centre of the park however with an opening four fixtures of Southampton, Manchester United, Everton and Chelsea I think it will be an uphill battle for the south London club to keep their place in the Premier League next season.

Rounding off the trio of teams to face the drop is newly promoted Fulham. I’m a fan of Scott Parker and was impressed by the way he motivated the players after a really disappointing showing in the Premier League two seasons ago. I think those last few games in charge that season will help in terms of knowledge and experience at this level in management but ultimately I think they will just miss out on survival come May.

My main cause for concern when it comes to the Cottagers is their back line. They were woeful at the back in the most recent campaign in the Premier League and centre-half Tim Ream was a big part of that and still remains in that position. Combined with Ream, the defensive trio of Denis Odoi, Michael Hector and Joe Bryan is just no match for some of the attacking line-ups in the league and you have to fear for them.

It will remain to be seen if Fulham have learnt from their previous mistakes, most recently when they spent £100m being relegated in the 18/19 season. In Aleksandar Mitrovic I believe they have a genuine Premier League quality striker, but in midfield the likes of former Blackburn Rovers players Tom Cairney and Harrison Reed will have to step up and hold their own if they want to be playing in the top-flight again next season.

As I mentioned at the start, there’s ten teams who are all priced at 7/2 or shorter in the relegation betting market so it’s hard to pick out anything at a bit of a price for the optimists out there. At 20/1 with Betfair I think a treble of West Brom, Crystal Palace and Fulham to be relegated looks a nice little play.