Premier League Top London Club Tips: Can anyone usurp Arsenal?
The Premier League starts again in just a matter of days and as is commonplace nowadays there are season long markets aplenty for punters to get stuck into on a host of betting sites.
Here we delve into the Top London Club market, in which last season's second place team and 2023 Community Shield winners Arsenal are all the rage.
While respecting The Gunners and the business they have done over the summer, our man Billy Grimshaw is siding against them here and is recommending an 11/4 chance to bounce back...
After a stunning 2022/23 campaign in which Mikel Arteta’s team defied even the most optimistic Arsenal fans’ (alright, maybe not Ty from AFTV) expectations, the Gunners are chalked up as the hot favourites to once again be the top London club in season 2023/24 of the Premier League.
At first glance it is hard to argue with the odds compilers. Adding Declan Rice and Jurien Timber to a team that finished a comfortable second behind the juggernaut that is treble winning Manchester City will only see the Gunners improve and Kai Havertz, although much maligned, could come good in North London when he failed in the West of the Capital. Add into this the fact that Arteta’s squad was the youngest in the league last season and they now have that valuable experience under their belt of a title race (albeit they did finish with a whimper), it will take a good team to finish above them.
At just 8/13 though, The Gunners are absolutely no value in this market and I think there is a decent case to be made in backing the London club that actually finished second bottom in the fictional ‘London Premier League’ standings, Chelsea. It wasn’t just a season to forget for the Blues last time out, it was an unmitigated disaster. Todd Boehly took over as owner, sacked the manager who had won Chelsea the Champions League just 15 months prior in Thomas Tuchel and then paid Brighton a King’s Ransom to poacch Graham Potter. The Englishman arrived as the shiny new toy but mere months into a six year deal, Boehly’s men were languishing in mid-table and the American fired his second manager in his first season in charge.
If Chelsea fans thought things couldn’t get any worse, the return of club legend Frank Lampard in the dugout turned out to be one of the worst caretaker appointments in Premier League history. Their lowest Premier League finish in history in 12th was confirmed and Lampard was ushered out of the door. I am aware I am not making the strongest case here but hear me out…
The negatives are there for all to see in last season’s shocking performances, but Chelsea are a club happiest when written off. Look at both their European Cup wins and even the remarkable title win of 2016/17 when the previous season they had finished tenth. Just to be clear, I don’t expect them to win the league this time around but in Mauricio Pochettino they finally have an elite coach back at the helm and the squad at Stamford Bridge look ripe to be moulded by the Argentine master motivator.
A hallmark of Poch’s best teams has been their relentless energy and he will undoubtedly have had his key players drilled to perfection over pre-season. They will be nothing like the rabble of unfit and sometimes unbothered looking individuals that took to the field last campaign. Kepa in goal is still a worry but I’d expect to see Robert Sanchez take his spot eventually and at the back they have two outstanding full backs in Reece James and Ben Chilwell. Both may be injury prone but with a bit of luck that duo is a match for anything in the league.
Pochettino is renowned for working with youngsters and with a raft of talented younger players hungry for success such as Sarr, Colwill, Enzo, Mudryk and Chukwuemeka he can imprint his philosophy onto this group. There is still some deadwood to be shifted out of the squad, but providing Pochettino can get a core group of players he wants, Chelsea can once again bounce back from a terrible season to challenge. In particular I’m looking forward to seeing how Enzo Fernandez plays for his compatriot now he has settled in at Stamford Bridge. Make no mistake about it, this boy is a star.
With Jackson and Nkunku added to bolster the misfiring frontline of last season, Chelsea can surprise many by leaping back into the Champions League spots. The final positive is their lowly 12th placed finish last term means no midweek distractions of European football for Pochettino to navigate. The former PSG gaffer would of course prefer his side in Europe’s elite competition but this can be a blessing in disguise as his team will have more time on the training field learning his ideas and, importantly, more rest than their rivals. At 3/1 they look the smart play to finish top of the London Premier League this time around.
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