Hi all,

With the English Premier League Season 2017/18 now less that 2 weeks away, as promised here's the start of the new season's thread, complete with odds (provided by Sky Bet as they are my betting agency of choice).

Let's start with the top 6 favourites for outright Premier League winner:

Manchester City 15/8
Chelsea 7/2
Manchester United 10/3
Tottenham Hotspur 8/1
Arsenal 10/1
Liverpool 10/1

Now for the top 6 'favourites' for relegation:

Huddersfield Town 2/3
Burnley 5/4
Brighton & Hove Albion 6/5
Watford 7/4
Swansea 2/1
Newcastle United 7/2

Top Goalscorer:

Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 3/1
Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United) 4/1
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) 6/1
Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) 9/1
Alvaro Morata (Chelsea) 9/1
Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) 10/1

First manager to lose his job:

Slaven Bilic (West Ham United) 5/2
Paul Clement (Swansea) 8/1
David Wagner (Huddersfield Town) 6/1
Chris Hughton (Brighton & Hove Albion) 9/1
Sean Dyche (Burnley) 10/1
Mark Hughes (Stoke City) 10/1

Obviously this is based on how it is right now, I'm sure there are still some transfers to be completed which will effect the odds.

Personally I think it'll be as close as it's ever been this year with no one running away with the title until the last couple of weeks. Similarly the relegation battle is too close to call right now, on paper of course.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I got a little bit interested in this when Mr. Khan took over and Fulham was in the Premier League but then lost interest when they were relegated to a lower league. Darlo, can you give me a brief synopsis of the league:
- Season starts mid-August I see
- When does it end?
- How many matches in a season?
- Are there playoffs? If so, what is the structure- # of teams, etc; #matches in a series
- How many teams are relegated and to where?

On Fulham:
- Where are they now, what league?
- Is that league one notch below the Premier?
- Can they be relegated to a lower league?
- Does their season start now too?
- Can they be elevated to the Premier and how?

Thanks.

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Season Ticket holder since 2004.

 

        

I got a little bit interested in this when Mr. Khan took over and Fulham was in the Premier League but then lost interest when they were relegated to a lower league. Darlo, can you give me a brief synopsis of the league:
  - Season starts mid-August I see
  - When does it end?
  - How many matches in a season?
  - Are there playoffs? If so, what is the structure- # of teams, etc; #matches in a series
  - How many teams are relegated and to where?

On Fulham:
  - Where are they now, what league?
  - Is that league one notch below the Premier?
  - Can they be relegated to a lower league?
  - Does their season start now too?
  - Can they be elevated to the Premier and how?

Thanks.

Hi PF, with pleasure..

So the structure of the Premier League is that there are 20 teams. Each team play each other home and away (38 games over the season). Usually the season starts mid-August and finishes in mid-May. In the Premier League there are no playoffs. The team who finish top of the league win the Premier League trophy. Teams who finish 2nd, 3rd & 4th qualify for the European Champions League which, if you don't know, is a competition that runs during the season which will feature Europe's successful teams from the previous season. So realistically if you can't win the Premier League then the secondary goal (no pun intended) is to qualify for the Champions League. This is where the big money is at.

The bottom three teams at the end of the season get relegated to 'The Championship' - this is the second tier in the English professional game.

Now here's where it gets a little complicated. There are 3 leagues below the Premier League, they are called The Championship, League One & League Two. All of these leagues have playoffs for promotion. Let's stick with The Championship (this is where Fulham are): The top two teams at the end of the season will win automatic promotion to the Premier League. Thus filling two of the three spots vacated by the three teams relegated from the Premier League. The third spot is filled with the playoff winner. The play offs are between the teams who finish 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th with 3rd playing 6th and 4th playing 5th, both in two legged ties. So They will play each other home and away in the play offs. The winner of the ties will face each other in the Play Off Final at Wembley and the overall winner will join the other two teams already promoted. Does this make sense?

League One & League Two have the same structure with the League Two winners, second place, third place and play off winners advancing to League One and the League One winners, second place and play off winners advancing to The Championship. The Championship have three teams relegated, League One have four relegated and League Two have two teams relegated with that void being filled by the Winner and play off winner from the National Conference which is considered as non-league/semi-professional.

The three divisions below the Premier League have 24 teams, all of which play each other twice both home and away (46 games per season).

We also have cup competitions which run through the season which are additional games for the teams to play. The League Cup which involves all teams through the top 4 divisions, the FA Cup which is open to teams from the Premier League right down to the 10th tier in the game.. plus others.. Meaning teams who are successful in league, cup and European competitions will play in excess of 60 games per season. Including sometimes 5-6 games in 15-16 days!

Any team can be relegated through poor form or financial difficulties resulting in them not keeping up with their payments. For instance, Stockport County used to be in The Championship and now they are in the National League Northern Division which is the 6th tier of the game and are considered as part timers..

I hope this clears up your questions. Just let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know.

FYI, Fulham are 11/4 to get promoted in the upcoming season.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Got it. Thank you for the rundown, it will be interesting to follow the Premier League and Fulham this year. Hopefully, Fulham can get back to the Premier League (and the Jaguars can make the playoffs).

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Season Ticket holder since 2004.

 

        

Manchester United confirm the signing of Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, excellent signing for them.

They will definitely compete this season.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Been away from the forum for awhile but now I'm back baby.

I can't wait for this season. The hammers have had an excellent window, bringing in Zabaleta, Joe hart, Arnautovic and Hernandez. I doubt Bilic would be the bookies favorite for the sack at this moment in time.

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Been away from the forum for awhile but now I'm back baby.  

I can't wait for this season. The hammers have had an excellent window, bringing in Zabaleta, Joe hart, Arnautovic and Hernandez. I doubt Bilic would be the bookies favorite for the sack at this moment in time.

Welcome back mate..

I thought that too, but that's just on Sky Bet. I haven't looked elsewhere. I suppose it could have been generated before the signings, to be fair..

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

It's almost here !!!  

BOURNEMOUTH !!!

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First game tomorrow night.. Looking forward to this season, should be a good one!

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

First game tomorrow night.. Looking forward to this season, should be a good one!

No kidding.  Unfortunately here, game time is 2pm Eastern Standard Time so I'll be at work

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First game tomorrow night.. Looking forward to this season, should be a good one!

No kidding.  Unfortunately here, game time is 2pm Eastern Standard Time so I'll be at work

That sucks.. I'm sure you'll keep up-to-date with the score?

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Wow what an unbelievable game to start the new season!

Arsenal 4-3 Leicester.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Saturdays round up.. Liverpool's defensive woes are back again this season it would appear.. Chelsea were down to 9 men, Rooney scored on his competitive second debut for Everton and Southampton still struggling to score goals..

Watford 3-3 Liverpool
Chelsea 2-3 Burnley
Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield
Everton 1-0 Stoke City
Southampton 0-0 Swansea
West Brom 1-0 Bournemouth
Brighton 0-2 Manchester City

Today's games:

Newcastle v Tottenham
Manchester United v West Ham

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Newcastle 0-2 Tottenham
Manchester United 4-0 West Ham

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Premier League soccer now theres a league where the same teams are always one top. Minus one fluke year 2 years ago.

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Jaguars | Pacers | Purdue | Team USA

 

 

 

Premier League soccer now theres a league where the same teams are always one top. Minus one fluke year 2 years ago.

Generally speaking there tends to be 6 teams all going for the title and/or the Champions League spots..

Manchester United
Manchester City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur

With that said, Leicester winning made it a lot more exciting and shook the 'top teams' up. Much like it did back in 1995 when Blackburn Rovers won it.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Premier League soccer now theres a league where the same teams are always one top. Minus one fluke year 2 years ago.

Generally speaking there tends to be 6 teams all going for the title and/or the Champions League spots..

Manchester United
Manchester City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur

With that said, Leicester winning made it a lot more exciting and shook the 'top teams' up. Much like it did back in 1995 when Blackburn Rovers won it.

So every 20 years we can expect a non standard team to show up. Not interesting IMO

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Jaguars | Pacers | Purdue | Team USA

 

 

 

Generally speaking there tends to be 6 teams all going for the title and/or the Champions League spots..

Manchester United
Manchester City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur

With that said, Leicester winning made it a lot more exciting and shook the 'top teams' up. Much like it did back in 1995 when Blackburn Rovers won it.

So every 20 years we can expect a non standard team to show up. Not interesting IMO

To each their own.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Swansea 0-4 Manchester United.

I know they haven't been tested yet, but they're looking like a real force to be reckoned with this season.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

AFC Bournemouth 0-2 Watford
Burnley 0-1 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 2-0 Brighton
Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace
Southampton 3-2 West Ham

Late Kick Off is Stoke City v Arsenal

Tomorrow:

Huddersfield v Newcastle
Tottenham v Chelsea

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...