The Premier League teams, players and managers traders should watch out for this season

The big day has finally arrived. After a long six weeks since a dramatic World Cup final sent us into the football doldrums, the wind is firmly back in the sport’s sails as the Premier League kicks off this weekend. But who should trading teams keep an eye on? Will Arsenal repeat their 2025/26 success, and would such an eventuality put a dent in the pockets of bookies? Do bettors expect any regulated sides to overcome the odds? And which players should traders and finance teams be wary of?… In the second part of our Bookies Corner special diving into Premier League training, SBC News spoke to Emmet O’Keeffe, trader at Paddy Power, to get a glimpse into which teams the bookie’s UK&I punters expect to put in a top performance in the 2026/27 season. Bookies Corner: Are Arsenal favourites to retain their title. Are they the most popular pick with your punters? O’Keefe: Yes, Arsenal have been the most backed side to win the league title this season. They’ve particularly captured punters’ attention over the last seven days, with their odds shortening from 6/4 to 11/10. This follows their impressive 3-0 victory over Man City in the Community Shield and is also a reflection of their summer transfer activity with the signings of proven EPL performers in Ezri Konsa and Bruno Guimaraes bolstering their already world class squad. How much hope do punters have for the newly promoted sides? Is anyone backing an underdog, or is the expectation that the newcomers are destined for relegation? There doesn’t seem to be much hope for Hull, who are as short as 1/8 for the drop—which is as short a price that I can remember a team for relegation in the EPL in my 10 years in the industry and a reflection of their poor expected goals statistics in last season’s Championship. Interestingly, the most well-backed team in our relegation market is Newcastle with their price collapsing from 33/1 into 17/2 for the drop after the departure of many of their top stars in Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Guimaraes, as well as replacing manager Eddie Howe with the relatively unproven Matthias Jaissle. Credit: shutterupeire / Shutterstock The start of the Premier League season always sees a mad dash for product development and marketing. On the latter front, Betway and Sky Bet have got campaigns underway, with the latter perhaps taking some inspiration from Paddy Power, a fellow Flutter brand with its advertising. On the product front, Betfred has been making upgrades to its bet builder ahead of kickoff. Paddy Power is no stranger to product innovation itself, however, having been the originator of the ‘Super Sub’ format for UK betting. With the new season upon us, SBC News was keen to learn what designs the firm’s product team has had in the pipeline… Bookies Corner: Emmett, what new products is Paddy Power bringing in for the 2026/27 season? O’Keefe: We’re really excited about SGX Outrights, which allows punters to combine outright markets to give them a Bet Builder experience in our outright product. This is the first time that our customers will ever have had that opportunity on the Premier League and will make shorter priced selections like Hull to be relegated and Arsenal to win the league more popular as customers combine these selections for a Dream Big Outright Acca. Credit: Zigres / Shutterstock Turning back to trading, a sign picked up by a few different operators during the World Cup this year was the growing significance of player markets. Entain, owner of Ladbrokes Coral, was particularly observant of this, citing this customer behaviour trend as a key reason behind the development of its Seven fantasy football app. SBC also took note of this during our World Cup betting tour – England’s Harry Kane, France’s Killian Mbappe, Scotland’s John McGinn and of course Norway’s Erling Haaland regularly coming in conversations around betting on specific national teams. The Premier League isn’t all about players though, it’s about management – and the departure of Pep G from Manchester City after claiming six league titles could shift the balance of power in the English top-flight. So, what has Paddy Power been taking note of?…. Bookies Corner: Are any new signings catching the eye with players in player-specific markets? O’Keefe: Aston Villa’s Brian Madjo certainly caught the eye with his barnstorming performance against PSG in the Super Cup. The 17-year-old looked like he belongs at this level against the European champions and was well backed in our Top Goalscorer market after the match. Even though he’s been recently ruled out for the opening weeks of the season with injury, he can be expected to play a key role for Villa this season with doubts around Ollie Watkins future. How are punters feeling about Manchester City post-Pep and Rodri? Less than enthused, particularly in the aftermath of the Community Shield defeat. City have drifted from 5/2 to 3/1 for the title since the market opened and look friendless in the market ahead of the start of the season. Which manager is favourite to be axed first? Is it any of the big new incoming ones – Iraola, Alonso, Maresca etc? Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic has the unwanted honour of being favourite in the market followed by Ipswich’s Gary O’Neill. Of the higher-profile names in the market, Jaissle at 11/1 and Enzo Maresca at 16/1 are viable contenders in this market with Newcastle expected to struggle and City off to a bad start in the Community Shield.