STAR FOOTBALL ANTE-POST PREVIEW: Premier League Specials

ALL KICKING OFF – PREMIER LEAGUE SPECIALS: As part of our build up to the new football season we preview the Premier League Specials markets with LEWIS WILLIAMS including three starsports.bet selections, with one from our unique team specials market.

⭐ PREMIER LEAGUE MARKETS ⭐
⚽ ALL KICKING OFF – PREVIEWS ⚽

Most Assists

The most assists market is a fascinating one. Kevin De Bruyne heads is favourite at ? but I think he’s miles too short for a player who only managed 4 in 18 matches last season. Although the Belgian missed half of them due to injury, even if you doubled that number to compensate for the time missed he would still be nowhere near the winning tally. That’s coupled with doubts around his future with his own quotes failing to rule out a move away from Manchester. At 33, I don’t see him matching his 16 assists from the 22/23 season and he’s too short in a market begging for an upset.

The winning total last year was 13 and that was won by big priced Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa, and although he makes some appeal at first glance at ? , Villa this season remind me a lot of Newcastle last season, and Champions League football is of course a different class to the Conference League where they couldn’t even get past Lille. With the new overhauled group stage schedule in Europe, I’m expecting a finish outside the top 4 for Villa this time around, and fewer goals than 76 despite Onana and Barkley’s best attempts to seal the wound left by Diaby and Luiz.

Keeping that previous winning total of 13 in mind, Anthony Gordon is absolutely huge at ? with starsports.bet for the payout after recording just three less last season on 10. That was with a full European group stage before Christmas and without that burden this time around there’s every chance to improve on that number further.

The 23-year old shone in the U21 Euros last year and went from strength to strength in his first full time starting season under Eddie Howe. The Toon squad is relatively unchanged from their previous campaign with the added bonus of Lewis Hall boosting the defence. That means another season on the left alongside Isak, Miguel Almiron, Jacob Murphy, and Harvey Barnes who has been slowly integrated more on the right, can only yield a more successful season than last time while retaining their huge amount of goalscoring ability with 85 in the net last season which was the 4th highest.

⭐ PREMIER LEAGUE MARKETS ⭐
⚽ ALL KICKING OFF – PREVIEWS ⚽

Top 4 Finish

Manchester United were a painful team to have an occasional bet on last season, not least during the period when every single week ten Hag’s men bottled points in the final strides of a match. Brentford 90+9. Chelsea 90+10 and 90+11. Liverpool 84 (silly penalty). Those were three consecutive matches in March and April which cost a total of 7 points – a rot similar to that of Old Trafford’s rooftop and a deficit that if reversed would have put them just one off a top four finish.

Those results came amidst a backdrop of ten Hag using over 30 different back four combinations across the 38 Premier League matches due to countless injuries. That is just insane. But this could be the transformational season under INEOS.

We’ve seen some shocking snipes from the club in the summer including the purchase of Lille anchor Leny Yoro and Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee and some of those even snubbed other clubs during advanced talks. That last line speaks volumes about the change in the club. No longer are we in the days of seeing United pay extortionate amounts for English players like Mason Mount or Jadon Sancho – both duds. Or seeing the club fall victim to ten Hag nepotism in the form of total failure 95 million Euro purchase Antony.

In Bologna’s 23/24 11 time scorer Joshua Zirkzee, they have a stylistic opposite to Rasmus Hojlund which might be exactly what the Dane needs if he’s deployed next to him ahead of Bruno Fernandes. Couple that with Yoro adding some much-needed stability to the backline – we’re talking points.

The only concern is the midfield battle. Too often last season Casemiro and Eriksen were both simply outclassed by fresher legs and McTominay’s clutch goals when it matters most do not disguise his inability to play as a holding midfielder and lack of creativity. Kobbie Mainoo is the shining light in that area and has the world on his shoulders but ten Hag shouldn’t have to rely on him to score an insane out of the box goal to get past teams like was the case.

Performances like turning around a 2-0 deficit at half time to Villa before winning 3-2 show the players turn the lights on as quickly as they turn them off (which was scarily often), but the potential within this lineup remains enormous even without considering the chance of either Rashford, Sancho or Mason Mount bouncing back to a respectable level of form – they’ve all been playing in American friendlies. At ? with starsports.bet they’re a fair price to finish in the top 4.

⭐ PREMIER LEAGUE MARKETS ⭐
⚽ ALL KICKING OFF – PREVIEWS ⚽

Premier League offer …..

⭐ PREMIER LEAGUE MARKETS ⭐
⚽ ALL KICKING OFF – PREVIEWS ⚽

Team Specials – Crystal Palace

Star Sports are offering 4 unique Club Specials markets for each Premier League side and like many other people, I am bullish on a decent season from Crystal Palace and possibly even improve or equal their 10th place finish from last season. That’s why I was surprised to see them at ? to “get more points & score more goals than Brighton” despite the eventuality occurring last year – one point and two goals clear of their manufactured A23 rivals.

The results after the arrival of Oliver Glasner instantly surpassed almost all expectations with just three losses in 13 games and finishing the Premier League off with three consecutive wins either side of a Craven Cottage draw, including demolition jobs against Manchester United, Aston Villa as well as burying what was left of Liverpool’s title challenge with a shock 1-0 win at Anfield at 14/1.

A mere fraction of that form would be enough to see this selection go very close and despite the departure of Michael Olise to Bayern, the arrival of Marseille forward Ismaila Sarr who brings English League experience with Watford looks solid business. Mateta looks to be hitting his prime at 27 with 16 league goals last season and he’s currently scoring in every Olympic match he plays in. Combine that with Eberechi Eze potentially staying sound for the whole season, this unit can surely rival Brighton on all fronts.

Brighton were soon humbled in 11th after their 6th place finish in 22/23 and I believe that was more of a natural return to mean than an outlier of underperformance. Granted, they are likely to be a stronger unit this year with a fully fit Mitoma alongside a solid signing in Yankuba Minteh who had a blinding season at Feyenoord most recently, but can’t the same improvement curve also be attributed to Palace? The quick summer appointment of junior manager Fabian Herzeler was positive but there comes a point where objectivity and proven results must overcome the relentless adage that “this board always makes the right calls”. Brighton had only a fraction more injuries than Palace last season, but their results proved even worse than the differential would suggest and I see them struggling once again.

RECOMMENDED BETS
BACK Anthony Gordon Most Assists 1pt at 20/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Manchester United Top 4 Finish 4pts at 2/1 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Crystal Palace To Get More Points & Score More Goals Than Brighton 4pts at 9/4 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)