While the game week 15 in the Premier League has only just ended, there are now another round of fixtures happening to look forward to and to place bets on.
Betting on soccer is very popular. Each game week, millions of people will search for English Premier League odds on their smartphones or PCs, hoping to see their selected bet come off. With games happening nearly every day at the moment, bettors will never be short of odds or betting markets to select.
With the Christmas period coming up, the Premier League tries to stuff in as many games as possible, which will certainly keep the fans happy, giving them plenty of opportunity to place bets on all the games.
Let’s catch up with some of the latest news emerging from the Premier League.
United vs Brentford game called off due to COVID
In an unfortunate turn of events, the upcoming game between Manchester United and Brentford has been called off, due to a rising number of positive COVID-19 cases in the Manchester United squad. It was originally scheduled for the 14th of December, but because of the number of positive results that the club received back from their testers, they had no alternative but to postpone the game.
This will have annoyed any bettors who had already placed bets on the game, as well as any fans who had planned their journey up from London to Manchester. However, in these circumstances, there is little the club or the Premier League can do. It is the 2nd fixture postponement in the last week, after the game between Tottenham and Brighton was also pushed back to later in the year.
Hopefully United will be able to fulfil their fixture this weekend against Brighton, as many sports betting fans will already have placed bets on them to win this one, following their good early form under Ralf Ragnick.
Villa against Norwich sees Dean Smith come up against his old side for the first time
In the last game week, new Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard returned to Anfield for the first time since his playing days for Liverpool. Then in an interesting turn of fate, the following match saw the old Aston Villa boss, Dean Smith, come up against Villa for the first time as an opposing manager, with his new club Norwich.
Smith is highly regarded in Birmingham after the success he achieved with Villa, but he would have been highly motivated to get a result for this new side here, especially as they are struggling at the foot of the table. The betting odds were stacked against him, as Norwich have been poor all season, whereas Villa have been winning under Gerrard, apart from in their recent game to Liverpool.
Sadly for Smith and the Norwich fans & players they were easily beaten, with goals from Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins condemning them to a 2-0 defeat. Smith will be hoping to rally his players for their next game at West Ham, though his side are currently 15/2 in some betting odds, so a win at the Olympic Park does not look likely for Norwich.
Who is leading the way in the race for the Golden Boot?
While many people are rightly fixated on the title race, the race for the top 4 positions, or who might be relegated at the end of the season, there is also an intriguing race emerging in the Premier League top scorers table.
So far, in 1st position with 14 goals is Mohamed Salah. Salah famously won the Golden Boot in his first year with the club, where he scored an extraordinary 32 goals, which is a record that still stands today. He will need to keep scoring regularly to hit those figures again, but given the form he is in, few would bet against him to win the Golden Boot again this year.
In 2nd place is Jamie Vardy with 9 goals. Vardy won the award in the 2019/20 season, and has been scoring regularly in the Premier League for well over 5 years. He will have his work cut out to catch and overtake Salah, but if anyone can do it, Vardy can.
Aubameyang stripped of captaincy
In worrying news from the Arsenal camp, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy, for what the manager Mikel Arteta has described a ‘lack of commitment’. Arteta has very high standards when it comes to his players, and even though Aubameyang is their star player, and on very high wages, the Spanish manager feels that if he isn’t giving everything to the cause, then he doesn’t deserve to play for the club.
Currently the betting odds favourite to be the next Arsenal captain is Martin Odegaard, with some oddsmakers putting his chances at 7/4.