The English Premier League will take a break this week as the EFL Cup and the FA Cup will be in action, and everyone has finished their 24th round of games except for Liverpool and Swansea City, who meet in Wales on Monday. However, there are about nine days left in the window and the action is heating up on the market. Here is a look at this week’s power rankings according to how the oddsmakers see the teams.
1. Manchester City
EPL Title Odds: -20000
Manchester City remain 12 points clear in the league after a 3-1 win at home over Newcastle, and they got all three goals from Sergio Aguero, including one from the penalty spot. Manchester Cuty backed out of the race for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez, but they could be in the market for Fred, a midfielder who was impressive when Manchester City played Shaktar Donetsk in the Champions League. This week, Manchester City will visit Bristol City with a 2-1 lead in the second leg of the EFL Cup semifinal on Tuesday. They’ll also head to Cardiff on Sunday in the FA Cup.
2. Manchester United
EPL Title Odds: +5000
Manchester United stayed three points ahead of Chelsea in second place after a 1-0 win at Burnley in which Anthony Martial scored the match-winner. However, the big news for Manchester United is that the deal that involved a swap of Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan seems to be all but done as of Monday. Sanchez would bring speed and competitiveness to the wide position, but he can play anywhere up front. Sanchez could make his debut on Friday when Manchester United heads to Yeovil Town for the FA Cup.
3. Chelsea
EPL Title Odds: +10000
Chelsea remained in third place after a 4-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion as Eden Hazard scored a pair, along with singles from Willian and Victor Moses. Rumor is that Chelsea are thinking about going after West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic as they feel they need another striker. They’ll visit Arsenal in the second leg of their EFL Cup semifinal, where the score is 0-0. They’ll then host Newcastle in the FAC Cup on Sunday.
4. Liverpool
EPL Title Odds: +10000
Liverpool are still three points behind Chelsea, but they have their game in hand at Swansea City on Monday, and they’ll host West Brom in the FA Cup on Saturday. Liverpool will try to hold on to midfielder Emre Can, who is wanted by Juventus, while they’re not looking for a goalkeeper. Striker Daniel Sturridge is reportedly wanted by a few teams as well.
5. Tottenham
EPL Title Odds: +20000
Tottenham are two points behind Liverpool after a 1-1 draw at Southampton in which Harry Kane scored, but Davinson Sanchez scored an own goal against his team. It doesn’t look like Tottenham will do anything in the transfer window, although rumors are continuing that Real Madrid will be in for Kane during the summer. They’ll visit Newport County in the FA Cup on Saturday.
6. Arsenal
EPL Title Odds: +75000
Arsenal are three points behind Tottenham after a 4-1 win at home over Crystal Palace, getting goals from Nacho Monreal, Alex Iwobi, Laurent Koscielny and Alexandre Lacazette. They didn’t look like a team that was distracted with the Sanchez transfer talks, and they’ll be happy to get back Mkhitaryan, who adds speed and passing to Arsenal’s team. Arsenal will host Chelsea on Wednesday in the second leg of their EFL Cup semifinal and they bring a 0-0 score to this home game.
7. Leicester City
EPL Title Odds: +250000
Leicester City are eight points behind Arsenal following a 2-0 win at home over Watford as Jamie Vardy scored from the penalty spot, and Riyad Mahrez also scored in injury time in the second half. It still looks as though Leicester City are going to be able to hold on Mahrez for the rest of the season, but he’ll likely be gone in the summer window. They also believe they’ll be able to sell him for over $130 million, although that remains to be seen. Leicester City will travel to Peterborough in the FA Cup on Saturday.
8. Burnley
EPL Title Odds: +450000
Burnley are tied on Leicester City in points, but they’re one spot back in the table after their 1-0 home loss to Manchester United. It was another tough result for Burnley, who are now winless in eight matches in a row overall and while they’re basically going to stay up this season, all of the talk about a European place should be stopped immediately. It does appear that Burnley have signed midfielder Aaron Lennon from Everton, and that could be an injection of pace for them. Their next game is on January 31st in the league when they head to Newcastle, and with no cups to play for, Burnley can focus on getting their league form right.
9. Everton
EPL Title Odds: +450000
Everton are six points back of Leicester City and Burnley after a 1-1 draw at home with West Brom as Oumar Niasse scored, but the big news from this match is the injury to James McCarthy. It was a bad scene for McCarthy, who suffered a double leg break and not only is his season done, it would be a shock if he was ready in time for next season. Everton also allowed Lennon to leave as he probably wouldn’t get much time behind Theo Walcott and Yannick Bolaise. Everton are also out of the cups, so their next match is on January 31st at home in the league against Leicester City.
10. Watford
EPL Title Odds: +450000
Watford are two points behind Everton after a 2-0 loss at Leicester City, and then they fired manager Marco Silva. The club says that he was unsettled after an approach by Everton and they have replaced him with Javi Garcia, and even though Watford are still in the top half of the table, they’re also only five points ahead of the relegation zone. The owners clearly thought something needed to be done to shake up the team. Watford will head to Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday.
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