The top three in the Premier League all showed last weekend why one of them will be lifting the trophy in May, but despite Chelsea’s biggest win under Thomas Tuchel, the Blues are now a slightly bigger price to win the league than they were before the 7-0 victory over Norwich City.
Liverpool’s demolition of Manchester United is the sole reason for that.
Even though that result essentially ended the Red Devils’ title hopes and gave Chelsea one less team to worry about, people have now been forced to take the Reds more seriously.
For the first time this term, Jurgen Klopp’s side have now usurped Chelsea in the Premier League winner betting market, with the 2020 champions now at 5/2 with some bookmakers and the Blues now out to 3/1.
You could have got 13/2 on Liverpool before the campaign and there were still some firms offering 6/1 in mid-September but with Mohamed Salah in irresistible form and the defence now at full strength, they are being shown much more respect.
Still, Manchester City are odds-on favourites and understandably so.
Yes, they are two points and two places below Chelsea in the table but after a couple of early hiccups they are truly hitting their stride.
When City drew 0-0 at home to Southampton on September 18th and Chelsea won 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the next day, there was a brief moment where the two were priced similarly across online betting sites and a couple even favoured the European champions, but that was put to bed the following week when Pep Guardiola’s men managed a 1-0 victory in their title rivals’ backyard.
In truth, City dominated at Stamford Bridge that day and could have won by more, and they started in the same vein at Anfield in early October but had to settle for a point in the end after the Reds rallied in the second half and almost came out on top.
With very little to choose between the trio who are beginning to pull away from the pack, it appears that there will be a genuine three-horse race – something the English top flight has not seen in recent years with Klopp and Guardiola taking their respective teams to new heights.
But if you are looking to claim some betting offers and put your money where your mouth is with an outright wager, the value may now lie with Chelsea.
Their odds are now as long as they have been since the end of August, which is perhaps surprising considering their three wins on the bounce which included a 7-0 triumph and a hard-fought 1-0 win at Brentford, where both Liverpool and Arsenal slipped up and surely others will, too.
With trips to the Emirates, Anfield, and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium out of the way, a more favourable set of fixtures beckons and there are plenty of reasons to believe that the Blues can stay right with City and Liverpool even if Romelu Lukaku is sidelined for a few weeks.
The Premier League top three make up three of the top five favourites for the Champions League, too.
Bayern Munich (4/1) and Paris Saint-Germain (5/1) are sandwiched in between Manchester City (7/2) and Liverpool (13/2), while Chelsea are a potentially tempting 9/1 with some bookies.
