2024-25 EPL Season Picks & Best Bets
The 2024-25 English Premier League season begins this Friday, August 16, with Manchester United hosting Fulham at 3 PM ET. Although it took until the last game of the season to decide the 2023-24 champion, Manchester City, it marked the fourth straight EPL trophy for the Citizens. They’ve now won the Premier League in six of the last seven seasons, and it will take near perfection for another club to knock off Pep Guardiola’s men.
Let’s get into a few of my favorite 2024-25 EPL season picks and best bets, which you can place ahead of Friday’s match.
2024-25 EPL Season Predictions
Winner without Manchester City: Arsenal (-125)
To Finish in the Top 6: Manchester United (-165)
Top Goalscorer: Mohamed Salah (+1100)
2024-25 EPL Picks: Winner without Manchester City - Arsenal (-125)
The first of my 2024-25 EPL picks focuses on the title race, but it doesn’t include Manchester City. Arsenal nearly knocked off City last year, but a poor spell during the Christmas period made the difference in the end. Mikel Arteta was asked how many points his team would need to win the EPL, and he replied, “114”, which made reporters laugh, but I honestly think he was serious. Only Liverpool knocked off City during the 2019-20 season, setting multiple records in the process, including 18 consecutive victories in the EPL, 24 consecutive home wins and a 25-point lead in the table.
Therefore, I don’t think it’s worth betting against City, which is why I turned to a bet on Arsenal to win the EPL without Manchester City (-125). The Gunners essentially have the same squad as last season, but they added even more depth by bringing in Italian CB Riccardo Calafiori. The South London club allowed the fewest goals in the EPL last season (29), and there’s no doubt they should concede a similar number this year.
The biggest issue for Arsenal is their lack of a true striker, but if they receive contributions from multiple players like last year, they should be right in the title race. Overall, Liverpool could challenge Arsenal for the top spot without Man City, but the departure of Jurgen Klopp and the arrival of Arne Slot will likely hinder their chances of making a true title push. Therefore, I’ll back Arsenal, and even if they win the league, this bet still cashes.
2024-25 EPL Picks: To Finish in the Top 6 - Manchester United (-165)
Manchester United had a disappointing season by their standards last year, finishing eighth in the table, and their highlight was taking down Manchester City in the FA Cup Final. Manager Erik ten Hag enters his third season with the club, and the Red Devils have had a busy summer, signing a Bayern Munich duo in CB Matthijs de Ligt and RB Noussair Mazraoui and bringing in CF Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna and 18-year-old CB Leny Yoro from Lille. The Manchester United manager has no excuses when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League, let alone a top-6 finish.
Now, the Red Devils have been known for spending money without results since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, but Ten Hag had his team performing better as the season progressed. Their biggest issue is a lack of scoring, as they mustered just 57 goals, which was on par with Crystal Palace, while the teams that finished in the top six in the EPL averaged 83.3 goals. Rasmus Højlund will miss the season opener, which means their new signing, Joshua Zirkzee, could start up front. Either way, I expect both players to have decent seasons, and United should score 70+ goals. Therefore, Manchester United to finish in the Top 6 (-165) is nearly a certainty this season.
2024-25 EPL Picks: Top Goalscorer: Mohamed Salah (+1100)
The final one of my 2024-25 EPL season picks is a longshot, but I don’t see any value in backing Erling Haaland to win the Golden Boot as an odds-on favorite. Therefore, I’ll be placing a small bet on Mohamed Salah to be the EPL top goalscorer (+1100). As I said before, there’s plenty of uncertainty around Liverpool and their new manager, Arne Slot, but the Egyptian has been a model of consistency in the Premier League since joining the Reds in the 2017-18 season.
Salah has scored 32, 22, 19, 22, 23, 19 and 18 goals for Liverpool in the EPL and has missed just 16 of 266 games in the Premier League during that spell. Haaland is a goal-scoring machine, but without Julian Alvarez (sold to Atletico Madrid), I’m slightly worried that the Norwegian could experience some fatigue with how many competitions City is playing in and has played since last year, while Salah has shown his ability to withstand the physicality of the EPL and will be fully fit after having the summer off. Therefore, it’s worth sprinkling a small bet on Salah to record the most goals in the league this year.
