Welcome to the Eagles Punt, as mentioned last season, this year will have more of a twist, and after further discussions, these can now be revealed!
Last week, the column asked for volunteers to compete against the tipster throughout the season, this week, we can also reveal the addition of fellow Palace bloggers from HLTCO, FYP Fanzine and RedNBlueArmy to the competition. I am sure this will give the competition a little edge to it and you can have your chance to join next week. The first volunteer to have their attempt is @EagleGolfTips.
Each of us will place three virtual £10 bets on the following:
- One £10 bet on the Palace game being featured in the column on any betting market
- One £10 bet on a three team accumulator from across the four English leagues
- One £10 bet on a first/last or anytime goalscorer in the Palace game being featured.
We hope you will enjoy watching the competition throughout the season and involvement and interaction.
Now, on to a brief preview of this season and my personal selections.
Crystal Palace (+44 points) in the Premiership Handicap betting – 15/1 Bet365 (each-way bet, 1st 4 places, 1/4 odds)
Palace finished second in this market last year with only Liverpool finishing ahead. Despite what has been an average at best transfer window so far, improvements will come. And if they do, Pulis will have the team around the same sort of position as last year, as the team look to become an established Premier League club.
Crystal Palace to finish top of “Group C” – 11/2 Paddy Power
The mythical Group C contains Stoke, Swansea, Aston Villa, Hull and Crystal Palace. Swansea have a rookie manager, Aston Villa have signed a lot of average players and their manager is under huge pressure, Hull have to concentrate on the Europa League early in the season and Stoke are the real threat here, but 11/2 is incredibly good value on the team who finished second of these five last season, despite giving them a 10 game head start.
Random High-Odds bet that is ridiculously good value if he gets appearances
Dwight Gayle to be the Premiership Top Goalscorer – 350/1 Bet365 (each-way bet, 1st 4 places, 1/4 odds
If Gayle gets the chance to play in his natural position and gets the service he got in the final two games of the season, the man is going to score goals, even if he has managed to score zero in pre-season in the highest scoring pre-season team in the Premier League (FUN FACT ALERT!). The odds of 350/1 is frankly ridiculous, and though Gayle would need to score around twenty goals, there is no reason that he could not do so if he got on a hot streak. It all comes down whether Pulis can trust him to lead the line.
Quick ante-post picks
Arsenal to finish in the top 3 – 11/10 – Ladbrokes
I think Manchester United will be happy to finish fourth this year, I do not think Tottenham, Everton or Liverpool are strong enough this year to top Arsenal and their new signings. I can see Arsenal maintaining a strong title challenge until the very end of the season, without Ramsey’s injury, I think they would have been close to making it a four way battle last season.
West Brom to be relegated – 13/5 – Coral
A poor team last year who have added a rookie manager this year and along with some unproven players this summer. One of the Birmingham teams is going to get relegated this year, whether it is Villa or West Brom remains to be seen.
Olivier Giroud to be top goalscorer – 20/1 – Paddy Power (each way bet, 1st 4, 1/4 odds)
If he stays fit, he will score goals, just like he did last season. If Wenger had been able to rotate his frontman to allow Giroud to stay fit, he would have been in competition with the Liverpool two for top goalscorer. The addition of Sanchez will mean more goals, and the ability to rotate in certain games with Sanchez/Sanogo taking some pressure off him.
Wigan to be promoted – 33/10 – BWin
Strong team, excellent manager and they made a late run to the playoffs, smashing Brighton in the process. They are top quality team and without the Europa League to concentrate on, they will push on early and hopefully not have as big a gap to make up this year.
This weekend’s picks:
Safe Treble – Derby, Fleetwood and Preston pays 4.09/1 – William Hill
Risky Treble – Wigan, Leyton Orient and Luton pays 9.05/1 – Betfred
Leave a comment on the column or tweet me or the main TEB account if you would like to compete against myself or the lads at @HLTCO, @RedNBlueArmy1 or @FYPFanzine in this season’s competition.
