Bookies Make Liverpool Title Favourites for Next Season

At the start of last season, Kopites expected new manager Arne Slot to challenge for a Champions League spot. At most, they’d be in a distant title challenge with either Manchester City or Arsenal.

It then came as quite the shock when Liverpool won the title. They did in convincing style, too, with the Reds storming the league and Arsenal falling largely by the wayside. They even finished 13 points ahead of Manchester City, something that nobody would have predicted.

In terms of debut seasons as a manager, it doesn’t get much better than that. And with Liverpool recently bringing in £116m record signing Florian Wirtz, along with Jermie Frimping, Milos Kerkez, and a few smaller names, Arne Slot looks determined to avoid his title-winning season being labelled a fluke. There’s clear intention there for Liverpool to win the league again — and bookies are backing them to do it.

Liverpool 2/1 Premier League Title Favourites

Since the start of the summer, many of the UK bookies, including bet365, Sky Bet, and William Hill, have all released their odds for the upcoming 2024-25 Premier League season. Unsurprisingly, they have Liverpool down as 2/1 title favourites, with Arsenal (9/2) and Manchester City (5/4) just behind them. The likes of Newcastle, Chelsea, and Villa remain outsiders, at least for now, while Manchester United and Spurs aren’t being taken seriously as title contenders — or even top 4 challengers — following disastrous campaigns last season.

Why Liverpool Are Tipped to Win the League Again

The signs point to yet another Liverpool title win.

They have all the momentum from last season, along with what could arguably be labeled the strongest team in the league, especially following the recent arrival of £116m record-signing Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. Add on top of this the arrivals of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, Liverpool’s squad is starting to look quite scary.

When you look around Liverpool, the only major threats are a declining Manchester City side under Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who have now completed a 5-year trophyless run. There’s a strong chance that Pep will manage to stop the ship from sinking — and City’s late revival towards the end of last season indicates this is a real possibility — but every manager has his day and it looks like the “Pep Era” could be over. And with Arteta, you have a manager that’s failed to win the Premier League title since taking over in 2019, with Arne Slot’s title charge in his debut season causing quite the embarrassment for the Spaniard. Simply put, Slot has done what Arteta failed to do with less time and less money spent.

Outside of City and Arsenal, Liverpool don’t have much else to be worried about. Sure, Newcastle are pumped up under Eddie Howe following their League Cup towards the end of last season, but the Magpies are still far off being title challengers. The same applies to both Chelsea and Villa, who also have excellent squads but don’t look like they’ll be entering a title race any time soon.

Who Are Liverpool Signing Next?

This summer has already seen Liverpool splash £170m in transfer fees, yet more signings could be coming through the doors at Anfield. At the moment, the Reds are reportedly looking to sign Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi following the sale of Jarell Quansah, with a move for Lyon’s Malick Fofana also on the cards. There are even reports that Liverpool are open to selling Darwin Nunez to Napoli, which would likely lead to Liverpool making the move for another striker, although it’s impossible to say for sure what will happen with this one yet.

What’s interesting about Liverpool’s recent summer transfer moves is the fact that this is Arne Slot’s first attempt at crafting the squad in his own vision. He inherited Jürgen Klopp’s squad last season and did the unthinkable with it, so there’s no telling what 46-year-old Arne Slot might be able to do with his own rubber stamp on the squad.

Let’s not forget that Klopp hardly left Slot with a busted flush. A squad stacked with experience and fresh talent was already there, with club legends Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk still having plenty left in the tank. There were doubts about Salah for a while — with the general expectation being that he would be tempted away by a big-money move to Saudi Arabia — but the Egyptian stayed loyal and managed to bag 28 goals in 35 games for Liverpool last season. Not bad for a 33-year-old who many were claiming was past it, and Salah will no doubt be looking to replicate a similar display in the new season.

Conclusion

There’s big pressure on Arne Slot’s Liverpool side heading into the 2025-26 campaign.

On paper, it has another Liverpool title win written all over it. Slot could potentially become a victim of his own success, though, as managers struggling to follow up on successful debut seasons is a tale as old as time in football.

One thing for sure is that everything is in place for Slot to win back-to-back titles. If Manchester City struggle to get back on track and Arsenal repeat exactly what they’ve done for the past 5 seasons, Slot should be able to guide Liverpool to another 1st place finish, especially if new signings Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong hit the ground running. It’ll be interesting to watch it all unfold — and the Reds will kick the season off August 17th at Anfield against Bournemouth.

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