Punters not persuaded in Premier League top four race by Tottenham change of manager | OneFootball

The race for the Premier League top four places is set to kick off again this coming weekend.

Whilst Arsenal and Man City fight it our for the title, there are at least five clubs battling it out for the other two Champions League spots.

Those definitely still in contention for third and fourth positions are the five clubs occupying third to seventh currently – Man U, Tottenham, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Brighton.

As you can see from this current Premier League table on Monday (27 March 2023), only eight points separate these five clubs:

The most recent results from before this international break that influenced the battle for Premier League tiop four were:

Fulham 0 Arsenal 3

Man U 0 Southampton 0

Newcastle 2 Wolves 1

Brighton 1 Palace 0

Forest 1 Newcastle 2

Southampton 0 Brentford 2

Brentford 1 Leicester 1

Southampton 3 Tottenham 3

Chelsea 2 Everton 2

That game at St Mary’s saw Tottenham coasting at 3-1 up, only to then collapse and draw 3-3 due to two late Southampton goals, the equaliser coming in the third minute of added time from the penalty spot, just as Newcastle’s winner had come (in the 93rd minute from the penalty spot) on the Friday at Forest.

Antonio Conte was furious and post-match came out with an extraordinary rant, which included every aspect of the club, from owners to players and everything in between.

The net result of that has been the announcement now of Antonio Conte and Tottenham parting company.

Despite rumours of an immediate appointment of Mauricio Pchettino or Julian Nagelsmann, Tottenham have instead stated that Conte’s number two Cristian Stellini will be caretaker boss until the end of the season.

So how have the punters and bookies reacted to this news when it comes to expectations of the Premier League top four placings?

Well, fair to say that an instant appointment of Pochettino or Nagelsmann would have brought a very positive response from bookies and punters, with the anticipated new manager bounce, especially of a high calibre achieving new (for second time if Pochettino) boss.

However, fair to say that the news of Stellini hasn’t inspired quite the same positivity…

Listed below are the updated general Premier League odds now available from the various bookies for this 2022/23 season:

Finish Premier League top four:

1/1000 Arsenal

1/750 Man City

1/6 Man U

11/10 Newcastle United

9/4 Liverpool

23/10 Tottenham

9/2 Brighton

66/1 Chelsea

150/1 Brentford

In reaction to the news, best available Tottenham odds are slightly bigger, whilst all of the other four main contenders are slightly shorter.

Bookies and punters not seeing this appointment of an internal caretaker temporary boss as something that will positively change things, indeed, maybe / likely the opposite.

A massive first weekend of April lies ahead, with the key Premier League top four contender games being Man City v Liverpool on Saturday 12.30pm, then Brighton v Brighton at 3pm. Sunday is Newcastle United v Man U at 4.30pm before finally Everton v Tottenham at 8pm next Monday night.