Matchweek 5 of the 2022-23 EPL season saw the league’s new phenomenon reach new heights, while one big club continued to struggle.
Here’s how it looked for punters:
Nine in five for new sensation
We knew he’d make an impact. We just didn’t know it would be this big, this quick.
On Thursday morning Australian time, Manchester City phenomenon Erling Haaland bagged his second hat-trick in four days to lead Manchester City ($1.06 pre-game favourites with Palmerbet) to a 6-0 rout of newly promoted Nottingham Forest. The Norwegian striker had three before half-time, and has incredibly scored nine goals in his first five EPL games. After starting the season as a $3.60 top-scorer hope, Haaland is edging into unbackable territory (now at $1.30) such is his early impact. His nearest rival on that front, Spurs’ Harry Kane, is into double figures at $10. “Man City have the best striker in the world right now. If he stays in the Premier League, every record will be broken,” former striker Dion Dublin told the BBC post-game.
The win for City (who were $8.13 hopes pre-game with a -5.0 handicap) has seen them shorten again in the EPL title race, now into $1.25.
Doesn't get much better than this! 🔵 #mancity pic.twitter.com/CrThLRSvXO
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) August 31, 2022
Concern at Chelsea
One big club who’ve made a distinctly uninspiring start to the season is Chelsea, who are already eight points off the (cracking) pace set by London rivals Arsenal. The Blues lost a second game in their last three when they went down to Southampton ($5.14 pre-game) 2-1 at St Mary’s despite starting $1.68 favourites with Palmerbet. Manager Thomas Tuchel was frank in his assessment post-game. “It is too easy to put us off balance, to beat us, to confuse us,” he told Match of the Day. “Too easy. It happened against Leeds. We need to understand why and find solutions.”
A month ago before the 2-22-23 EPL season kicked off, Chelsea were third-favourites for the title with Palmerbet, at $14 behind City and Livepool. But within just five games they’ve ballooned out to $41. Tuchel’s honesty might be welcomed initially by fans, but they’ll be expecting answers shortly. They face a tricky clash against West Ham this weekend, back at Stamford Bridge, and start $1.50 in that one.
Tuchel keeps it real 👀 pic.twitter.com/PF0vuQ9Dmw
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 30, 2022
United back on track
After a horrific start to the EPL season, Manchester United are back on track.
Following torrid losses to Brighton and Brentford to kick off their 2022-23 campaign, United have now won three on the bounce. Their latest, against Leicester on Friday morning (after starting $2.00 favourites away from home with Palmerbet) sees them leapfrog back into fifth. Jadon Sancho ($10 for first goalscorer) was the only player to score on the night in the 1-0 win. It was a surprisingly low-scoring affair, with pre-match markets at $4.60 to finish Under 1.5 goals. While we’re still very much in the early stages of the EPL season, the wins put them back on track for a Top 4 finish in 2022-23. After the embarrassment at Brentford, United went out to $7.00 in that market with Palmerbet. However new manager Erik ten Hag has steadied the ship, and United are into $3.00.
Varane an absolute monster at the back. Ten Hag with three straight wins. Solid rather than spectacular, but you can see what the Dutchman is trying to implement. #MUFC
— Tom McDermott (@MrTomMcDermott) September 1, 2022
