Norwich are there for the taking as Fulham unleash Petric
Fulham begin their Premier League campaign with a home fixture against Norwich and at 17/20 make plenty of appeal to make a winning start against a side who many are tipping for relegation.
The Canaries are 18/5 to gain a surprise result at Craven Cottage with the draw at 27/10.
Paul Lambert has left Carrow Road during the summer and although Chris Hughton has done an excellent job at both Newcastle and Birmingham City in recent seasons, Norwich are there for the taking and anything other than three points would be a disappointing start.
We at BetVictor are asking punters who they think will be Fulham’s top goalscorer this season in the Premier League and bet:
Mladen Petric 6/4
Hugo Rodallega 3/1
Clint Dempsey 3/1
Bryan Ruiz 7/1
Moussa Dembele 14s
16s bar
With doubts about the immediate futures of Dempsey and Dembele, and Rodallega not exactly prolific at the DW Stadium, much will be expected of Petric who is 5/1 to grab Saturday’s opener.
One of our most popular markets ahead of the season opener is the Premier League Handicap which sees each club priced at 15/1 with champions Manchester City on scratch and every other side having a points start or handicap.
The winner is the club who, when you add up their points and handicap, finish with the most points.
So we are asking which team will overachieve this season. Last term saw Newcastle and Swansea fight it out but who do you think will be the surprise packages of 2012/13? Handicaps include: (all sides are 15/1):
Man City Scratch
Man Utd +3
Chelsea +6
Arsenal +10
Spurs +15
Liverpool +16
Fulham +33
QPR +37
West Ham +41
Southampton +46
Reading +48
The best backed side so far? QPR.
We will examine the Hoops more closely next week but punters obviously believe Mark Hughes has added more quality to his squad in the summer. Add another central defender and I think they look a very good bet at 15/1.
We have a number of season-long match bets/handicaps involving Fulham including:
Fulham to finish higher than QPR 8/13
QPR to finish higher than Fulham 6/5
Fulham + 1.5 points v Sunderland 4/5
Fulham + 6.5 points v Everton 4/5
Fulham +8.5 points v Newcastle 4/5
Fulham -3.5 points v Villa Evens
Our thoughts are that Fulham will finish in the bottom half of the table but have no threat of going down.
We bet 2/5 to finish in the bottom half, 7/4 to finish in the top 10 and 9/1 to be relegated.
If QPR are to be realistic top 10 contenders they ought to get something from the game at Loftus Road against Swansea, who have been the big movers in recent weeks for the drop – they have a new manager and have lost a number of key players from last season.
Rangers are 11/10 to gain all three points with the Swans 29/10 and 12/5 the draw.
Chelsea are 8/13 at Wigan and that looks short enough given the Blues looked a work in progress at Villa Park last weekend.
If they are to challenge the Manchester clubs they need a win. Fernando Torres is 8/1 to be the top Premier League goalscorer and looked sharp against City. He is 4/1 to open the scoring.
We have a very special offer at BetVictor to mark the start of the domestic football season. Place a treble up to a maximum of £50 on this weekend’s Premier League fixtures and you will get the same bet free for the second weekend of fixtures irrespective of whether your treble wins or loses.
The most popular treble to date has been Manchester City (H to Saints 1/5), Arsenal (H to Sunderland 2/5) and Chelsea (A to Wigan 3/5) which pays £2.69 to a £1 stake and punters had been latching onto this safe in the knowledge they can have a similar bet next weekend irrespective of whether it wins or loses.
In light of the Robin van Persie signing it will be interesting to see if Manchester United (9/10 at Everton) are now popular in the treble.
For all your weekend odds check out betvictor.com
Be lucky.
Charlie
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