The 2022/23 Premier League season is now in the history books. After a close-run race, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City retained their Premier League trophy with two games to spare. While the result felt predictable in the end, official data by Sportradar revealed that sports bettors did not feel that was the case.
Losing Bets On Arsenal Winning The League
The data showed that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal was the most backed team to win the Premier League this season. Of the collected results, 41% of bets had been placed on the North London team winning their first title in 19 years.
Arsenal had been eight points clear of Manchester City at one point in the season, with a string of bad results towards the end of the campaign ultimately stopping their title charge.
Despite not being the most-backed team to win the league, Manchester City was the most-backed team throughout the season to win individual matches. The Citizens won 28 of their 38 games, meaning there will have been plenty of happy bettors throughout the season.
Man City the most backed team throughout the season
A Record-Breaking Top Scorer
Manchester City’s success has been spearheaded by the Norweigan striker Erling Haaland. Haaland has burst onto the scene, scoring 36 goals in 35 games in his debut season in the Premier League, breaking Alan Shearer’s highest scorer record in the process.
Unsurprisingly, the striker was the most backed player in the top scorer market, with 52% of bets being placed on him before December and the number rising to 92% in the second half of the campaign.
Darren Small, Senior Vice President of Managed Trading Services at Sportradar, said that the company processed billions of bets placed on the Premier League. He added that the bets show a clear picture of the fan’s sentiment throughout the campaign.
The numbers clearly highlight that many bettors fancied Arsenal to end Manchester City’s reign of dominance, at least for one season.
Guardiola's City eyeing up the treble
One More Game To Go
The domestic football season is now over, but there is still some silverware to play for. Pep Guardiola’s men will look to complete a historic treble when they take on Inter Milan in Istanbul this weekend.
The club defeated Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley last weekend to lift the FA Cup and are now just 90 minutes away from history. We spoke with iconic British boxer and Manchester City fan Ricky Hatton ahead of the game to get his thoughts.
You can keep up to date with all of the betting action for Saturday’s big game right here at Gambling Zone.
