Championship sides West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest are also favoured to be in the Premier League for the start of the 2010/11 season.
Monday 8th February 2010
With soccer clubs including Portsmouth, Hull and Burnley struggling to avoid relegation from the English Premier League to the Championship, the race for who will take their spots in the top-flight is currently wide open.
Relegated on the last day of the season in May, Newcastle United have been doing well in the second tier of professional English football and currently sits top of the Championship table with 56 points from 27 games.
Having been at or near the top of the table all season, ToteSport.com is offering odds of 8/13 that the ‘Magpies’ can return to the Premier League at the first time of asking. This is followed by SportingBet.com with 13/20 while StanJames.com is offering 4/6.
Newcastle manager Chris Hughton has won the Manager Of The Month prize for August, September and November while his team is listed at odds of 8/11 by BoyleSports.com, Bet365.com, SkyBet.com, BetFred.com, BlueSq.com, VictorChandler.com, PaddyPower.com, 888Sport.com, Ladbrokes.com, WilliamHill.com, Coral.co.uk and ExtraBet.com to be promoted come May 2.
Slightly longer, Betfair.com is offering odds of 37/50 on Newcastle being a Premier League club for the 2010/11 season followed by BetDaq.com with 19/25 and WBX.com showing 83/100.
Three points behind Newcastle but having played one game more is West Bromwich Albion, who were also relegated from the top-flight last season with the worst record of the Premier League’s 20 clubs.
SkyBet.com, WilliamHill.com and ExtraBet.com have the ‘Baggies’ at odds of 11/4 to be promoted while Bet365.com, BetFred.com, BlueSq.com, PaddyPower.com, 888Sport.com, Ladbrokes.com and Coral.co.uk show 3/1.
West Bromwich have experienced either promotion to the Premier League or relegation back to the Championship six times in the last eight seasons with WBX.com, ToteSport.com and SportingBet.com offering odds of 16/5 that history will repeat itself this year. For their part, BoyleSports.com, VictorChandler.com and BetDaq.com show 10/3 on promotion this season followed by StanJames.com going with 7/2 and Betfair.com showing 43/10.
Three teams are promoted to the Premier League at the end of each season to take the place of a relegated trio and Nottingham Forest is another Championship side favoured by the bookmakers to be in the top division come May.
Forest currently sit in third spot only four points from Newcastle but seven from fourth with SkyBet.com offering odds of 5/2 on promotion success for manager Billy Davies.
Forest were promoted to the Championship in 2007/08 season from the lower Coca-Cola League One but signed nine players at the start of this campaign in hopes of gaining a Premier League place. These signings seem to have worked so far with BoyleSports.com showing odds of 13/5 on promotion this season followed by PaddyPower.com, BlueSq.com, ToteSport.com, VictorChandler.com, 888Sport.com, WilliamHill.com, Ladbrokes.com and Coral.co.uk with 11/4.
Slightly longer, punters can get 69/25 from BetDaq.com on Forest achieving promotion while Betfair.com is offering 147/50. Bet365.com, SportingBet.com, ExtraBet.com, BetFred.com and StanJames.com has a very respectable 3/1 while WBX.com shows 31/10.
