Gameweek Odds: Ten Fixtures, One Price and Not a Favourite in Sight

No favourite anywhere on the card

For a column dedicated to odds movement, this gameweek brings a curiosity: there is no favourite to be found. According to the match odds in FanTribe's gameweek data, all ten fixtures are priced identically — 2 for a home win, 3 for the draw and 2 for an away win.

From Ipswich Town against Nottingham Forest on Friday night to Sunderland AFC's late Sunday meeting with Leeds United, the market declines to prefer anyone. Home advantage carries no weight at all: hosts and visitors are quoted the same in every match, and the draw is the biggest number in each quote.

Where the table disagrees

The Premier League table tells a different story, and the gap is widest in Saturday's early kick-off. Aston Villa, 18th after conceding four without reply in their only match, host leaders Manchester City — six points from two wins, six goals scored and two conceded, according to the table. The market makes nothing of that divide.

Saturday's London derby is stranger still. Chelsea, eighth after opening with a win, welcome a Tottenham Hotspur side rooted to the bottom: two defeats, no goals scored and five conceded. Even so, Spurs are priced exactly like their hosts.

The pattern holds elsewhere:

• Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion — Liverpool sit 11th on two draws; Brighton are fifth, with four goals scored and none conceded in their single outing.
• Crystal Palace v Newcastle United — 19th host third. Palace have lost both matches; Newcastle are unbeaten.
• Manchester United v AFC Bournemouth — United were beaten without scoring in their opener; Bournemouth have one point from two.
• Hull City AFC v Brentford — second host seventh. Hull are level with Manchester City on six points and are yet to concede.

Arsenal, sixth, meet fourth-placed Everton in the Saturday afternoon slot alongside Liverpool's match and Coventry City's fixture with Fulham, before Sunderland and Leeds close the card on Sunday.

Crowd v market

FanTribe's fan-prediction data for this gameweek is not in yet, which makes this an unusually clean contest between the crowd and the market. Log your calls on all ten fixtures in the app before Friday's opener between Ipswich and Forest, and the Data Desk will measure the two against each other once the results are in.

With the market calling every match a toss-up and the table insisting otherwise, somebody is wrong. We will find out who.