With the World Cup done and dusted, football fans will no doubt be looking forward to the start of the new season in Europe. Indeed, it’s not far off, and a lot of teams have engaged in a frenzy of transfer activity now that the focus has shifted back to club football. 

Fans of reigning champions will be most keen to get the new season started, hoping that they can continue the form that made them title winners last term. Bettors, too, will be scouring the betting markets to see where the value lies. 

Winning a title doesn’t always make you the favorite for the next season, and that’s not limited to soccer. For example, in US sports, neither the Super Bowl-winning Seahawks nor the NBA champions, the Knicks, are favorites going into next season. Even in the NCAA college football betting, the champs, the Indiana Hoosiers, do not sit atop the preseason odds. 

Yet, we have a situation where the winners of each of the Big 5 European leagues are the favorites going into the new season. Here, we have ranked them in order of likelihood, providing the latest odds:

1. Bayern Munich 

We have picked them ahead of PSG in this list as there is a sense that the Champions League winners don’t go full throttle in Ligue 1 anymore, preferring to concentrate on Europe’s premier club competition. Anyway, Bayern are about 1/8 to win the Bundesliga again, with Dortmund, Leipzig, and Leverkusen representing the main competition. Bayern have slipped up in the past, but it just seems too easy for a team that won the league by a 16-point margin and scored 122 goals in the process. 

2. PSG 

You can find odds of 1/6 for PSG to win the title, which you can expect a fair few pro bettors to jump on with large wagers. For ordinary punters, however, it would probably represent too much risk at those short odds. After all, Lens almost pushed PSG to the limit. As mentioned above, the main hope for other teams (Marseille are the second favorites at 12/1) is that PSG become obsessed with a three-peat in the Champions League, taking their eye off the ball at home. 

3. Inter Milan 

Hmmmm. Inter are sitting around even money to win Serie A on betting exchanges. It’s not that they are a superb team by any stretch; it’s more that just about every one of Inter’s challengers has many more flaws. Juventus (5/1) still look a good distance off the top level, and Inter’s city rivals Milan (11/2) still need a bit of work. The most interesting candidate is probably Napoli at 5/1. But Inter remain in the driving seat. 

4. Barcelona 

Barcelona have shorter odds than Inter, though only marginally. The La Liga champions deserve to have the favorites tag, but there is always a sense that things could get nervy should the circus at Real Madrid become more harmonious. Is Jose Mourinho the man to tame the egos? On paper, Los Blancos have every bit as much talent as their bitter rivals; it’s just that Barcelona have more cohesion. 

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5. Arsenal 

The Gunners are priced at 7/4, which places them just ahead of Manchester City (3/1). There is a significant gap to Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea – all 7/1 and above. Three of the five mentioned have new managers, and all have been splashing the cash on transfers in the summer. The Gunners will be buoyed by the sense of continuity they have, though it does feel like they have the hardest task out of all teams on this list. City’s odds smack of value, even if there will be a sense of the unknown going into the season without Pep Guardiola at the helm.