A couple weeks after the international break that saw a bunch of top-tier international teams qualify for the 2024 Euros, Indy Sportsbook returns with some Premier League locks. We are almost a third of the way through a Premier League season that has already seen many upsets, such as Man City losing in back-to-back weeks and Liverpool dropping points against Brighton and Tottenham.
This Halloweekend will see some of the most highly anticipated and historic matchups in all of soccer: The Manchester Derby (Manchester City vs Manchester United) and El Clasico (Barcelona vs Real Madrid). If you want to sweat a bet and be on the edge of your chair for 90 minutes, I recommend wagering on these historically hard-to-predict matchups. I back Real Madrid (+200) as well as Manchester City (-135) to win these matches, but I think that Manchester City’s odds look a little too good to be true. Vegas always knows.
Since the Champions League has finished its first couple of matchweeks, I wanted to take a look at the favorites of the tournament. These are currently Man City at +200 and Bayern Munich at +450. While I would never count either of those teams out, their form has been quite below expectations, and I would steer clear of both of those options. However, we never know how football teams will look in six months, and this future could be one of the hardest bets to hit in all of sports.
Real Madrid at +700 and Barcelona at +1000 are my favorite bets of the tournament right now. While Real Madrid has won almost all of their games, a lot of their performances have been shaky. Jude Bellingham is leading the pack for Madrid and is probably the best player in the world at the moment, but who knows how long the team will be playing in June. Barcelona has looked a lot stronger than last season, but their star midfielders have been invisible recently. If they return to form and Barcelona learns how to play well in the Champions League, I think this could turn out to be a very fruitful bet.
Moving to the Europa League, the early betting front runners are Liverpool at +300 and AS Roma at +1200. While Liverpool is a clear favorite to win the tournament, I also think that Bayer Leverkusen at +1400 could be an amazing value bet. Leverkusen are currently in first place in the Bundesliga and have been in incredible form to start the season. Though no one knows how long this will last, they have one of the better managers in Germany and are knocking at the doors to make a splash in the Europa League. Villereal should never be counted out, and at +2500, it looks enticing.
Looking back at the Premier League, I wanted to employ a slightly different approach to this week’s betting by dabbling into some anytime goalscorer picks. For reference to all American football bettors, hitting an anytime touchdown is much easier and far more common than a goal bet. Goals are less frequent to come by and can often be scored by extremely unexpected players or through a team’s own goals. With that in mind, my favorites for this week are as follows:
Darwin Nunez (-105) vs Nottingham Forest. Darwin has been itching to score over the last few weeks and even netted a goal in international competition. I can see him getting his name on the scoresheet Sunday.
Ollie Watkins (-145) vs Luton Town. Ollie Watkins comes up against one of the worst defenses in the Premier League in great form. I see him bagging at least one this weekend.
While picking who is going to score in a given game is fun, I think betting on straight-up teams to win is a lot easier, even though the lines might disagree with that statement. I am looking at some of the teams that are not playing in other competitions and therefore will be fresher. Being a pro at Football Manager, I understand how much playing in Europe can affect league matches. There is a lot to be said about teams that have the luxury of usually only playing on weekends, which can help them once the season starts getting in full swing and teams are traveling all over Europe. My picks for this week are as follows:
Bournemouth (+115) vs Burnley: Bournemouth have been in good form recently. After playing a good match last Saturday, they sadly fell to Wolves, but I think they are going to bounce back at home against Burnley who currently have four points in nine matches.
Aston Villa -1.5 (-110) vs Luton Town: Villa are coming off a fantastic performance, where they battered a solid West Ham team by three goals. Luton Town, one of the worst teams in the league, has only won one match this season. I see Villa winning this game easily.
West Ham (+110) vs Everton: West Ham is not coming off a great match against Aston Villa, but I see David Moyes rallying his club and ensuring that his team comes out strong against Everton. While I previously backed Everton, I think the team lacks a lot of quality and will not fare well in this matchup of two teams that have been on a skid recently.
Premier League soccer can provide students with the revenue of a part-time job if you bet correctly, while simultaneously providing thrills that can’t compare to any drugs—as long as you throw enough money down. I know Halloween is upon us, but Do Not Bet Scared.
Luke Wagner ’26 (lukewagner@college.harvard.edu) can almost guarantee that he will recover from his 1-2-1 record in his previous column.