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On August 14th, as dusk falls over Anfield and the famous old stadium roars back to life, Liverpool will take to the pitch not just as defending champions—but as the new era’s standard-bearers. The 2025/26 Premier League season begins where the last one left off: with the red tide threatening to wash over England once more.
Last season’s title wasn’t a mere triumph. It was a clinic. Arne Slot’s men topped the table by double digits, outscoring and outclassing all comers while posting one of the league’s best defensive numbers in the process. They headed into last season as a distant third favourite behind then-champions Manchester City and Arsenal before upsetting the odds.
Now, online betting sites aren't making the same mistake. The latest odds from the popular Bovada betting site currently have the reigning champions listed as the 2/1 favourites to reign supreme once again. So, why have such outlets given them top billing? Let's take a look.
Wirtz and Co. Ignite a New Fire
Few clubs on the planet have approached this summer's transfer market with Liverpool’s ambition. This summer, those qualities crystallised in the landmark British record £116 million capture of Florian Wirtz—Germany’s 22-year-old playmaking sensation. His numbers last term leaped off the page: 16 goals, 15 assists, and a reputation for gliding through midfield traffic as if the ball were tethered to his laces. In fact, no attacking midfielder in Europe contributed to more goals last term.
Yet Liverpool’s intent didn’t end there. Hugo Ekitike has arrived from Frankfurt with 19 club goals to his name after a breakout 2024/25 campaign, providing the kind of vertical penetration Premier League backlines despise. Jeremie Frimpong—signed off another stellar campaign at Leverkusen—ranks among Europe’s most dynamic right-sided defenders, his 14 assists in all competitions last year underscoring a relentless drive from deep. Milos Kerkez brings youth, tactical discipline, and boundless energy on the left—elevating Slot’s options and making Liverpool’s shape more unpredictable than ever.
The market’s not closed, either. Alexander Isak, Newcastle’s talisman who delivered a career-best 27 goals in all competitions last term, has issued a transfer request. He has been Liverpool's primary target for the better part of a year now, and if he were to land at Anfield, they would own a quartet of attackers bordering on historic.
Spine Remains Untouched
For all the glitz of new names, Liverpool’s core remains their axis of power. Mohamed Salah—Golden Boot winner, four-time Premier League top scorer—embodies both stardust and reliability. At 33, he produced 34 goals in all competitions last season, his most prolific campaign since his debut season eight years ago. Those exploits saw him finish as top scorer ahead of Manchester City's prolific Erling Haaland, earning himself a new contract that ties him to the Mersey until 2028.
Behind him stands Virgil van Dijk: captain, organiser, intimidator. Liverpool conceded just 41 goals last season, with van Dijk topping the charts in aerial duels and clearances among centre-halves. His partnership with Ibrahima Konaté, who registered a league-high 72% tackle success rate, forms a hurdles course few strikers clear.
It doesn’t end there. Alisson Becker kept nine clean sheets in 28 games and ranked top three for shot-stopping percentage. Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch form a midfield blend of elegance and power, both averaging over 90% pass completion while contributing to the press that has come to define Liverpool’s ferocity.
This is not a club reliant on a golden generation poised to fade; it is an organism, systemically refreshed but anchored to a backbone of elite, prime-age performers. This continuity gives Liverpool a floor of excellence that would be most clubs’ ceiling. Both Salah and van Dijk are now advancing in terms of their age, but they both have another couple of years left in them at the elite level, and they are ready to showcase that this season.
Manchester City Falter
To rank Liverpool as favourites is not simply to read their own form, but to acknowledge the fault lines in what was once their greatest opposition. Manchester City—the previous superpower—wanders into this season diminished. Kevin De Bruyne, the league’s creative heartbeat with over 100 assists since 2015, has departed for Napoli on a free transfer. Rodri, Guardiola’s midfield general, spent the last campaign sidelined, and his absence was brutal.
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Their frailties were exposed on the world stage, too. The Club World Cup ignominy—a 4-3 defeat by Al Hilal—sent shockwaves. The performance was a shadow of their former dominance, and it was their once vaunted defence that looked increasingly vulnerable with every transition. Goal-creation down by 17% versus their 2023/24 peak, chance conversion slumping to seventh in the league. The aura has been pierced, the cohesion fractured, and the ruthless efficiency that defined Guardiola’s reign now in doubt.
While City look to rebuild, Liverpool are already firing on all cylinders: healthy, hungry, and bolstered by new layers of talent. Even the bookmakers—historically cautious to pivot away from City—now cite the Reds as consensus favourites. Now, the question is whether they can live up to the billing.