Bill Edgar: Premier League top five start the season in dominant mood

“This quintet’s only failures to win in games against the “bottom 15” have been Tottenham’s defeat to Watford, City’s draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea’s draws against West Ham United and Manchester United.”

The fact that Tottenham Hotspur sit only fifth (behind Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal) in the Premier League table, despite having gained as much as 21 points from their opening nine matches, shows how the top five have generally swatted aside the rest in the opening quarter of the season. This quintet’s only failures to win in games against the “bottom 15” have been Tottenham’s defeat to Watford, City’s draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea’s draws against West Ham United and Manchester United.

This weekend Tottenham face City but a treble on the other three teams among the top five pays out at [2.74] with Betfair: Liverpool are at home to Cardiff, Chelsea are away to Burnley, while Arsenal visit Crystal Palace.

A midweek win over Dundee has left Hearts six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership. But no team aside from Celtic and Rangers have been champions since 1985 so the title remains a long shot for Hearts – they are [18.0] on the Betfair Exchange to achieve that feat but have been backed at [370.0].

Dundee United won the league in 1983, followed by Aberdeen in the next two years, and Hearts would have made it four successive non-Old Firm title winners in 1986 had they not suffered one of British football’s great hard-luck stories. Needing only a draw against Dundee on the final day, they lost 2-0 to two late goals, allowing Celtic, who beat St Mirren 5-0, to win the title on goal difference (Celtic started the day four behind on goal difference). It was Hearts’ first league defeat for seven months, they had topped the table since Christmas and they were afflicted by a virus in that final match.