Crystal Palace are the prime example of a club praying the transfer window closes without any of their top players being poached by vultures either at home or abroad.
The Eagles’ FA Cup victory against Manchester City and their Community Shield success over Liverpool have left question marks lingering over the ability of the two super sides to launch a triumphant assault on the Premier League title.
Of course, that overlooks the growth of the Selhurst Park outfit under the leadership of impressive manager Oliver Glasner and if Palace can continue to resist selling Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton among others they could fly under the radar and enjoy a hugely successful season.
It is unfair they have been dropped from the Europa League to the Conference League after a ruling which supporters find ridiculous – bar those who follow rivals Brighton or Nottingham Forest – but even that could be a blessing in disguise.
Chelsea showed last season it is possible to win Uefa’s third-tier competition with a skeleton crew, leaving their better players to focus on domestic matters, and while the Eagles’ stars will enjoy playing European football their minutes will be a lot easier to manage.
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There’s no betting market formed for the competition just yet as qualifying is still in progress, but Palace must be among the leading contenders to lift the trophy when the final is staged at the RB Arena in Leipzig at the end of the season.
In the meantime, they are 10/3 with bet365 to show they can stand shoulder to shoulder with another big club by taking a point from Sunday’s short journey to take on Club World Cup winners Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their opening Premier League fixture.
Palace are also 15/8 with Betfred to finish in the top half as they can improve on 12th last time around to wind up above Fulham, Brentford, Bournemouth and possibly Forest although Manchester United and Tottenham should be vastly better this year to foil any hopes of a top-six placing.
Carabao Cup odds
It’s tough enough settling on clubs to place in the Saturday accumulator but it’s even harder settling on a Carabao Cup acca with most managers happy to make wholesale changes after just one or two competitive fixtures, to see which of their fringe players has a burning desire to be a first-team regular.
Stockport, Blackburn, Bristol City and Charlton should all prevail when the competition kicks-off tonight, however.
Tennis odds: Cincinnati Open
Clara Tauson is enjoying an upward curve as her career continues to head in the right direction and after beating Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys to reach the Canadian Open semi-finals.
The 22-year-old world No.19 from Denmark is worth an each-way dabble at 14/1 with Unibet and BetMGM when she plays in the Cincinnati Open.