English Premier League Best Bets: Matchweek 35 (May 2, 2025

Welcome to English Premier League Soccer Best Bets, where we break down the latest action in the English Premier League (EPL) and my favorite bets for the upcoming matches, providing quality content that is accessible to new fans and engaging to old and new fans alike.

For an overview of what to expect in this Bettor in Green Article Series, check out my EPL Season Preview and Futures article here.

Recap:

This weekend was a decisive one in the Premier League, as Liverpool officially celebrated winning the Premier League following their win against Tottenham.

Unlike American sports, there is no playoff system in the EPL. Each club plays all 19 other clubs twice, home and away, and the winner is determined by the best record across the total season. Sometimes it comes down to the final day, and sometimes you crown a champion while there are matches still remaining.

The weekend was also decisive for the relegation battle. The bottom 3 clubs in the EPL drop down to the second tier, while 3 clubs from the second tier get promoted to the EPL for the next season. With Ipswich’s loss, they are confirmed as the final team to be relegated, joining Southampton and Leicester City.

While we know who are Champions and who are going down, there is still much left to be decided regarding European qualification for next season, something I’ve been discussing recently in this series.

With the top 5 spots earning a Champions League place, and Europa League / Conference League spots that could end up with places 6-8, the race to get into Europe is tight!

Nottingham Forest drops them from 4th to 6th, as Newcastle and Chelsea picked up wins last weekend. With 4 matches remaining, it’s still anyone’s race!

Our Best Bets went 2-1, winning our player prop and on Fulham, thanks to a late comeback. Bournemouth again let us down, as they seemed set to win the match before a 70th-minute red card and 90+6th minute goal, ending 1-1.

Across the Globe we went 3-2, winning with Lyon, Coritiba, and Como.

Upcoming Matches:

This weekend kicks off on Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST as Manchester City host Wolves.

We have 4 matches on Saturday across 3 match windows, then 4 matches Sunday across 2 windows, with the marquee match being Chelsea hosting Liverpool.

We have one match on Monday, as Crystal Palace host Nottingham Forest.

Let’s get to the bets:

Best Bets:

Pick #1: Manchester City -1.5 +100 (May 2, 2025; 3:00 p.m. EST):

For this first Best Bet, I’m betting against Wolves, a club I backed in my last article.

Wolves have been flying high, having won their last 6 matches, officially clinching safety from relegation and climbing from 17th to 13th in the table.

While Wolves have turned it on as of late, they really have little left for which to play. Manchester City, on the other hand, are locked into a tough battle for a top 5 spot.

Manchester City under Pep Guardiola always seem to excel in the final weeks of the season, picking up vital points in the run-in.

They’re unbeaten in 8 matches in all competitions and have scored 2 or more goals in all but one of those matches. They’ve covered a 1.5 goal spread in only 4 of those 8, but 3 have come within the last 4 matches.

While Wolves have been hot, I expect City to keep with their tradition of a late-season push and should control the match at home, especially given the form of De Bruyne and Kovačić.

Pick #2: Aston Villa Moneyline -130 (May 3, 2025; 7:30 a.m. EST):

For my next bet, I’m backing another hopeful for a Champions League place, Aston Villa.

Aston Villa currently sit in 7th, on the outside looking in. Villa have had a great run of results overall, but have crashed out of the Champions League and FA Cup in a disappointing fashion.

In their last 20 matches, Villa are 13-2-5. Of those 5 losses, one was away to PSG in the Champions League, where they won the return-leg at home, just lost on aggregate score.

Fulham have slipped in form as of late, but pulled off a comeback win against Southampton last week. They now sit in 8th, which could be good enough for a Conference League spot, depending on a few other results.

While both sides will be fighting for a European place, Aston Villa have impressed me with the work they did in the Champions League and during this EPL campaign. I expected the pace of competition to catch up with them, but they brought in solid reinforcements in January. They had a taste of Champions League glory this campaign and will be hungry to secure a place for next season’s competition.

Pick #3: Brentford Moneyline -145 (May 4, 2025; 9:00 a.m. EST):

For my final bet, I’m backing Brentford to get a win at home against Manchester United.

Brentford are coming off two big wins, a 4-2 win against Brighton, then a 0-2 win at Nottingham Forest. Their two matches before that were draws with Chelsea and Arsenal.

A large part of this logic is to continue fading their opponents, Manchester United.

United played a Europa League semifinal on Thursday in Bilbao, then will host Athletic Club this coming Thursday.

United have been terrible in the EPL this season and are placing all their hope into winning the Europa League. United’s manager, Ruben Amorim, stated recently that they’ll be “playing kids” in the EPL, focusing instead on the Europa League.

United have only won 2 of their last 10 EPL matches and are clearly focusing on salvaging their season with the Europa League. I expect Brentford to jump at this opportunity and get the win.