Thanks to their heavy investment, even newly-promoted Sunderland could be potential winners of the Season Handicap at a +52-point advantage.
| 2025/26 Premier League Season Handicap Market | Odds |
|---|---|
| Chelsea (+12 points) | 12/1 |
| Tottenham (+22 points) | 15/1 |
| Brighton (+27 points) | 15/1 |
| Sunderland (+52 points) | 15/1 |
Odds courtesy of bet365. Correct at time of publishing and subject to change.
How to bet on the Premier League’s Season Handicap market
The Premier League Season Handicap market is one of the best betting options if you are looking for a level playing field in the outright markets.
Rather than backing the obvious Premier League title contenders like Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester City, every team in the division receives a handicap point total at the start of the campaign.
These extra points are added to each team’s final total at the end of the season. The handicap points are set based on how strong or weak each team is perceived to be.
The team with the highest adjusted total is crowned the Season Handicap winner.
Last term, Nottingham Forest ran away with the Season Handicap title, finishing 14 points clear of their nearest challengers, Brentford. Forest had a +47 points handicap, which, added to their 65 points total – saw them rack up 112 handicap points.
Few expected Nuno Espirito Santo’s men to push for Champions League qualification. This shows that the Season Handicap market is all about finding undervalued teams that could have a big year next season.
Running the rule over the main contenders for the 25/26 Season Handicap
Looking from the top of the market down, Chelsea are the first team to catch the eye in the Season Handicap market.
The 2025 Club World Cup and Conference League winners have had a great year so far. Enzo Maresca appears to be succeeding in moulding a young, new-look squad. The spending hasn’t stopped this summer either, as Liam Delap and Joao Pedro have been added to the Blues’ forward line.
Chelsea finished 15 points behind Liverpool last season, and they are given a +12 head start this season. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that they will finish closer to the Reds in 2025/26, who remain the team to beat.
Tottenham landed their first major European trophy in 1984 by winning the Europa League against Manchester United. They still proceeded to fire Ange Postecoglu, with the Australian paying the price for a dire 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
Spurs moved quickly to secure the services of Brentford head coach, Thomas Frank, who has brought most of his backroom staff with him to north London. Spurs’ owner, Daniel Levy, has opened the chequebook this summer with the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso joining.
The signing of Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest is still up in the air, but it signals Tottenham’s strong ambitions. Balancing the demands of the Champions League and the Premier League won’t be easy, but if Spurs can rack up 60+ points in 25/26, they could be serious Season Handicap challengers.
Brighton & Hove Albion have become a model for many mid-table Premier League clubs these days. The Seagulls’ recruitment department is widely admired, and they continue to punch well above their weight.
Albion finished eighth in the 2024/25 Premier League table, 23 points behind champions Liverpool. For some reason, Brighton’s handicap has been extended to +27 in 2025/26, which feels like an error on the bookies’ behalf.
Fabian Hurzeler has continued to invest in his squad for the coming season too, with promising talents like Charalampos Kostoulas, Tom Watson, Diego Coppola and Maxim De Cuyper adding to a very young and hungry roster.
Brighton don’t have the burden of playing European football this season either, so they can focus their efforts solely on pushing towards the top six.
Finally, newly-promoted Sunderland were initially expected to be the whipping boys of the Premier League this season, but their owners have had other ideas.
The Black Cats have forked out over £100m in players already, recruiting Habib Diarra, Simon Adingra, Enzo Le Fee, Noah Sadiki and Chemsdine Talbi. The Wearside club have clearly opted to bring in quick, physical athletes to try and compete.
New reports indicate Sunderland have also offered a contract to former Arsenal midfielder, Granit Xhaka, attempting to lure him from Bayer Leverkusen.
If they continue to recruit high-calibre players, Sunderland could make a mockery of the +52 Season Handicap total applied to them.
They’d only need 33 points to finish above Liverpool’s 84-point haul last season, which makes them the dark horses in the Season Handicap market.