Wolves face daunting start to 2023-24 Premier League season after Julen Lopetegui exit

Wolves are the big movers in the Premier League relegation betting after the departure of manager Julen Lopetegui less than a week before Monday's opening fixture at Manchester United.

Having started the summer at 11-2 for the drop, Wolves have been cut to 23-10 following the sale of captain Ruben Neves to Al-Hilal and the exit of Lopetegui. Backers of the former Spain and Real Madrid boss to be the first Premier League manager to leave his job can collect their winnings – he was a 13-8 market leader when the Racing Post's Big Kick-Off season preview was published on July 31.

Gary O'Neil, who steered Bournemouth to top-flight safety in 2022-23, has been confirmed as Lopetegui's successor but a daunting set of early-season fixtures means Wolves may well be trading even shorter for relegation by October's international break.

O'Neil will not shy away from the challenge – last August he inherited a Cherries side who had been thumped 9-0 at Liverpool in their previous outing – and, after Monday's trip to Old Trafford, Wolves welcome some top-class opponents to Molineux.

Their home fixtures before the international break are against four of last season's top seven - Brighton, Liverpool, champions Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Newcastle's rise means the big six is an outdated concept in the Premier League and the most obvious cut-off point this season is between the projected top nine and bottom 11 clubs. 

City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham, Villa and Brighton are the top nine in spread-betting firms' season-points lists and the Seagulls are expected to finish at least ten points clear of their closest pursuers Brentford and West Ham.

The other 11 clubs are priced up at 10-1 or shorter for relegation, from the Bees down to odds-on shots Luton and Sheffield United, and Wolves, like Bournemouth, West Ham and Liverpool, face five of the projected top nine in their first eight fixtures of the season.

Last term's Championship winners Burnley are respected by the layers, chalked up at 7-2 for the drop, but Vincent Kompany's men have the most difficult start according to Racing Post football expert Simon Giles's analysis.

The Clarets kick off the season on Friday at home to champions Manchester City, who hammered them 6-0 in last term's FA Cup quarter-final, and five of their first seven games are against teams in the 'big seven' – City, Tottenham, Manchester United, Newcastle and Chelsea.

An early trip to relegation favourites Luton, which might have offered some respite for Burnley, has been postponed and they also face big-spending Villa on August 27. One positive for Kompany's side is that five of their six games against the big nine are at home and they lost only one of their 23 Championship matches at Turf Moor last season.

Table above lists Premier League teams ranked by toughest first eight fixtures of the season. Difficulty of fixtures is based on opponents’ projected season points tally and finishing position, taken from average of spread firms’ points markets for each team faced. 

Columns three to eight show the number of matches each team face against big seven etc.

Big seven teams: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham.

Top nine: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham, Villa, Brighton.

Bottom 11: Brentford, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Fulham, Everton, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Sheffield United, Luton.

At the other end of the table in terms of early-season schedule difficulty are two teams who endured miserable 2022-23 campaigns - Chelsea and Everton.

Chelsea start life under Mauricio Pochettino at home to Liverpool on Sunday but that is their only fixture against another big-seven side before the international break. 

They will need to take advantage of that run of games, however, as they return to action on October 21 with a testing sequence of fixtures against Arsenal, Brentford, Spurs, Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton and Manchester United.

Everton's first eight opponents include five teams priced up at 7-2 or shorter for relegation, including new boys Luton and Sheffield United. The Toffees, who needed a final-day win over the Cherries to avoid the drop last season, are 3-1 to go down but their opening assignments should offer Sean Dyche and his squad some encouragement.

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