ARSENAL are the third most backed Premier League team to get relegated this season.
Mikel Arteta’s men got off to a poor start, losing their Premier League opener 2-0 against league newcomers Brentford.
A first half strike from Sergi Canos and a header from Christian Norgaard sealed a historic win for the Bees.
After the defeat, boss Mikel Arteta said: “I’m disappointed. It’s not the way we wanted to start the season.
“We didn’t start well, conceding a goal in an isolated incident. We didn’t cope well with the second balls or long balls.
“And that’s all they needed to create problems for us.
“Then we conceded from a long throw.
“The biggest worry was our threat in front of goal.
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“The amount of times we got around the box and got in great situations but it wasn’t enough threat or shots on target.
“If you don’t do that in the Premier League then you won’t win.”
And according to Ladbrokes, the Gunners have seen their relegation odds slashed from 50/1 to 25/1.
A whopping 9.2 per cent of Premier League relegation bets placed were on Arsenal.
I’m disappointed. It’s not the way we wanted to start the season.
Mikel Arteta
Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: “Arsenal are more likely to go down than win this year’s Premier League, and this season punters are seemingly more than convinced Mikel Arteta’s men have a relegation scrap on their hands.”
The only two teams backed higher to drop into the Championship were Crystal Palace (11.6 per cent) and Southampton (12.2 per cent).
League newcomers Brentford and Norwich find themselves in the top-ten most backed teams to go down on 8.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively.
Surprisingly, Watford who have also got promoted alongside Norwich and Brentford, are not inside the top ten most backed to go down.
Leeds United were praised for their free-flowing attacking football last season.
But a crushing 5-1 opening day defeat at Old Trafford to long-time rivals Manchester United has seen Marcelo Bielsa’s men be backed by 5.6 per cent of relegation bets to go down.
Wolves (8.1 per cent), Brighton (8 per cent), Newcastle (8 per cent) and Burnley (4.7 per cent) also find themselves inside the top ten.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk