Daily Sports Betting Preview 7/21/2020: Premier League, Top Rank Boxing, Horse Racing

• Aston Villa are playing for their Premier League lives, and are 0.5 goal underdogs to Arsenal.
• Jayson Velez has +850 underdog odds against Oscar Valdez in tonight’s Top Rank main event.
• Parx Casino and Racing brings several races to the table today, and the Preview takes a look at head to head horse betting.

LAS VEGAS - Welcome to this Tuesday edition of the Daily Sports Betting Preview, which covers some of today’s best sports betting.

First, in the Premier League, while most of the intrigue has ended, Arsenal are set to take on Aston Villa in what is sure to be a compelling match.

Then, in the world of boxing, Jayson Velez is set to face off against Oscar Valdez in an intriguing bout late tonight.

Finally, the Preview takes a look at some horse racing matchups courtesy of Parx Casino and Racing.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

Premier League Betting

The Premier League has been won by Liverpool, and Manchester City are going to end up in second place.

However, there is still pride to play for, as well as avoiding relegation, and those are the stakes in this match.

Arsenal is sitting on 53 points, in tenth place in the league, and it seems highly unlikely that they manage to make a serious push for the top four, or even the Europa League spots.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, are currently 18th, and looking down the barrel of a potential relegation.

Villa are sitting on 31 points, and are three points behind 17th place Watford. They need to win this match and have Watford lose in order to tie them going into the next match day.

In other words, soccer bettors should know that this could be one of the most important matches Aston Villa play this season.

So, here’s the good news for Villa - this match does not seem unwinnable. In fact, when Villa are spotted 0.5 goals, they are actually favored to win.

That said, however, they are certainly not favored to win the match straight up. Arsenal are -105 favorites on the moneyline.

This is a relatively interesting place for the odds to be. The shading on the spread seems to imply that the odds of an Arsenal victory do not outweigh those of a Villa victory combined with the odds of a draw.

However, on the moneyline, the odds of an Arsenal victory do appear to outweigh a Villa victory and draw.

This is an interesting little quirk of the way these lines were set, and well worth paying attention to.

Boxing Betting

Tonight’s Top Rank boxing card on ESPN is headlined by the matchup of Oscar Valdez vs. Jayson Velez.

For Valdez, this is a chance to make sure he’s in tip-top shape going into a bout with the current WBC champion, Miguel Berchelt.

For Velez, this is a chance to take a bout from a fighter everyone expects to win.

The odds on this fight reflect the idea that everyone expects Valdez to win this one, significantly.

These are some notably lopsided odds, and while they are not the most lopsided odds to come out of the Top Rank cards since they restarted, they are some of the most lopsided main event odds in a bit.

When the Top Rank cards first reopened, there were a spate of fights with odds similar to (or more lopsided than) this one, and some notable outcry.

Since then, the fights have gotten closer on the odds board, and this fight represents something of a necessary evil - it should be a good one, but Valdez is very much expected to win.

Valdez is 27-0 in his career so far, and, as previously mentioned, is gearing up to take on Miguel Berchelt for the WBC Junior Heavyweight belt.

Velez is 29-6-1, but he’s coming into this fight hungry, and looking to make it happen.

The spectre of COVID-19 lingers over the fight as well, as seven of the first 12 main events that Top Rank put on ESPN had to be either canceled or changed due to the pandemic.

“I know they [are taking] precautions, too,” said Valez. “But until I’m in that ring, to me, I won’t believe the fight is happening. I’m crossing my fingers.”

So is every boxing bettor, Jayson.

Horse Race Betting Odds

It’s been a while since the horse races were covered in the Daily Sports Betting Preview, but today’s races from Parx Casino and Racing provide some interesting horse betting opportunities.

In the 10th and final race of the day, there is multiple head to head matchups worth looking at for horse racing bettors.

Head to head horse race betting is an interesting addition to the normal horse racing bets of Win/Place/Show, and a useful tool that bettors have access to at some of the online sportsbooks.

In this faceoff, both Too Much Johnnie and Val’s My Gal have -115 odds to beat each other. The vig on this bet is somewhat significant, as both are set at -115 instead of -110.

Silverzar is a -155 favorite over Snoopy’s Bid in this race’s head to head matchup. Snoopy’s Bid clocks in with +125 odds.

This race is set to happen at 3:01 p.m. EST, which means that bettors can get their horse racing bets in up until that time.

Happy Betting!