There's been lots of talk this week about Leicester City's status as Stan James's new 9/4 favourites to win the Premier League after they began their campaign as 5,000/1 shots.

Dramatic changes in price are rare and while 5,000/1 is nowhere to be seen amongst bookmakers' odds when Sunderland welcome Manchester United to the Stadium of Light this lunchtime, (the Black Cats are bet365's 9/2 underdogs; the visitors 4/5 according to BetVictor.com), other markets offer punters an opportunity to bank a profit.

Backing the draw (11/4, Skybet) as a form of insurance and supplementing this with a selection of correct scores could pay dividends. A goalless outcome appears unlikely, but a backing a 2-2 draw, at 16/1 by Winner.com, is not the action of a desperate gambler chasing outrageous odds – look at what happened at Anfield last weekend.

Supporting results either side of this effectively hedges the bet, with the most obvious being a 1-1 outcome, 13/2 by Paddy Power. A 2-1 home win (19/2, Ladbrokes) is not out of the question, although nor is a 2-1 away victory (8/1, William Hill).

Chelsea have endured a poor campaign, although it's no surprise to see them quoted at 4/7 with Betfred to beat Newcastle. Steve McClaren's men, Stan James's underdogs, have proved recently that they can scrap when they need to and their efforts against West Brom last weekend, which resulted in them hoisting themselves out of the relegation zone, suggests that, at 7/1, they're a tad overpriced.

The pair drew 2-2 earlier in the season and there's little doubt that it'll be similarly tight today, Coral post 7/2 against the draw. Indeed, the 11/2 offered by Stan James for the game to be level at 45 and at 90 minutes has attracted significant support, as has the 13/2 available at bet365 for the honours to be shared in a 1-1 draw.

Hartlepool have an opportunity to distance themselves from the drop zone when they welcome Yeovil. The home side open as bet365's 8/5 jollies, with the Glovers offered at 15/8 by BetVictor.com in a fixture likely to be short on goals. Punters who concur can get 13/2 (Stan James) against Pools winning 1-0, while Skybet post 10/3 against them enjoying a one-goal margin of victory.

Middlesbrough head to Leeds on Monday as Cora's 11/10 favourites. Leeds, close to the drop zone, start as Betfred's 13/5 underdogs. Boro have games in hand on all of the teams around them, but they'll want to return with at least one more to add to their total. Ladbrokes offer the draw at 13/5, while a 1-1 result is priced at 6/1 by Winner.com.

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