Goals either side of half-time from skipper Jamaal Lascelles and midfielder Jonjo Shelvey saw Newcastle beat promotion rivals Brighton 2-0 at St James’ Park and BetVictor make Rafa Benitez’s side the new 1 / 2 favourites to achieve promotion and 6/4 from 15/8 to go up as champions.

The ease of Newcastle’s victory, against a side that were touted as one of their chief dangers to the title, shows just how far ahead they are of the chasing pack in the Championship and they should bounce back to the top-flight a solitary season after relegation.

The Magpies have strengthened their squad even further, signing striker Daryl Murphy and should be comfortable in their quest for the title; appealing at 16/1 to gain 100+ points and a perhaps over-priced 33/1 to break Reading’s record points haul from 2004.

Sunderland gained their first point of the new campaign holding Southampton to a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s and remain a 2/1 chance with BetVictor to be relegated.

There’s hope yet for Black Cats’ fans with Joe Hart rumoured to be considering a move to the Stadium of Light and backed into 5/1 from 25s with BetVictor to swap Manchester for the North-East before the close of the summer transfer window.

England’s number one looks certain to exit the Etihad with Pep Guardiola bringing in Carlos Brava from Barcelona for a reported £15million.

Should he snub a move to David Moyes’ side then he is likely to instead opt for a move to Italy and BetVictor have seen support for him to join the pair of Torino and Napoli; both 5/2 and 4s (from 16s) to sign for respectively before September 2nd.

For all the latest odds head to BetVictor.com - be lucky.