Mae Muller needs to beat the odds to win Eurovision 2023

UK entrant Mae Muller will need to beat the odds to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest - with the bookies backing Sweden's Loreen to claim victory for a second time.

Muller, 25, will perform I Wrote A Song at the final in Liverpool on Saturday, but is an outsider, according to the bookies.

Betfair has the UK at 66/1 to win the contest, while Ladbrokes has Muller at 40/1 - the 10th most likely act to take the Eurovision crown.

Alex Apati, of Ladbrokes, said:

"Mae Muller should look away now... her odds of finishing top of the Eurovision pile have taken a massive hit with just over 24 hours to go until the show gets under way."

Loreen, who won in 2012 with the song Euphoria, is competing again with power ballad Tattoo.

Ladbrokes has her at 1/2 to win, with Betfair putting Sweden as 4/9 favourites.

Finland, whose entrant Kaarija will perform Cha Cha Cha, is ranked as second favourite at 5/2 by both bookies.

Ukraine, which won with Stefania by Kalush Orchestra last year, is also tipped to do well, with odds of 12/1.

Twenty-six acts will perform at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool to an expected global audience of 160 million viewers, according to the BBC, after the UK agreed to host the contest on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.

Austria will open the show with Teya and Salena's quirky dance-pop tune Who The Hell Is Edgar?, about being possessed by the ghost of 19th century Gothic author Edgar Allan Poe.

Muller will close the show.

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