Avoid team backing favourites (8)
I believe the answer is:
sidestep
'avoid' is the definition.
(sidestepping is a kind of avoiding)
'team backing favourites' is the wordplay.
'team' becomes 'side' (I've seen this before).
'backing' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'favourites' becomes 'pets' ('pet' can be a synonym of 'favourite').
'pets' back-to-front is 'step'.
'side'+'step'='SIDESTEP'
(Other definitions for sidestep that I've seen before include "Shift to right or left" , "Dodge - circumvent" , "Dodge (an issue?)" , "Find a way round" , "To avoid" .)