Avoid team having overturned favourites (8)
I believe the answer is:
sidestep
'avoid' is the definition.
(sidestepping is a kind of avoiding)
'team having overturned favourites' is the wordplay.
'team' becomes 'side' (I've seen this before).
'having' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'overturned' 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 "Dodge - circumvent" , "Shift to right or left" , "Dodge (an issue?)" , "Find a way round" , "To avoid" .)