Weekend Review: Sunday’s goal-fest falls in favour of punters

A truckload of goals across the Premier League on Sunday culminated in Man City (4/5) defeating Arsenal 2-1, capping off a bad day for bookmakers.

A goal apiece at half-time, City striker Erling Haaland found the winner midway through the second half to leave the Citizens three points behind the league leaders with a game in hand.

In Sunday’s earlier fixtures, Liverpool (5/4) left it late to win the first Merseyside Derby at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium 2-1, while Nottingham Forrest (1/2) came from behind to beat soon-to-be relegated Burnley 4-1.

In a back-and-forth game between Aston Villa (3/4) and Sunderland, the latter found the back of the net twice in two minutes to tie the game 3-3 with just minutes remaining – only for Villa to score in injury time and seal a 4-3 victory.

Though bookmakers saw some success on Saturday, with Manchester United (9/4) piling further misery on Chelsea with a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge and a goalless draw (11/4) between Brentford and Fulham in the early-kick off, customers came out on top over the course of the two days.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “A fabulous Sunday for punters with Manchester City completing a Premier League favourites’ four-fold as well as wrestling title favouritism from Arsenal with the 2-1 win at the Etihad.

“A Manchester City win, featuring three goals, both teams scoring, Erling Haaland and the in-form Rayan Cherki on the scoresheet provided a perfect ending to a fabulous day of football entertainment – unless you’re a bookmaker.          

“There were victories for Aston Villa, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the early kick-offs, with the added extra of a combined fifteen goals across the three matches.”

FDJ UNITED’s Ali Gill added: “No doubt a punters weekend in the Premier League as they filled their pockets with some backer-friendly results.

“A Man City win, both teams scoring and three big names on the scoresheet didn’t leave much at all for us to cheer about in the biggest game of the season, and players duly collected.

“While a 1-0 win for Man United away at Stamford Bridge went in our favour, a Liverpool win in the Merseyside derby, a Villa win in a seven-goal thriller over Sunderland and a Forest comeback against comeback against Burnley all left us in the red on a tough weekend.”

While England’s top-flight went the way of punters, Freeth said the operator “accrued solid returns” thanks to results in Europe.

Away wins for Augsburg (6/1) and Wolfsburg (11/5) against Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin, respectively, coupled with Real Sociedad beating Atlético Madrid on penalties after a 2-2 draw (11/4) to lift the Copa del Rey, left punters out of pocket.

PSG were downed 2-1 by Lyon (7/1) and saw their lead at the top fall to one point in another boost for the layers.

Freeth added: “The Parisians (1/3) lost at home to Lyon and, with Marseille also losing and Lille and Monaco both drawing, it was a solid set of results in Ligue 1.”

Gill noted: “In Europe, the Copa del Rey final ended in a draw, with Real Sociedad eventually beating Atlético Madrid on penalties, a result which left us nicely ahead.

“Bayern Munich clinched the Bundesliga with a 4-2 win over Stuttgart, a very player-friendly result.”

In horseracing, Kap Vert (20/1) won the Scottish Grand National, with favourite Kim Roque (4/1) finishing third and Git Maker (10/1) taking second.

In only his fifth run over fences, Kap Vert jumped well throughout to win by a length-and-a-half.

Four fences from home, then-leader Isaac Des Obeaux (17/2) jumped badly and left his legs trailing, allowing the winner to get in front and never look back – though Issac Des Obeaux did manage to finish strong and secure fourth.

Speaking to Racing TV in the aftermath of the race, joint-owner Johnson White stated there were “a lot of unknowns” heading into the race for Kap Vert.

He said: “The distance, the ground, going left-handed, but he’s ticked all the boxes with admirable credit and it’s opened up a lot of nice options for next season.”

Despite 16 horses starting the race at Ayr, only six finished.

Meanwhile, over in trials day at Newbury, there was another shock as Alparslan (9/1) won the Greenham Stakes.

Beating Zavateri (5/2) and Albert Einstein (9/4), Alparslan secured an all-the-way victory and now finds himself 20/1 in the 2,000 Guiness at Newmarket next month.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “The Scottish Grand National offered little joy for punters as Somerset raider Kap Vert took the £112,000 first prize under Sean Houlihan, for training combo Phillip Hobbs and Johnson White.

“Kim Roque rewarded strong each-way support in finishing a close-up third, but only six completed out of the 16 who started courtesy of the prevailing heavy ground.”

Midnite’s Jordan Willmott added: “The Scottish Grand National was the feature race this weekend, with an upset as Kap Vert took home the race for the Phillip Hobbs and Johnson White yard, with the favourite for Joseph O’Brien Kim Roque finishing third just under two lengths behind the eventual winner, but the winner did enough to prevail all challengers despite the margin of victory being reduced late on.”