Weekend Review: Favourites dominate to leave punters counting their winnings

Favourites winning across the board in England and across the rest of Europe had punters celebrating over the weekend.

In the FA Cup semi-finals, Chelsea and Man City overcame Leeds and Southampton, respectively, to set up a final between the pair on 16 May.

Southampton looked set to cause an upset when they took the lead with 11 minutes to go, only for the Premier League giants to find the back of the net in the 82nd and 87th minute and secure their place in the final.

As for Chelsea, the Blues took the lead in the first half and never gave it up, with Leeds unable to trouble them throughout the course of the game.

In the Premier League, Liverpool (3/5) beat Crystal Palace 3-1 as they look to secure Champions League football and the relegation battle became tighter with both West Ham (3/2) and Tottenham (7/10) securing victories on Saturday.

Fulham’s (3/2) win over Aston Villa and Arsenal’s (2/5) 1-0 victory over Newcastle in Saturday’s evening kick-off meant favourites went five for five in the Premier League, much to the pain of operators.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “We’ve been on a decent run recently, but it all came crashing down this weekend with a number of blows both home and abroad.

“Manchester City fought back to beat Southampton in the FA Cup and Arsenal completed a favourites five-timer in the Premier League on Saturday.

“Chelsea’s victory over Leeds on Sunday added to the woes as bet365 customers celebrated on the accumulator front.

“At the other end of the table, Spurs and West Ham also kept their nerve to collect maximum points for favourite backers.

“Liverpool’s 3-1 win at home to Crystal Palace was another one for the accumulators, and Fulham also went off as favourites against Aston Villa to make it five from five in the Premier League.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins added: “The well-backed favourites duly won the two FA Cup semi-finals at the weekend and Chelsea will face Manchester City in the final.

“At the bottom of the Premier League, West Ham found a sensational added-time winner at home to Everton, winning 2-1, while Spurs staged their own late show at Molineux, beating Wolves 1-0 – their first league victory since December.”

West Ham and Spurs had drifted out to 9/1 and 9/4, respectively, said Midnite’s Alex Firth, as BOYLE Sports’ Brian O’Keeffe noted that the “relegation battle looks set to go to the wire”.

To pile further misery on bookmakers, Celtic (1/4) and Hearts (3/2) won in Scotland as they continue to battle it out for the title, but Motherwell’s (4/1) victory over Rangers helped give the bookies some reprieve.

Over in Germany, it looked like the layers would make up some ground after Mainz took a 3-0 lead against a rotated Bayern Munich (4/5), only for manager Vincent Kompany to bring on his trusted lieutenants at the break.

Four goals in 30 minutes from the Bavarians ensured the recently crowned champions have still only lost one league game all season.

Dortmund (2/5) secured a 4-0 win over Freiburg, with Barcelona (3/5) securing a 2-0 win on the road at Getafe and 10-men PSG (1/4) picking up a 3-0 victory away at Angers.

Summing up the lack of good fortune operators faced this weekend, Freeth said: “Our fate was sealed, with a predictable winning goal from the Ballon d’Or favourite Harry Kane completing a remarkable comeback as the champions won 4-3.”

At the races, bookmakers did find success at Sandown on Saturday thanks to favourites struggling to pick up wins as the Jumps season came to a close.

Across the eight races, Jingko Blue (5/6) was the only favourite to finish first past the post, winning by three lengths.

Leading from the off, Rubaud kept up with the Nicky Henderson-trained horse, only to fall away towards the end and finish in last place.

Both Solness (5/4) and Road to Home (4/1) finished third in the bet365 Celebration Chase and bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase, respectively.

Blow Your Wad (11/10) did one better in the bet365 Oaksey Chase, finishing second behind Doyen Quest (11/4) – as trainer Dan Skelton broke the £5m prize money barrier in the process.

Firkins said: “Winners were hard to come by for punters in Saturday’s jumping finale at Sandown. Relatively fast ground wasn’t ideal for many, and several withdrew completely because of it.

“The Betfred Guineas weekend at Newmarket is just days away and, while the 2000 on Saturday looks wide-open to me, Aidan O’Brien’s Starspangledbanner filly Precise (9/4) looks to hold all the cards in the 1000 Guineas the following day.”