Weekend Review: Faltering favourites on Saturday leave layers laughing

It was the bookmakers who were left smiling on Saturday night after a host of favourites came unstuck in the Premier League.

In the lunchtime encounter between London rivals West Ham (9/4) and Chelsea (5/4), both sides could only manage a 1-1 draw after Joao Felix slotted home in the 16^th minute for the visitors and Emerson later equalised for the Hammers.

The draw meant favourite-backers who included Chelsea in their bets saw their accas go up in smoke before the 3pm matches had even kicked off.

Meanwhile, league leaders Arsenal (1/2) were held 1-1 by Brentford at the Emirates and can count themselves unlucky due to a dreadful VAR decision that should have disallowed Ivan Toney’s headed tap-in.

The PGMOL have admitted that it was 'human error' which lead to VAR not fully investigating an offside call for Brentford's equaliser against Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/YrKRKaqggz

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 12, 2023

Tottenham (11/10) travelled to Leicester City (11/5) and would have been feeling confident of bagging all three points when Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur scored in the 14th minute.

However, Leicester put on a stunning display and capitalised on some awful Spurs defending to run out 4-1 winners with goals from Nampalys Mendy, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho and Harvey Barnes.

Two other odds-on chances, Brighton (10/11) and Newcastle (8/15), were both held to 1-1 draws against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, respectively, while Fulham (4/5) beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Craven Cottage.

Finally, Wolves (6/4) arguably put on the performance of the day, beating Southampton 2-1 on the south coast with an assured strike from Joao Gomes in the 87^th minute. A result which cost Saints boss Nathan Jones his job after just 14 games at the helm.

However, Wolves’ comeback from 1-0 down was all the more remarkable seeing as they had played for more than an hour with 10 men following the strange dismissal of Mario Lemina for dissent.

Ali Gill of Kindred Group commented: “The weekend started well as new look and expensively assembled Chelsea continued to struggle, only managing a draw against a West Ham team with their own struggles.

“Arsenal added nicely to our bottom line as well as their mini-blip continued with a draw against Brentford, which was well received in these parts, and Newcastle’s draw with Bournemouth was also a very layer friendly result.”

The following day, the results went the way of the odds-on backers with a 2-0 win for Manchester United (10/11) away to managerless Leeds United and Manchester City (2/7) ran out 3-1 winners at home to Aston Villa.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “I was at the Etihad to see beleaguered Manchester City recover a little of their equilibrium, on the pitch at least, on Sunday.

“Villa were swept aside, and title favouritism regained – it’s now 10/11 City, 11/10 Arsenal, 14/1 Manchester United and 100/1 bar the three. All roads lead to a summit meeting at the Emirates on Wednesday between master craftsman Pep Guardiola and gifted pupil Mikel Arteta.”

On balance, Gil described the weekend’s Premier League action as a “mixed bag” with “punters and layers both having some notable joy, although we just about came out ahead all told”.

Across the pond, the NFL season reached its conclusion at Super Bowl LVII at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

In what turned out to be an enthralling encounter, the Kansas City Chiefs (5/6) trailed the Philadelphia Eagles (evens) for most of the game and were 27-21 down heading into the fourth quarter.

However, touchdowns by Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore put Kansas ahead before the Eagles levelled the game.

A 26-yard run by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes left Harrison Butker to convert a game-winning field goal from the 27-yard line with just eight seconds remaining.

FOR. THE. LEAD. pic.twitter.com/Qqq8DefGx6

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 13, 2023

The final result was Chiefs 38, Eagles 35. “Super Bowl LVII was as thrilling surely as any of its 56 predecessors,” Firkins remarked.

“In a match no-one deserved to lose, Kansas City Chiefs came back from the brink to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 courtesy of a late, late field goal.

“In this golden Reid/Mahomes/Kelce era Kansas City always take a dreadful bite out of the ante-post book, but the Eagles were well-backed favourites on the day and looked for long periods as if that support would be rewarded.”

Meanwhile, Steve Freeth of bet365 summed up the mood in the Stoke-on-Trent-based bookmaker’s trading room.

“Both teams scoring at least 35 points for the first time in history was never going to end well for us and, so, we’ve taken a hammering – without doubt, our worst ever Super Bowl result by some margin,” he told EGR.

“Where do you start? Super boosts, bet builders, moneyline, both teams to score in every quarter, both teams to score 35+ and player to score three or more touchdowns were just some of the markets where we suffered the most.”

He added: “Travis Kelce to Score a touchdown anytime was super boosted from 4/5 to 6/4 and his legions of backers didn’t have long to wait, setting the tone for the night with a seven-figure pay-out in the first quarter.”

Finally, on the turf, 9/1 chance Aucunrisque stayed on well to take the Class 1 Betfair Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday ahead of 4/1 favourite Filey Bay.

Gil said: “No prizes for guessing who the traders were cheering on up the finish, but Aucunrisque wasn’t without his backers and, overall, we came out close to level pegging on that one.”

At Warwick, Jonbon put in an unconvincing performance to land the Virgin Bet Kingmaker despite going off at an unbackable 1/16 (opened 1/20).

The Nicky Henderson-trained seven-year-old faced off against just one opponent, Calcio (9/1), in the race, underlining once again, if it were needed, the worrying state of British jumps racing right now.