Weekend Review: Liverpool do a Lazarus as Nunez nukes Newcastle

It was a Premier League weekend for the punters despite Arsenal dropping points at home to Fulham and West Ham beating Brighton on Saturday.

The weekend got off to a good start for the bettors after Chelsea dispatched Luton 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to shake off the early season cobwebs on Friday night.

Saturday lunchtime saw Spurs, rejuvenated by new manager Ange Postecoglou, brush past Bournemouth 2-0 on the south coast thanks to goals from James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.

The bookies could be forgiven for putting the champagne on ice just after 3pm, as Nottingham Forest rushed into a 2-0 lead away at Manchester United and Fulham went 1-0 up at the Emirates after less than a minute.

It wasn’t to be for Steve Cooper’s men as United came back to win 3-2 while Arsenal had jumped into a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah before Calvin Bassey saw red on his Fulham debut.

João Palhinha rescued a point for the Cottagers after a fine finish from a corner to leave an early dent in Arsenal’s title hopes.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “Spurs’ win at Bournemouth added to our woes before the 3pms, but it seemed to be turning with Forest winning at Old Trafford and Fulham going 1-0 up at the Emirates.

“We had already paid out on Steve Cooper’s side after four minutes thanks to our ‘2 Goals Ahead Early’ payout offer, so it was hardly a shock to see Manchester United fight back to claim all three points.

“The Gunners’ failure to beat Fulham was a crumb of comfort as it dented a number of Arsenal/United doubles,” he added.

Elsewhere, West Ham put in a counter-attacking masterclass to win 3-1 against Brighton on Saturday. Goals from James Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bown and Michail Antonio continued the Hammers’ unbeaten start to the season.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins remarked: “West Ham have started the campaign superbly and crushed many an acca by winning at Brighton, a big scalp these days given the pedigree of De Zerbi’s side. Jarrod Bowen’s touch and close control for his goal was top drawer.

“Fulham’s late equaliser at Arsenal was a massive bonus, and Brentford and Crystal Palace sharing the points was another decent outcome for the books. At 0-2 it looked like a shock was on the cards at Old Trafford, but Manchester United rallied to edge Nottingham Forest, who were left contemplating lodging a complaint about the standard of officiating.”

Sunday saw Manchester City scrape past Sheffield United 2-1, with Erling Haaland making amends for an earlier missed penalty to head in the opener. An equaliser from Jayden Bogle looked to have set the Blades for a famous draw before Rodri popped up with the winner.

Up in Newcastle, Darwin Nunez sealed the win for 10-man Liverpool with two goals in the last 10 minutes of the game. Newcastle had gone ahead via former Everton man Anthony Gordon before Virgil van Dijk saw red in the 28th minute.

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “A bank holiday weekend for the punters by some distance as we finished well behind on the Premier League action. City’s last gasp win over Sheffield United topped the turnover tables across the weekend and left us well in the red, but it was Liverpool’s shock win over Newcastle after a van Dijk red card which left us in the biggest hole of the match round and the weekend overall.

“Villa’s 3-1 win over Burnley was another one which lined punters pockets and added to the misery for the traders,” he added.

Freeth commented: “If we thought the Super Boost gods were with us when Erling Haaland missed that penalty at Bramall Lane then we were mistaken because up he popped to reward his Anytime backers (1/2 into Evens) just after the hour mark and I haven’t even mentioned worst result yet. 

“A 1-0 victory for Newcastle would’ve done us just fine, but no, Darwin Nunez decided to find his shooting boots and fire 50/1 Liverpool to an unlikely three points,” he bemoaned.

On the continent, Harry Kane continued his strong start to life in Germany with two goals in Bayern Munich’s 3-1 win over Augsburg. The Englishman is just 8/1 to score 40 or more this season, according to Freeth.

European heavyweights did the business across the board to help the punters power ahead, with wins for the likes of Real Madrid, PSG, AC Milan and Barcelona.

Real Madrid eked past Celta Vigo 1-0 thanks to yet another Jude Bellingham goal while Kylian Mbappe came back in from the cold to bang in twice at home to Lens.

Ex-Chelsea pair Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic were on the scoresheet for AC Milan in a 4-1 win over Torino while Barcelona ran out 4-3 winners away to Villarreal.

Freeth added: “A number of European heavyweights did the business over the weekend. The worst result was in Spain, take a bow Jude Bellingham, who once again found himself on the scoresheet with his late winner.”

Meanwhile in horseracing, Frankie Dettori landed two big wins at York, including Absurde in the Ebor, as he continued to please in his farewell year.

The 52-year-old overcame a wide draw to ride the Willie Mullins-trained runner to victory ahead of Sweet William and Live In The Dream.

The win for 7/1 Absurde brushed away a disappointing performance at the Galway Festival, finishing second to stablemate Vauban at Royal Ascot.

Dettori had earlier won the City of York Stakes on 9/4 favourite Kinross for Ralph Beckett.

Kindred Group’s Gill said: “Saturday saw the last day of the York Ebor Festival, with the Ebor itself taking centre stage. Very well-backed 5/2 favourite Sweet William couldn’t quite battle his way past eventual winner Absurde, who triumphed at 7/1. Overall, that was a good result for the book at the end of a very entertaining week of great racing.”

Betfred’s Firkins lauded Dettori’s performance up at York following his successful showing at the festival.

He said: “York’s sensational Ebor meeting concluded on Saturday with more evidence that the retiring Frankie Dettori is still, some 37 years after riding his first winner, one of the very best on the planet.

“Magnificent winning rides on Kinross and Absurde secured the day’s two features after earlier in the week landing the showpiece Juddmonte on Mostahdaf in the most audacious and outstanding manner. He may be 52 but remains at the very pinnacle of the sport,” he added.