Weekend Review: England remain on track with underwhelming Villa Park win 

England continued their 100% start to World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 win over Andorra at Villa Park, though the Three Lions didn’t look like 1/100 favourites at times.

An own goal and a second-half Declan Rice header were enough for Thomas Tuchel’s side to secure all three points in a laboured win over a side ranked 174^th by FIFA.  

Meanwhile, Wales (3/5) ran out 1-0 winners away to Kazakhstan, while Scotland earned a credible 0-0 against Denmark.  

Germany (1/5) won 3-1 at home to Northern Ireland to round out the results for the home nations.  

A last-minute Adam Idah equaliser secured a comeback draw for the Republic of Ireland against Hungary, in a match which saw both sides go down to 10 men.  

Elsewhere during the international break, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to extend his all-time international goalscoring record as Portugal (1/10) thrashed Armenia 5-0.  

Arsenal’s Mikel Merino bagged a hat-trick as Spain (1/2) strolled to a 6-0 victory over Turkey away from home. 

Jordan Willmott, sportsbook experience manager at Midnite, shed some light on how the latest round of results affected the betting odds for next year’s World Cup. 

He said: “England underwhelmed in the World Cup qualifiers beating Andorra at Villa Park 2-0 in which an own goal and a Declan Rice header which continued their 100% record after four games so far and look to follow that up in Serbia on Tuesday with the Three Lions 7/1 to win the World Cup next year. 

“Spain look like the most dominant force in Europe currently winning 6-0 away at Turkey […] they are now 9/2 for the World Cup as they push to follow up their Euro 2024 success.” 

In Formula 1, Max Verstappen (2/1) raced to victory in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, with the Dutchman finishing ahead of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.  

Despite spending much of the race in second place, Piastri was ordered by his McLaren team to let Norris pass him into second place. 

Lawrence Lyons, spokesperson for Boyle Sports, explained how Verstappen’s championship odds have shortened after the weekend’s race. 

He said: “The Dutchman’s championship chances have increased slightly, into 50/1 from 66/1, although he will need a remarkable finish to the season to win a fifth title.  

“The championship race is hotting up between McLaren’s two drivers as Oscar Piastri, who followed team orders and allowed his championship contender teammate Lando Norris to pass him, remains the favourite at 1/4. Norris was second on the podium and is now 11/4 to win a maiden world title, out from 5/2 before the weekend.” 

In tennis, Carlos Alcaraz (11/10) put on a dominant display to emerge victorious against odds-on favourite Jannik Sinner in the final of the US Open on Sunday.

The Spaniard took the match in four sets (6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4) in the latest installment of the rivalry between the sport’s top two ranked players.

On the turf, 16/1-shot Big Mojo, trained by Michael Appleby and ridden by William Buick, provided a surprise result the 17-runner Sprint Cup at Haydock ahead of Kind of Blue (12/1) and Flora of Bermuda (22/1).  

Heavily backed Lazzat went off the even-money favourite yet finished out of the places in the six-furlong Group 1.

Willmott added: “Lazzat was incredibly well backed to take the Sprint Cup at Haydock this weekend, into evens from around 7/4 when prices went out for the market but could only manage fifth. Leading from the early stages, he was off the bridle early and didn’t seem to love the track.  

“Away from Haydock, the Arc favourite Kalpana was the short-priced favourite from the September Stakes but after travelling upsides to eventual winner Giavellotto drifted left and didn’t seem to find under pressure as Oisin Murphy kicked again on the front runner to beat the 1/2 favourite by a length and a half.” 

Betfred’s Alan Firkins spoke of the anticipation of the upcoming Betfred St Leger Festival.  

He said: “All roads lead to the Betfred St Leger Festival at Doncaster this week, and the world’s oldest Classic sees Aidan O’Brien’s Scandinavia as the very warm 11/10 favourite.

“He took the G1 Goodwood Cup over two miles last time, so his stamina looks assured for this historic one-mile six-furlong test on Town Moor. With a host of fabulous supporting races it looks set fair to be quite a weekend.”