Weekend Review: Magic Maguire and agony Ange mark Premier League return

Manchester United heaped further misery on Liverpool on Sunday, as punters were dealt a blow after a successful Saturday following the Premier League’s return.

Ruben Amorim’s men won 2-1 at Anfield to hand Liverpool their fourth consecutive defeat, with goals from Harry Maguire and Bryan Mbeumo doing the damage.

Sunday also saw Aston Villa come from behind to win 2-1 at Spurs, with a wondergoal from Emi Buendía moving the Midlands side up to 11th in another positive result for the bookies.

Saturday was far more successful for the punters with wins for Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea making for a routine set of results.

City, via two Erling Haaland goals, beat Everton 2-0, while Chelsea thumped Nottingham Forest 3-0, a result which saw Ange Postecoglou losing his job.

Arsenal sit top of the table after their 1-0 win at Fulham and are now odds-on favourites for the title.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “Bet365 customers enjoyed a strong start to the Premier League’s return on Saturday with the three stand-out favourites securing victories.

“However, we saw a shift on Sunday as both Aston Villa and Manchester United upset the odds against Tottenham and Liverpool, respectively.

“On Sunday, 16/5 Manchester United didn’t go unbacked at Anfield having opened at 11/2, but 2-1 away wins for both the Red Devils and Aston Villa provided us with a strong ending to the weekend in the English top flight.

“Liverpool are now out to 4/1 to win the title with Arsenal leading the way at 4/5 and Manchester City into 10/3.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins added: “Prolific Norwegian Erling Haaland scored his 10th and 11th league goals of a red-hot personal season in City’s 2-0 Etihad victory against Everton, while Villa’s 2-1 win at Tottenham kicked off the Sunday underdog double.”

FDJ United’s Ali Gill noted: “A mixed bag in the Premier League, with results for both backers and layers to cheer. The weekend started out poorly from our side with Chelsea easing Forest aside to leave punters nicely ahead, whilst Man City’s comfortable win over Everton didn’t help either.

“But, we rounded off with a great result  for the book with a bit of a shock result at Anfield, where a United win clawed a huge chunk back and saw Premier League results finish just about ahead.”

Up in Scotland, the city of Dundee had cause to celebrate as Dundee United held Rangers to a 2-2 draw and Dundee beat Celtic 2-0.

The results mean Hearts are five points clear of the Bhoys in the Scottish Premier League.

Freeth added: “Scotland was favourable for us with 2/5 Rangers drawing at home to Dundee United and 2/11 Celtic losing at Dundee. No such problems for 4/5 Hearts who won at Kilmarnock and were cut from 5/1 into 5/2 for their first title since 1960.”

On the continent, Barcelona and Real Madrid left it late in La Liga, while Bayern Munich won 2-1 in Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund.

Barcelona beat Catalan rivals Girona thanks to a 93^rd-minute winner from Ronald Araújo and Kylian Mbappé scored in the 80^th minute as Los Blancos edged past fellow Madrid side Getafe.

Freeth noted: “For a long time it seemed we would see 1/5 Barcelona chinned at home to Girona until defender Ronald Araújo came on to play up front and scored a 93rd minute winner.  Likewise at Getafe, 4/9 Real Madrid also left it late with Kylian Mbappe bagging an 80^th minute winner to set up a mouthwatering El Clásico clash next weekend.”

In horseracing, 200/1 shot Powerful Glory won the Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot, beating 2/1 favourite Lazzat into second. With the shock victory, the Richard Fahey-trained horse became the longest-priced winner of a top-level British Group One race.

Cicero’s Gift, who went off at 100/1, emerged victorious in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in another unexpected win.

Midnite’s senior trader Alex Firth said: “We saw the biggest priced UK Group 1 winner ever as Powerful Glory beat favourite Lazzat by a neck in the Champions Sprint Stakes. If that result didn’t make the day hard enough for punters, Cicero’s Gift won the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes two races later at 100/1.”

Firkins added: “Ascot’s Champions Day didn’t disappoint in terms of drama, with 200/1 shot Powerful Glory helping to detonate a stack of multiples. Calandagan was arguably the standout of the whole day performance-wise in emphatically taking a stellar Champion Stakes by 2.25 lengths at 15/8.

“Incredibly, the Queen Elizabeth II went to a ‘mere’ 100/1 chance, Cicero’s Gift, while punters had some comfort with favourite successes for Trawlerman and Kalpana.”