Weekend Review: Ballard of the Black Cats breaks Arsenal’s defensive harmony 

Sunderland held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light on Saturday night to slow the Gunners’ momentum in the early stages of the title race and give the bookies a major boost.

Goals from former Arsenal youth player Dan Ballard and a stoppage time Brian Brobbey equaliser cancelled out strikes from Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.  

Manchester City (17/20) were able to capitalise on Sunday, handily beating Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad.  

Despite missing an early penalty, Erling Haaland found himself on the scoresheet, with goals from Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku cutting the gap on Arsenal to four points.

Spurs and Manchester United played out a 2-2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a stoppage time Matthijs de Ligt header rescuing a point for Ruben Amorim’s side.  

West Ham (17/20) made it back-to-back wins with a 3-2 victory at home to Burnley, while Everton (13/10) returned to winning ways with a 2-0 triumph against Fulham at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.  

Chelsea (9/25) ended the weekend in third after a 3-0 win against managerless Wolves, while Nottingham Forest (6/5) secured their first Premier League victory under Sean Dyche with a 3-1 win at home to Leeds.

Aston Villa (13/10) and Brentford (9/5) enjoyed dominant home wins on Sunday, with 4-0 and 3-1 victories against Bournemouth and Newcastle, respectively.  

The only scoreless game of the weekend was between Crystal Palace and Brighton.  

FDJ UNITED’s Ali Gill explained why it was a positive weekend of results for the operator.  

He said: “A strong weekend of results in the Premier League as results overall went our way, and punters would have had to do some digging to find an acca that landed.

“No surprise Sunderland’s last-gasp draw with Arsenal was the best result of the round, while Liverpool staying off the scoresheet in their 3-0 loss to City meant we came out nicely ahead in that game.  

“West Ham beating Burnley and Forest beating Leeds went the way of the punters, but other than that not a whole lot for them to cheer about.” 

Bet365’s Steve Freeth elaborated on how the results affected the early odds for the Premier League title.  

He added: “Sunderland’s late fightback against Arsenal not only contributed to a winning weekend for bet365 but also suggested we could yet have a title race on our hands. 

“Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game as a manager saw City secure a comprehensive win over Liverpool and, although it was a small loser for us, we gained enough from draws involving 4/9 Arsenal and 7/5 Manchester United, plus marginal gains from dropped points from both 7/5 Crystal Palace and 27/20 Newcastle United.

“In the outright betting, Arsenal have been eased to 8/13 with Manchester City into 9/4 and struggling Liverpool out to 10/1 to retain their crown.

“Nuno Espírito Santo knows a thing or two about winning a ‘manager of the month’ award and the new West Ham manager is 10/1 from 33/1 to land the eighth of his career after guiding the Hammers to their second win in November.” 

At the other end of the table, BOYLE Sport’s Brian O’Keefe shed light on how relegation odds are currently looking. 

He said: “After sacking Vítor Pereira last week, Wolves still remain winless and are now into 1/8 to be relegated this season. Nottingham Forest picked up a crucial three points against fellow relegation contenders Leeds United and have drifted out to 11/4 to go down, with Leeds shortening into 13/8 to return back to the Championship.” 

Freeth added that bet365’s Sub On Play On promotion proved fruitful for punters across the weekend.  

He continued: “In the Spurs versus Manchester United game, substitute Mathys Tel scored and both Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert provided assists from the bench having replaced Xavi Simons, Pedro Porro and Kolo Muani, respectively. 

“Backers of Crysencio Summerville were paid out after his replacement Kyle Walker-Peters scored. Similarly, backers of Freddie Potts after Tomáš Souček hit the back of the net and we finished Saturday night with Brian Brobbey scoring having come on for Wilson Isidor. 

“We paid out on John McGinn, Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara in a number of markets despite being substituted as their replacements, Ross Barkley, Youri Tielemans and Donyell Malen contributed with either a goal or assist.” 

Across Europe, Real Madrid (1/ 2) were held to a 0-0 draw away at Rayo Vallecano.  

Barcelona (7/10) responded later in the evening with a 4-2 win away to Celta Vigo, with a Robert Lewandowski hat-trick helping to cut the gap on their El Clásico rivals to three points. Atlético Madrid (1/5) also ran out 3-1 winners at home to Levante.

In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich’s (1/5) perfect start to the season was halted by a 2-2 draw away at Union Berlin, with Harry Kane rescuing a point for the Bavarians in stoppage time. 

Borussia Dortmund (17/20) were held to a 1-1 draw away at Hamburg, while Bayer Leverkusen (9/25) thrashed Heidenheim 6-0 at home. 

In Italy, Inter (3/10) returned to the top of the Serie A table with a 2-0 win over Lazio at the San Siro.  

Napoli (7/4) succumbed to a 2-0 defeat away at Bologna, while Juventus and AC Milan were held to draws at home to Torino and away to Parma, respectively. 

Regarding the results on the continent, Freeth said: “We were coasting in Europe going into the late Sunday matches, but things can change very quickly in this game and that’s what happened. 

“Barcelona (8/11) won 4-2 at Celta Vigo with 14/1 Robert Lewandowski helping himself to a hat-trick, one assisted by Marcus Rashford and the other goal scored by Lamine Yamal with several cards being shown.  

“Over in Ligue 1, we had more of the same with João Neves scoring an injury-time winner for PSG (4/7) in a 3-2 victory over Lyon, with referee Benoît Bastien getting into the Christmas spirit nice and early by producing more cards than Clintons.  

“Serie A was less eventful with Inter (3/10) moving to the top of the league, but a 5/2 favourites treble with goals and cards was a nice way for punters to end the weekend.”

Gill added: “In La Liga, Madrid handed us the best result of the whole weekend with a 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano, and also our worst result of the weekend with a goal fest as Barcelona beat Celta Vigo 4-2 on Sunday. Serie A saw Juve also held to a 0-0 draw at home to Torino for another result cheered loudly in the trading room.”

In horseracing, Gustavian (11/2) romped home in the Badger Beers Handicap Chase at Wincanton, beating out Scarface (4/1) and Credo (14/1).

In the BetMGM Elite Hurdle, 1/8 favourite Rubaud took home first place ahead of Hamlet’s Night (8/1) and Tax For Max (20/1).  

At Doncaster, 10/11 favourite Danielle won the Irish EBF Gillies Fillies’ Stakes, beating Elwateen (8/1) and Bosphorus Rose (28/1).  

Jordan Wilmott, sportsbook experience manager at Midnite, said: “Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden managed a double at Wincanton on Saturday with Blueking d’Oroux and Rubaud winning the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novices’ Chase and the Elite Hurdle, but not without a sweat on.  

“The 1/8 favourite Rubaud was headed before the last but eventual second Hamlet’s Knight took an awful leap at the last, handing back a big chance to Rubaud who obliged by getting back up by a neck.  

“Colonel Harry (6/1) took the Grand Sefton at Aintree over The Grand National fences, into the places at the last before powering home and staying on at the elbow to take the race by two lengths. 

Looking ahead, Betfred’s Alan Firkins added: “The jumps season stretches its legs significantly at the end of the week with a three-day meeting at Cheltenham bursting with quality.  

“Trials for the big one in March can prove most informative, and champion jockey Sean Bowen will doubtless once again look to extend his current golden run – 129 winners so far this season, as I write, and if avoiding mishaps could be posting a huge total come April time.”