Weekend Review: Arsenal head into Christmas top of the Premier League

Manchester City’s (1/5) 3-0 win over West Ham United (9/1) moved them to the top of the Premier League for a few hours, returning to second by the close of play on Saturday as Arsenal (1/5) secured a slender 1-0 win over Everton (9/1).

Erling Haaland continued his fine form with a brace, either side of a Tijjani Reijnders strike.

The three points temporarily saw Pep Guardiola’s side overtake Arsenal, but a Viktor Gyökeres penalty away from home returned the Gunners to the summit and ensured that Arsenal sit atop the Premier League table on Christmas Day.

Liverpool (1/1) made difficult work of nine-man Tottenham Hotspur (5/2), winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak – who suffered an injury in the process.

Saturday’s early kick-off saw Newcastle (7/4) take an early two-goal lead through a Nick Woltemade brace, only for Reece James and João Pedro to pull Chelsea (3/2) level and salvage a draw (5/2) – keeping the Blues in fourth place but 10 points off Arsenal.

On Sunday, on-form Aston Villa (1/1) secured their 10th win in a row after beating Manchester United (5/2) 2-1, with two top Morgan Rogers finishes ensuring Unai Emery’s side kept pace with Arsenal and City.

Weekend results in England’s top-flight fell kindly for bookmakers, with bet365’s Steve Freeth stating it was the operator’s first winning weekend of the season.

He said: “Our first winning weekend in December came despite victories for Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool on Saturday, as well as Aston Villa on Sunday with Bournemouth and Brighton disrupting a number of accumulators in the Premier League.

“Manchester City began with a routine 3-0 over West Ham and were into 5/4 for the title when hitting the summit before Arsenal’s late kick-off at Everton.

“Arsenal with some assistance from Everton’s Jake O’Brien, returned to the top of the Premier League with a narrow victory on Merseyside, confirming the 11/4 pre-season shots as winners in our ‘Top at Christmas’ market. Mikel Arteta and Gunners fans will be well aware that this accolade does not guarantee them the title.

“Liverpool held on for a victory in London, despite a late flurry from nine-man Tottenham. Backers of Conor Bradley will have been pleased to see Alexander Isak replace him, with close to 400 bets on scorer and shot markets settled as winners due to our ‘Sub On Play On’ concession, as the Swede found the back of the net before his unfortunate injury.

“Our saviours came in the form of Sunderland, who drew with 17/20 Brighton, and Burnley who equalised late at 1/2 Bournemouth, causing accumulators to tumble around 5pm, alongside several short-priced ones chinned around the continent.”

For Betfred’s Alan Firkins, though, said Arsenal looked “jaded”, but it hasn’t stopped them leading the table heading into Christmas, and the operator has them 8/11 to win the league.

He also highlighted Leeds’ (9/5) convincing win over FA Cup holders Crystal Palace (7/4), with Dominic Calvert-Lewin finding the back of the net twice to help open up a six-point gap between them and West Ham in 18th.

Firkins noted: “Depending on your priorities, the most significant Christmas number one belongs to either Kylie or Arsenal. In the world of sport,the Gunners looked a little jaded to me when nudging past Everton 1-0 at the Hill Dickinson, but the vital win keeps them two points ahead of Manchester City, who overcame West Ham at the Etihad 3-0, with two of the goals coming from the feet of the prolific Erling Haaland.

“Three draws on Saturday just about kept the wolf from the door. Leeds thumped Palace 4-1 at Elland Road, while Liverpool continued on the comeback trail with a 2-1 success at Spurs.

“One of those stalemates was Chelsea being held 2-2 at Newcastle, with VAR controversies again far too much to the fore – including a high-speed ice hockey-style body check that astonishingly went unpunished, presumably because it happened in the penalty area.

“Sunday saw an entertaining clash between Aston Villa and Manchester United, with Villa’s Morgan Rogers snapping up two exquisite goals in a tight 2-1 win. United probably deserved more at Villa Park but couldn’t finish any of several high-quality moves.”

BOYLE Sports spokesperson Lawrence Lyons noted that Wolves are now 1/250 to be relegated and Burnley 1/20 to return to the Championship.

Lyons said: “Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal sit at the top of the Premier League table once again at Christmas and Gunners fans will be hoping it’s finally their year.

“They remain as favourites (8/11) to lift their first Premier League title in over 20 years, but with Erling Haaland’s remarkable goal-scoring run continuing with another brace this weekend, Manchester City are 11/8 to go the distance.”

Over at FDJ United, Ali Gill acknowledged it was a winning weekend for punters in the Premier League, especially due to Villa’s victory over United and Saturday’s result between Liverpool and Spurs.

He said: “Another winning weekend for punters in the Premier League as the pre-Christmas action continues to go their way.

“Players clearly didn’t fancy Man Utd against third-in-the-table Villa, so with both teams scoring and a Villa win, that was a terrible result for us and comfortably the worst result of the match round, doing almost all the damage.

“Liverpool’s win over Spurs was another expensive one for us, and despite some good margins in other games, the damage was done on Sunday afternoon.”

Results in Europe fell in favour of the bookies. Despite Real Madrid’s (1/5) 2-0 win over Sevilla (11/1), draws for Celta Vigo (9/4), Real Sociedad (9/4), Augsburg (5/2) and Stuttgart (11/4) made up for it – as did a goalless draw (3/1) between Lazio (1/2) and 10-man Cremonese (5/1).

Customers did find comfort in results on Sunday due to Bayern Munich (3/20) and Barcelona (3/4) picking up wins over Heidenheim (11/1) and Villareal (3/1), respectively.

Freeth added: “Real Madrid, thanks to goals from Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé, signed off with a much-needed 2-0 win for Xabi Alonso, which didn’t really hurt us and we benefitted from dropped points from 6/5 Celta Vigo and 7/5 Real Sociedad.

“The Bundesliga also had its share of bookmaker-friendly results on Saturday with draws for Augsburg, Stuttgart and defeats for Leipzig and Cologne, while Lazio drew 0-0 in Serie A.

“Sunday was much better for our customers with away wins for odds-on shots Bayern Munich (1/7), Barcelona (8/11) and Atletico Madrid (4/6), but it was a quieter coupon than Saturday.

“New Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy was minutes away from even more scrutiny before late goals from Tierney and Forrest got the 4/11 shots over the line after 11/10 Hearts had beaten Rangers earlier in the day. Celtic remain outright favourites at 8/11, with Hearts 11/8 and Rangers at 8/1 in what will hopefully be a decent three-way title race.”

Outside of football, boxing fans were subjected to a bout between former world champion Anthony Joshua and social media influencer Jake Paul.

Joshua won in the sixth round, breaking Paul’s jaw in two places, but the spectacle left fans far from amused early on Saturday morning given Paul’s fight avoidance for the opening few rounds.

Freeth said: “The Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua bout faced criticism, but the pre-fight turnover was lively.

“As is often the case in these match-ups, it was the outsider who attracted significant attention, in this case Jake Paul, who went off at 6/1, so victory for 1/8 Joshua was perfect for our ‘To Win Fight’ book.”

Gill added: “One of the most shambolic ‘boxing’ events in living memory in the early hours of Saturday morning went the only way it could ever have gone with a comfortable AJ win, although once we passed the 60-second mark questions started to be asked about whether all was legit.

“Much like when Connor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather, punters had eyes on the bigger price with a ‘chance’, and no interest in the only possibly winner at shorter than 1/10, and so avoiding an early finishing but seeing the inevitable Anthony Joshua was a fantastic result for the book on the night.”

Meanwhile, approaching the festive horseracing, Fact To File and Gaelic Warrior are both favourites at 5/2 to take the King George on Boxing Day.

Jango Baie is next at 10/3, with last year’s first and second-placed horses, Banbridge and Il Est Francrais, coming in at 14/1 and 20/1, respectively.

Firkins said: “Huge festive period of course upcoming for sport, and racing in particular. Boxing Day’s highlight is the King George at Kempton, with Willie Mullins’ pair Fact To File and Gaelic Warrior currently inseparable at the head of the market at 5/2.

“Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie looks to have the best chance of keeping the prize at home but the two Irish raiders who almost dead-heated at Punchestown about four weeks ago look rather different gravy – a thought confirmed on official ratings as the pair have 6-7lb and more in hand of their field.”