Weekend Review: Arsenal shorten to 2/7 for title after Man City slip up against Chelsea

A late Enzo Fernadez equaliser salvaged a draw (4/1) for Chelsea (5/1) against Man City (1/2) on Sunday, leaving City six points off league leaders Arsenal.

Tijjani Reijnders opened the scoring just before half-time and looked like it would be enough to secure the three points and cut the gap at the top to four, only for Fernandez to bundle home in the 94th minute.

The draw came after Arsenal (1/2) beat Bournemouth (5/1) 3-2 on Saturday night, with Evanilson opening the scoring for the Cherries only to see Gabriel draw the two sides level.

A Declan Rice second-half brace put the Gunners ahead and despite Eli Junior Kroupi pulling a goal back, Arsenal held on to claim all three points.

Title contenders Aston Villa (9/10) bounced back from their defeat to Arsenal with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest (3/1) thanks to a John McGinn double and an Ollie Watkins finish.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Brighton’s (2/5) 2-0 win over Burnley (6/1) left the Clarets six points from safety.

Wolves (8/5) picked up their first win of the season at the 20th attempt by beating struggling West Ham (7/4) 3-0.

Overall, it was a “good weekend” for bet365, with Steve Freeth noting Sunday’s results went the way of the operator.

He said: “Bet365 had a good weekend with several favourites failing to oblige on the coupon.

“Saturday’s Premier League coupon did feature four winning favourites from four in the shape of 10/11 Aston Villa, 4/9 Brighton, 8/5 Wolves and 1/2 Arsenal. However, Sunday was dominated by draws making it a solid opening weekend of 2026.

“Arsenal got no bigger than 5/4 in-play despite falling behind but Gabriel atoned for an earlier error by scoring the equaliser and then it was the Declan Rice show.

“This result, coupled with 1/2 Manchester City dropping points (1/33 before Enzo Fernandez’s injury-time equaliser for Chelsea) has seen the Gunners shorten to 2/7 for the title with their rivals continuing to falter. Other favourable results on Sunday included the draws at Leeds, Tottenham and Fulham.

“At the other end of the table, Wolves have shortened into 14/1 (from 50/1) not to be relegated. Despite their disastrous start, the market clearly still has faith in the Molineux side, who started as favourites against former manager Nuno’s West Ham side.

“Signs of improvement had been evident at both Anfield and Old Trafford prior to this victory and it would be the greatest of great escapes if they manage to avoid relegation.”

It was also a “decent” start of the year for Betfred thanks to a host of draws across the weekend, including Liverpool’s (17/20) 2-2 draw (5/2) in the capital against Fulham (3/1) as well as Tottenham (1/1) being held 1-1 (12/5) against Sunderland (3/1).

Alan Firkins said: “The raft of Premier League draws at weekend signalled a decent start to the New Year for the trading desk, and one of them in particular hardened Arsenal’s position at the head of the outright market considerably.

 “The Gunners narrowly defeated Bournemouth at the Vitality 3-2 to maintain their own title-momentum, while pursuers Manchester City were pegged back by Chelsea courtesy of an Enzo Fernandez scramble late into added time at the Etihad.

“City’s second draw in a matter of days sees them slide to 11/4 in the Premier League betting, with Arsenal now a prohibitive 2/7. It’s then 25/1 Chelsea, and 100/1 bar the three.

FDJ UNITED’s Ali Gill said weekend results across the Premier League meant the operator just about came out on top, Chelsea’s late goal helping, as did Manchester United (3/2) failing to beat rivals Leeds United (7/4).

He added: “Despite a number of results going our way over the weekend in the Premier League, final numbers saw us come out only moderately ahead.

“A last gasp equaliser for Chelsea against City had both the traders and Arsenal players celebrating, as that was our best result of the match round, whilst Man United drawing at Leeds and Liverpool drawing at Fulham were also great results.

“However, most the damage came from the opening game of the weekend, as Villa’s 3-1 win over Forest had all sorts for punters to be happy about and finished as comfortably our worst result across the weekend. Arsenal’s 3-2 win over Bournemouth was another to line punters pockets.”

Midnite senior trader Alex Firth commented that despite Wolves’ win, Rob Edwards’ side remain 1/100 to be relegated.

He added: “Aston Villa kicked off the action this weekend with another fine display with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest. Ollie Watkins was 4/1 to open the scoring and Aston Villa are now 28/1 to win the league.

“The 3pm kick-offs were straightforward affairs for the home sides, with Brighton and Wolves both winning to nil. It was a much-needed three points for Wolves who are now 12 points off safety but are still 1/100 for relegation.

“It was less straightforward for Arsenal in the late kick-off having to come from behind after a Gabriel mistake in the 10th minute. He made amends, however, with a goal six minutes later (8/1 to score anytime) followed by a Declan Rice brace (40/1).”

This morning, Manchester United announced they had sacked head coach Ruben Amorim. BOYLE Sports spokesperson Brian O’Keeffe said: “We’ve started the week with more bombshell managerial news with Manchester United sacking Ruben Amorim. Darren Fletcher is the early 3/1 favourite to take over full time, followed by Oliver Glasner at 7/2.”

In results around Europe, Celtic (7/10) failed to hold on to their lead and were eventually beaten 3-1 by Rangers (7/2) in Wilfried Nancy’s first Old Firm derby, while both Barcelona (1/2) and Real Madrid (1/2) emerged victorious in wins over Espanyol (5/1) and Real Betis (5/1), respectively.

In Italy, points were shared in several games on Saturday as Juventus (1/4) were held to a 1-1 draw against Leece (11/1) and Genoa (9/10) were held at home by the same scoreline against Pisa (4/1).

Freeth added: “It was a game of two halves in Glasgow with Celtic leading Rangers 1-0 at half time and priced at 2/7 to secure three vital points for Wilfried Nancy.

“However, the game turned on its head in the second half with Danny Rohl taking the plaudits and further intensifying the Scottish Premiership title race. Hearts, following their win over Livingston, now head the outright betting at 5/4 with Celtic at 15/8 and Rangers 2/1.

“La Liga proved to be the most profitable division on the continent for bet365 customers with both 1/2 shots Barcelona and Real Madrid securing victories.

“The 5-1 win for Los Blancos hit us the hardest and Barcelona were 3/1 in-play before their two late goals. These results were backed up by 19/20 Celta winning 4-1 against a struggling Valencia and 5/4 Villarreal beating Elche 3-1.

“It’s very tight at the top of Serie A with wins for 4/7 Milan, 23/20 Napoli and 2/5 Inter. However, Saturday was the day for draws with 19/20 Genoa, 19/20 Sassuolo and notably 1/4 Juventus all dropping points in a low-scoring day in Italy.”

Concluding the PDC World Darts Championships, Luke Littler made light work of Gian van Veen with a dominant 7-1 win to claim his second title on the trot.

The world number one lost the first set on Saturday evening but then strolled to success to claim his consecutive title at Alexandra Palace.

Midnite’s Firth said: “On Saturday, Luke Littler claimed his second World Championship title with a dominant 7-1 win over Gian van Veen.

“Littler was 9/1 to win 7-1 and 6/4 to win, hit the most 180s and record the highest checkout.”

Gill added: “The final of the Darts World Championship saw Luke Littler go back-to-back at just 18.

“Despite being a heavy winning favourite, our patriotic Dutch customers ensured we actually finished nicely ahead there as the money came for van Veen, who unfortunately didn’t really turn up on the night.”