Weekend Review: City’s second seaside slump leaves Liverpool title favourites

Bookmakers enjoyed a successful weekend following several results falling in their favour, most notably Brighton (3/1) defeating Man City (4/5) on Saturday.

The reigning Premier League champions suffered their fourth defeat in a row in all competitions, their weekend result coming after Erling Haaland had put them a goal ahead midway through the first half.

Two goals without reply in the second half courtesy of Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley allowed the Seagulls to secure all three points and leave Pep Guardiola’s side five points behind current leaders Liverpool (1/2).

The Reds continued their blistering start to the season with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa (5/1), with Arne Slot’s side now the favourites to win the title at 6/5 with Betfred after Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah both netted a goal in each half of the match.

Meanwhile, in a London derby at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Chelsea (2/1) came from a goal behind, thanks to Pedro Neto’s first Premier League strike for the club, to salvage a 1-1 draw (5/2) with Arsenal (3/2) after Gabriel Martinelli gave the away side the lead on the hour mark.

Th Gunners now find themselves nine points behind leaders Liverpool after only 11 games played.

Ipswich Town (8/1) picked up their first win of the season, surprising Tottenham (1/4) 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London in what ended up being a favourable result for bookies.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “Brighton rallied deservedly after the break and reeled in a tiring, troubled City, making a big dent in any fanciful ‘five-in-a-row’ notions.

“Fabulous result for the bottom line, and a reasonable weekend was further enlivened with Chelsea and Arsenal playing out a 1-1 draw at The Bridge on Sunday.

“Ipswich did us a cracking turn too by taking Spurs down on the road, so plenty of accas were unceremonially sunk without trace.

“Unsurprisingly, we have a new favourite in the race for the Premier League crown.

“It’s now 6/5 Liverpool, efficient conquerors of Aston Villa at weekend; 2/1 Manchester City, 4/1 Arsenal, 16/1 Chelsea and it’s 66/1 bar those quoted.”

For bet365, several punters have placed their bets on Liverpool winning the quadruple this season – the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup – with the now Reds 5/4 to lift the domestic league title at the end of the season, leaving Man City slipping to 9/4.

Bet363’s Steve Freeth remarked: “Two good weekends on the spin as we enter the final international break of the year. A number of positive results on the Premier League coupon as well as a couple of major European scalps.

“Defeats for Manchester City and Tottenham, the draw at Stamford Bridge, the stalemate at West Ham and the low margin of victory for Liverpool over Villa were the highlights in the English top-flight.

“Pep Guardiola has never lost four in a row and, with Brighton trading at 22/1 in-play, it looked like his poor run was over. But not so for the Citizens, who are now out to 9/4 for their fifth successive Premier League crown.

“Liverpool continue to motor along under Arne Slot, we now have over 500 wagers on the Reds landing the quadruple this season (200/1 from 1500/1) with the Anfield club at 5/4 for the title.”

Kindred Group’s Alistair Gill added: “Another great weekend of results in the Premier League as we again managed to come out in front in all 10 matches.

“No surprises that Man City’s defeat to Brighton, having been a goal up, was the best result of the match round. City now having done us an unprecedented four favours in a row.

“But a 1-1 draw in the Chelsea vs Liverpool match which rounded out the weekend was another strong result, and Ipswich’s first win of the season bought significant cheering in both Suffolk and our trading room.”

For LiveScore Group, the most profitable result of the weekend was Real Sociedad’s (3/1) 1-0 win over Barcelona (17/20), with Liverpool and Man City’s outcome also proving to be profitable for the firm.

Francisco Cano, LiveScore Group’s head of trading, said: “Another successful Saturday and Sunday for us, with solid overall turnover and good profit margins throughout.

“The Chelsea vs Arsenal match, which ended 1-1, generated our highest activity across the weekend; however, the margin wasn’t our best, given a high percentage of customers backing a draw.

“The Liverpool and Manchester City games were key in achieving our healthy profits. Our most profitable result over the weekend came from La Liga, where Barcelona suffered a surprise 1-0 away defeat to Real Sociedad.”

Elsewhere, bet365 players who took a punt on games around Europe enjoyed plenty of success, though were let down by the Barcelona result on Sunday.

Freeth noted: “Good winners for bet365 customers on the continent this weekend included 8/13 Lens vs Nantes, 8/15 Villarreal against Alaves and 13/10 Atletico Madrid’s win at Mallorca. But we had he last word as 17/20 Barcelona tasted defeat at Real Sociedad.”

OLBG sports betting expert Jake Ashton also acknowledged Liverpool’s odds on winning their first Premier League title since the Covid-19 season have been slashed as they opened up a two-game lead heading into the final international break of 2024.

Ashton said: “Arne Slot’s Liverpool are now the clear favourites in the Premier League title race with the odds slashed on the Reds winning the league this season.

“Man City’s latest defeat was followed by Liverpool’s 2-0 win at home to Villa to set a five-point gap at the top of the Premier League table. 

“Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are on their worst run since 2006 when they were managed by Stuart Pearce, and they face Tottenham in their first game back after the international break to try and end their poor form.”