Weekend Review: Lady luck smiles down on Arsenal with own-goal overload
Two own goals help Gunners maintain two-point lead at the top of the table as punters receive an early Christmas present with host of favourites winning
Arsenal (1/10) showed the spirit of potential champions with a late own goal from Wolves (20/1) defender Yerson Mosquera securing a 2-1 win over the basement boys.
An earlier own goal through goalkeeper Sam Johnstone gave the Gunners the lead, only for Tolu Arokodare to pull level in the 90th minute to leave home fans stunned, with many making for the exits.
But Mosquera’s late goal kept Mikel Arteta’s men in first place, two points above Manchester City (17/20) who beat Crystal Palace (3/1) 3-0, although the scoreline was a touch flattering, with the Eagles missing a hatful of chances.
Erling Haaland bagged a brace, either side of a Phil Foden goal, to keep the pressure on the north Londoners.
As did Aston Villa (9/4), although they needed to come from behind twice to overcome West Ham (6/5).
The Hammers were ahead inside the first minute through Mateus Fernandes, only for Villa to draw level through an own goal from Konstantinos Mavropanos before captain Jarrod Bowen put the home side again midway through the first half.
However, two goals after the break from Morgan Rogers gifted Villa the win and leaves them three points off the table-toppers.
Held the whip hand
On a Premier League weekend which saw customers largely come out on top, Betfred’s Alan Firkins commented: “Punters generally held the whip hand in the Premier League at weekend and there were plenty of goals to enjoy too, which is invariably expensive.
“Leaders Arsenal nearly provided us with an early Christmas present before a late, late winner at home to bottom club Wolves spared their blushes.
“Second-placed Manchester City showed resilience in the face of a quality Palace unit that should certainly have registered in the first half, keeping the Gunners on their toes with a 3-0 win at Selhurst Park.
“Villa edged a five-goal thriller at the London Stadium against West Ham to remain third, one point behind City and three adrift of Arsenal, but at 25/1 in the outright betting still don’t appeal to the traders at least as likely champions.”
Bet365 endured its worst Saturday of the season, including one punter winning a 320/1 13-fold accumulator thanks to Arsenal’s late winner.
Despite results on Sunday falling in favour of the operator, the damage was already done on Saturday.
Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “Groundhog Day might not be a Christmas film, but our recent weekend business has felt like a rerun of the 1993 classic, so I apologise for sounding like Bill Murray stuck in a time loop as I report our worst Saturday of the season to date.
“Backers of Chelsea (8/11), Liverpool (8/11) and Fulham (9/10) collected on the Premier League 3pm kick-offs.
“In fact, all 12 odds-on favourites had obliged in Europe’s top five divisions with just 1/9 Arsenal to run after victories for 1/3 Atalanta, 3/10 Atletico Madrid, 1/5 Barcelona, 17/20 Eintracht Frankfurt, 17/20 St Pauli, 7/10 Hoffenheim, 7/10 Leverkusen, 17/20 Rennes and 1/4 PSG.
“Under normal circumstances, I’d have been celebrating yet another Wolves defeat with the Molineux side just 9/1 to get fewer than 11 points.
“However, it was Arsenal, the cornerstone of many accumulators, that ensured punters finished Saturday on a high, with the injury-time winner completing a 320/1 13-fold.
“Manchester City (17/20) and Aston Villa (6/5), both hunting down the Gunners, delivered on Sunday, but we managed to profit from Sunderland’s win over 23/20 Newcastle in a low scoring affair with the hosts continuing their fantastic Premier League record against their fierce local rivals.
“The weekend concluded in the English top-flight with the 1-1 draw between Brentford and Leeds as we continued to rally, but not enough to get our noses in front after a shocking Saturday.”
Gave out donations
It was similar circumstances for FDJ Untied, with Ali Gill noting that while the operator made a small profit on Arsenal’s dramatic win over Wolves, it was a weekend of losses with punters coming out on top.
“A winning weekend for punters in the Premier League as we gave out donations for the Christmas period.
“Despite just about managing to salvage a small profit on Arsenal’s last gasp winner against bottom of the table Wolves, results overall left very little to cheer, as Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Villa all won to return winning singles and accas.
“The only draw of the round, at Brentford, did return a healthy margin, as did Forest’s 3-0 win over Spurs and Sunderland taking the first Wear-Tyne Derby in recent memory 1-0. But overall punters were the ones smiling when the final full time whistle went.”
Midnite senior trader Alex Firth highlighted Saturday’s five-goal thriller between Fulham (1/1) and Burnley (11/4) saw Harry Wilson grab a goal and two assists, helping Fulham win 3-2.
He also pointed towards Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby which saw Sunderland (5/2) run out 1-0 winner thanks to Newcastle’s (6/5) Nick Woltemade heading into the back of his own net.
He said: “Saturday saw a quieter day of football with just the four matches. Chelsea and Liverpool each picked up a vital three points with 2-0 wins for which they were 15/2 and 9/1 for respectively.
“An exciting game at Turf Moor saw Harry Wilson steal the show for Fulham with a goal and two assists in a 3-2 away win over Burnley. Wilson was 5/2 to score anytime and 10/3 for an assist.
“Arsenal didn’t have their finest performance, scraping past Wolves with two own goals for their two goals. Arsenal to win and BTTS was 12/5 pre match.
“Sunday saw Manchester City’s Erling Haaland grab another two goals against Crystal Palace and he was 18/5 for a brace. Sunderland got one over on their rivals with a 1-0 win (available at 10/1 pre match) in a match which saw nine cards. Sunderland and Newcastle to receive four or more cards respectively were 2/1 and 9/4.
“Leeds salvaged a very valuable point away at Brentford to keep themselves three points clear of West Ham in 18th. The draw had drifted out to 17/4 in play before Leeds scored.”
Down to the wire
As the Premier League approaches the half-way mark, Arsenal are still favourites to secure the league title at 8/11 but Man City are fast approaching at 7/4.
Chelsea (7/10), following their 2-0 win over Everton (4/1), are odds-on to finish inside the top four while Newcastle, after their loss, are now outsiders to secure Champions League football via a league finish.
BOYLE Sports spokesperson Lawrence Lyons said: “After just 16 games, the Premier League title race already looks set to go to go to the wire after Arsenal and Manchester City both picked up three points this weekend.
“Arsenal’s slender two-point lead over long-time rivals Manchester City was preserved in fortunate fashion, with two Wolves own goals handing them the points – the Gunners remain favourites for the title at 8/11.
“City, meanwhile, struck three times away to in-form Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and are closing in fast, priced at 7/4 to win another Premier League title under Pep Guardiola.”
Surprises on the continent
Away from the Premier League, bookies were in a better place after Celtic (9/20) lost the Scottish League Cup final 3-1 to St Mirren (5/1) and favourites in Italy and Germany dropped points.
Napoli (9/10) were undone 1-0 by Udinese (15/4) and AC Milan (1/2) could not hold onto their 2-1 lead and were pegged back by Sassuolo (5/1) with 13 minutes remaining, the match finishing 2-2.
Borussia Dortmund (1/1) also threw away a 1-0 lead, drawing 1-1 with SC Freiburg (5/2) to leave them nine points behind league leaders Bayern Munich (1/10) – who could only draw 2-2 against Mainz (18/1) thanks to a late Harry Kane penalty.
Freeth added: “Scotland proved profitable with new Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy suffering his third defeat from three games as the 2/5 pokes lost 3-1 to St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final.
“There were also surprises on the continent on Sunday with a couple of unexpected results at the top of Serie A. 1/2 Milan were in front from a Davide Bartesaghi brace, but were pegged back by Sassuolo, while 9/10 Napoli were beaten 1-0 at Udinese.
“In the Bundesliga 19/20 Borussia Dortmund were 1-0 up at Freiburg before Jobe Bellingham saw red with the hosts taking full advantage to win 2-1.
“However, the undoubted highlight came at the Allianz Arena where 1/12 Bayern Munich dropped their first points at home needing a late Harry Kane penalty to level matters against bottom of the table Mainz.
“Real Madrid (4/7) did win in the late game in La Liga with Jude Bellingham assisting Kylian Mbappe for the opener and Vinicius Junior setting up Rodrygo for the winner, but punters were wary of Los Blancos after their two previous defeats.
Gill noted: “In Europe, a draw for Bayern Munich is always a good result for the book, and so it proved as they were held 2-2 at home to Mainz, but La Liga offered no such joy as Madrid and Barca both won to leave punters happy again.”