Weekend Review: Shock Premier League results leave bookies beaming
Victories for Sheffield United and Bournemouth upset the apple cart as Newmarket’s July Cup yields a 12/1 winner
Bookmakers were counting the cash after Premier League strugglers and Champions League challengers alike pulled off several shock results this weekend.
Burnley’s 1-1 draw away to Liverpool, Sheffield United’s 3-0 trouncing of Chelsea and Bournemouth’s stunning 4-1 win over Leicester bust accumulators across the country as punters rued the unpredictability of the closing weeks of the season.
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “Liverpool’s draw with Burnley was, unsurprisingly, our biggest winning event by a distance. Sheffield Utd’s win over Chelsea was next in the Kindred winning column with Bournemouth’s 4-1 win over Leicester following.”
We keep fighting
#BOULEI // #afcb
pic.twitter.com/brNFWpeyrz
— AFC Bournemouth
Betway’s Chad Yeomans noted that it was a “good weekend” overall and once again pointed to the unexpected trio of results.
Yeomans added: “Liverpool drawing with Burnley and Sheffield United’s 3-0 thumping of Chelsea were not results the Betway punters expected or backed. one of the unexpected score lines of the weekend then occurred on Sunday evening when Bournemouth hammered Leicester City 4-1.”
Betfred’s Alan Firkins looked towards the season’s conclusion and said Manchester United and Aston Villa could potentially cost the bookmaker a bomb.
If Manchester United manage to secure a top four spot and Villa stave off relegation, this weekend’s positivity will be quickly dashed.
𝐁𝐈𝐆 team effort today
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 12, 2020
Firkins said: “After being supported at as large as 8/1, Manchester United are a big loser for us if they can secure a top four spot, which now looks eminently feasible.
“If Villa can’t avoid the drop, that’s another expensive one – we took plenty on them being relegated in the days following their promotion, as many evidently doubted they could thrive among the elite,” he added.
Elsewhere, William Hill’s Rupert Adams said a combination of surprising Premier League results and a July Cup victory at Newmarket for 12/1-shot Oxted was a perfect storm for bookmakers.
Adams continued: “It was a weekend of bookmaker-friendly results in both football and horseracing, so one to savour for us.”