Weekend Review: Super Son saves Spurs as Newcastle run riot in Sheffield

It was a mixed bag of results for both the bookies and punters this weekend, as there were a number of draws across the weekend’s Premier League action.

The weekend’s headline event was the first North London derby of the season at the Emirates Stadium yesterday (24 September). 

Arsenal (1/2) dominated the early stages and rather fortuitously took the lead just shy of the 30-minute mark when Bukayo Saka’s long-range effort hit the left leg of Tottenham (4/1) defender Cristian Romero and went in, with the Arsenal winger celebrating with Spurs midfielder James Maddison’s trademark darts celebration.

Spurs were level just before the break when Maddison beat Saka down the Arsenal left and cut back for Son Heung-Min to equalise. 

Romero was at the centre of the action once again when he blocked Ben White’s close-range effort with his hand, allowing Saka to restore Arsenal’s lead, breaking out the darts celebration once more. Spurs were back level less than a minute later when Jorginho was dispossessed by Maddison, who slid Son in to bring back parity. 

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “The North London derby with its goals, cards and corners galore was once again a dream for bet builder backers.”

Liverpool (3/10) continued their impressive start to the season and remained unbeaten and, in the process, ended West Ham’s (7/1) unbeaten streak after defeating the Hammers 3-1 at Anfield. Goals from Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota secured the win for the Reds, who head to Tottenham this weekend. 

Betfred’s Alan Firkins added: “Caught an interview on the box – Gary Lineker with relatively new Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou. 

“Hard not to warm to the fella, and his Kane-less Tottenham ironically look[s] a much better all-round proposition. They entertain Liverpool on Saturday teatime; the 2/1 about a Spurs win looks mighty tempting to me.”

Chelsea (3/4) continued their stuttering start with another loss, this time at home to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa (3/1), thanks to a relatively late Ollie Watkins strike. 

Sheffield United (5/1) suffered the heaviest defeat of the weekend, losing 8-0 at home to Newcastle United (1/2), with the Magpies having eight different scorers on the day. 

Francisco Cano, head of trading at LiveScore Group, commented: “On the other hand, Sunday wasn’t that good, and the worst performance was in the Sheffield United vs Newcastle match that ended 0-8. 

“Good turnover figures on the North London derby but not the result we wanted given the number of goals, corners, cards and also the main goalscorers putting the ball on the back of the net, so punters must be happy with yesterday’s results.”

There were routine wins for both Manchester clubs, Brighton (1/2) and a first win of the season for Everton (3/1) over Brentford (19/20). There were also draws between Luton (21/10) and Wolves (13/10), as well as between Crystal Palace (21/20) and Fulham (11/4).

As for the rest of Europe, punters had another mixed bag of results. In Spain, there were comeback wins for Barcelona (1/4), Real Sociedad (7/10) and Girona (17/20), but the bookies saw some reprieve as Atletico Madrid (7/4) beat Real Madrid (8/5) 3-1 in the Madrid derby. 

In Italy, bookies saw better results as Bologna (23/10) held Napoli (11/10), and both AC Milan (2/5) and Inter Milan (1/4) only managed to win 1-0. 

In Germany, Harry Kane has continued to hit the ground running at Bayern Munich (1/10) as he scored his first hat-trick for the Bavarians since his summer switch from Spurs, as Bayern smashed Bochum (16/1) 7-0. There were also wins for Borussia Dortmund (31/50), Stuttgart (3/10) and Bayer Leverkusen (1/5). 

Freeth remarked: “It was also looking grim in La Liga with Barcelona’s comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 (where we paid out on Celta Vigo thanks to our 2 Goals Ahead Early Payout offer), Real Sociedad fightback to beat Getafe 4-3 and Girona’s 5-3 hammering of Mallorca, but with Jude Bellingham keeping quiet we had a cracking end to proceedings in Spain as Atleti beat Real Madrid. 

“We also saw green shoots of recovery in Serie A, with Bologna holding Napoli to a 0-0 draw and both Milan sides only winning 1-0.

“No such luck in the Bundesliga, thanks to Harry Kane. He may have changed country, but he’s still lethal in front of goal. He’s now 8/1 from 16/1 to break Robert Lewandowski’s record of 41 Bundesliga goals this season after his hat-trick against Bochum took him to seven for the season as, just like Bochum, we suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich,” Freeth added.

“Other notable losses incurred in Germany included Stuttgart’s 4-1 success against Darmstadt and Victor Boniface once again filling his boots for Bayer Leverkusen, this time versus Heidenheim,” Freeth concluded. 

In horseracing, the Ayr Gold Cup went the way of the favourite Significantly (8/1) and gave jockey Joe Fanning his first Ayr Gold Cup victory. 

Ramazan (16/1) looked nailed for a victory but Significantly emerged from the pack to win the race by a neck. Gweedore (33/1) finished in third while the other favourite for the day, Orazio (8/1) finished in 11th. In the Silver Cup, punters were in the money as the favourite Wobwobwob (9/2) managed to hold off the chasing pack to win. 

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “It was Gold Cup day at Ayr on Saturday, and it delivered some top-class racing. The big race went the way of the 8/1 joint favourite Significantly, who swooped over the top late to beat 16/1 shot Ramazan by a neck. In a race which was 8/1, the field and punters looking for value, the race finished pretty much a draw between the traders and the punters. 

“The same couldn’t quite be said for the Silver Cup earlier in the day, as the very well-backed Wobwobwob went off clear favourite and won well at 9/2, that one going the way of the punters.”