From The Trading Desk: Backers Rejoice As Bet365 Put To The Sword
Read what bet365's Steve Freeth needed to state after Arsenal tape-recorded another vital win as many favourites in the house and abroad got triumphes.
Every so often, we experience weekends where we wind up doing fortunes and this was one of them, proving brilliant for punters with well-backed beaten favourites a rarity on the voucher both home and abroad.
Arsenal hammered the final nail in the casket by keeping their nerve once again to beat Chelsea having experienced Manchester City win at Leeds 24 hours prior. The Gunners are 2/5 for the Premier League title and 16/1 for the quadruple as we approach the most interesting part of the season.
The Sunday 2pm kick-offs all saw favourites win with both teams scoring. These are exactly the kinds of outcomes that show pricey for us.
Manchester United's return showed extremely costly. The Red Devils were trailing 1-0 before Palace's goalscorer Maxence Lacroix received a red card, allowing Bruno Fernandes to equalise from the area. The Sesko scored the winner 8 minutes later on, much to the delight of backers of the Old Trafford club that touched 13/5 in-play.
Tottenham continue to flirt with transfer following their most current defeat. Igor Tudor's Spurs are 4/1 for the drop after their defeat at Fulham. Similarly, Vitor Pereira has had a challenging start, with Forest losing at Brighton, as many clubs battle to avoid 18th spot.
Saturday's early Premier League fixture in between Bournemouth and Sunderland was never most likely to see record turnover, but it showed to be one of couple of rewarding matches for us.
This was not the case at Anfield and Turf Moor, where both matches saw seven objectives scored. Favourites Liverpool and Brentford were both ticked as winners on 24 and 25 minutes respectively having gone two objectives clear - regardless of the late controversy in Lancashire.
The EFL discount coupon featured many winning favourites. I was at Coventry to witness the Sky Blues protect an injury time winner, while other well-supported Championship sides such as Wrexham, Ipswich, Millwall, Sheffield United and Southampton likewise taped wins.
League One punters taken advantage of regular wins for Cardiff, Bolton, Lincoln and Wycombe. And odds-on shots like Barnet and Bromley also delivered in the fourth tier.
Rangers were settled as winners on the voucher on 26 minutes. Their first half dominance saw them leading 2-0 at the break, thanks to a brace from Youssef Chermiti - his first being an impressive overhead kick. Martin O'Neill called the modifications for the 2nd half with Celtic equalising from the area late on for a 2-2 draw.
Hearts (2/5) were the huge winners having won 24 hr previously versus Aberdeen with the Jambos now 11/10 for the title. Motherwell (3/10) continued their great kind by beating Dundee United and are 14/1 to win the Scottish Premiership under the assistance of the well-regarded Jens Berthel Askou.
It was a similar tale of concern on the continent.
Harry Kane has now scored 45 goals in all competitions after a vital brace in Der Klassiker. Borussia Dortmund lost their unbeaten record at Signal Iduna Park as visitors Bayern Munich left it late to go 11 points clear in the Bundesliga.
Lamine Yamal bagged a hat-trick (20/1) for top-of-the-table Barcelona in their 4-1 victory over Villarreal. The visitors were overtaken in 3rd by Atletico Madrid with Julian Alvarez scoring on 94 minutes against Real Oviedo.
In Serie A, another previous Premier League player, Romelu Lukaku, scored an injury-time winner - his first objective of the season after returning from injury - an essential strike for Napoli at bottom-of-the-table Verona. Leaders Inter beat Genoa 2-0 and Como completed a complete home of odds-on pokes in Italy on Saturday when beating Lecce 3-1.