Weekend Review: Bookies cheer Community Shield result as Arsenal edge out Man City

Arsenal lifted the first silverware of the new season after beating treble-winners Manchester City 4-1 on penalties at Wembley on Sunday.

The curtain-raiser to the new campaign had been a somewhat dull affair until the 77^th minute when City youngster Cole Palmer curled a sublime left-footed shot past Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale to make it 1-0.

It looked like City, who were best-priced even money to win in 90 minutes, were headed for victory, but a deflected shot from Leandro Trossard in the 11^th minute of injury time found the back of the net and the game went to extra time.

In the end the match went to penalties, which saw City substitute Kevin de Bruyne hit the bar and Rodri also miss for the Citizens.

However, Portuguese midfielder Fabio Vieira kept his cool to convert the winning spot kick and give Gunners’ supporters plenty of optimism for the season ahead.

Ali Gill of Unibet parent company Kindred Group described the 90-minute result as a “hugely layer-friendly one and a great start to the season for us”.

Summing up how bet365 fared, spokesman Steve Freeth commented: “A 1-1 draw with Erling Haaland firing a blank gave us as solid a start as we could have hoped for.

“Admittedly, our Super Boost of both teams to have over 2.5 shots on target – from 4/6 to 6/4 – took a little bit of the gloss off it, but it whetted the appetite for the Premier League kick off next week.”

Meanwhile, Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “A 90-minute draw is invariably a good result especially in a big TV game, and none of the usual suspects hit the back of the net either.

“The Community Shield was a decent run-out for both teams, there was a cruel late equalising twist, but Arsenal were miles better than Manchester City in the penalty shoot-out.

“As an appetite-whetter, it did the job nicely. We learned little, but it was great to see those big names again back on turf, and both clubs gave it plenty in a bid to win the thing.”

The weekend also saw the return of the EFL and a stacked fixture list of matches across all three divisions spread over three days.

Leicester, who were back in the Championship just seven years after winning the Premier League title, were 4/5 to take all three points at home to last season’s play-off finalists, Coventry City.

The Foxes found themselves 1-0 down to a Kyle McFadzean header just after the break but eventually bagged all three points thanks to a brace from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Leeds (4/9) played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Cardiff City in what was a pleasing result for the layers, while newly promoted Ipswich (11/8) got off to a flying start with a 2-1 win away at Sunderland.

There was also a win for Southampton (13/10) over Sheffield Wednesday, and League One champions Plymouth (13/10) marked their return to the second tier with a 3-1 victory over Huddersfield.

Watford (4/5) top the Championship table at this early stage after demolishing QPR 4-0, with all the goals coming before half-time as the Hornets took their foot off the gas in the second half.

Notable results in the other divisions were Barnsley (5/6) thumping Port Vale 7-0, Bolton (7/10) beating Lincoln 3-0 in League One and Notts County suffering a shock 5-1 defeat in League Two.

In fact, the three sides at the head of the betting market to clinch the League Two title (Wrexham, Stockport and Notts County) all lost on Saturday.

“The Championship saw a mixed bag of results on opening day, but we just about managed to come out ahead overall,” said Gill.

“Leicester versus Coventry came in as the biggest turnover event in the league and a late winner for the well-backed Leicester gave punters what they wanted to see.

“Leeds versus Cardiff was a positive result for us, as was Millwall’s 1-0 win away at Middlesbrough, but Norwich opening their account with a 2-1 win at home over Hull went the way of the punters.”

Discussing the EFL action, Francisco Cano, head of trading at LiveScore Group, said: “This opening weekend saw great results and a very positive margin across all of them.

“The biggest turnover from the weekend was on the England Championship with a decent margin recorded – mainly on the full-time results.”

Away from the football, 18-1-shot Aberama Gold, ridden by Andrea Atzeni, landed the six-furlong Stewards Cup at a rain-lashed Glorious Goodwood, beating Apollo One (10/1) and Bielsa (12/1) into second and third, respectively.

Apollo One has been supported before the the off, while 100/30-favourite Orazio finished well out of the places in what was a solid result for the bookies.

“The places were not the best as Bielsa was well supported each way and finished in third place,” said Cano.

Stephen Davison, head of commercial operations at Pythia Sports, said: “The pre-race favourite Orazio was still favourite until two furlongs out, when he hit an in-running low of 5/2.

“The horse looked to be travelling well but quickly emptied out in the testing conditions and hit a high of 14/1 with one furlong left to go when the betting was suspended with bookmakers.”

Cano added that Sumo Sam taking the Group 2 Little Lantry Stakes at odds of 25/1 was a great outcome. He continued: “Newmarket saw more favourable results for us with Flaccianello (5/1) and Hard To Resist (11/2) winning their respective races and both beating fancied favourites.”

Davison added: “Sumo Sam’s odds never went higher than his starting price of 25/1. The horse first traded odds on between the two and three furlong markers.

“The pre-race favourite Free Wind touched a low of 4/9 at about three furlongs out, but quickly drifted out as it became clear the leader wasn’t being caught.”

However, the heavy conditions were so bad on Saturday at Goodwood that the final three races following the feature race, the Stewards Cup, were abandoned due to unsafe ground around the bend.

Over in Ireland, trainer Wille Mullins ended up with 10 winners for the week – including a final day double – at what was an equally soggy Galway Festival.

Firkins said: “You needed wellies and a brolly for the majority of Galway and Goodwood but plenty of good things fizzed in over in Ireland, even if winners were a tad harder to come by on the Downs.

“Let’s hope the biblical precipitation will have abated in time for York’s Ebor Festival later this month, where Sussex Stakes hero Paddington could well be headed.”