Weekend Review: Bournemouth the cherry on top for layers as McGinn the villain for punters

The Premier League served up a handful of surprise results over the weekend to give the bookies a pre-Christmas boost.

The headline result of the weekend saw Bournemouth (11/2) run out 3-0 winners away to Manchester United (11/25) to heap further woe on under-pressure manager Erik ten Haag.

Goals from Dom Solanke, Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi gave the Cherries a famous win and a vital three points in their battle to beat the drop.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa emerged as credible title challengers after beating Arsenal 1-0 at Villa Park thanks to a fine finish from John McGinn.

The win meant Unai Emery’s side extended their winning streak at home to 15 games on the trot as they moved just two points behind leaders Liverpool.

Speaking of the Reds, they started the weekend with a pleasing result for punters after coming from 1-0 down to win 2-1 away to Crystal Palace.

And as the weekend started with a positive result for the punters, it was bookended with a 4-1 win for Spurs (27/10) against Newcastle (9/5) to land a final blow to the bookies.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “We started with a losing game at Selhurst Park and finished with another one at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but it was what happened in the other games that made our weekend, with Bournemouth’s win at Old Trafford and the low-scoring nature of the games elsewhere on Saturday.

“A special mention to Aston Villa who are now 10/1 from 100/1 to remain unbeaten at Villa Park all season after back-to-back 1-0 wins over title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal, potentially putting them in the mix for their first crown since 1981.”

Francisco Cano, LiveScore Group head of trading, said the weekend returned an “amazing margin” for the operator.

He added: “We saw great numbers over the weekend due to the unexpected results across all top leagues. The biggest profits came from United’s 0-3 defeat to Bournemouth and Aston Villa’s terrific victory over Arsenal.”

Elsewhere, Fulham (8/5) West Ham back down to earth after the Hammers’ 2-1 win over Spurs on Thursday night with a 5-0 thumping.

There was also joy for the bookies as an Erling Haaland-less Manchester City (3/20) only squeaked past Luton (15/1) 2-1 at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.

Betway’s Chad Yeomans summed up the Sunday action for EGR. He said: “Sunday saw further good results for the books with an inspired Everton win against an out-of-sorts Chelsea, and a thumping 5-0 win for Fulham against West Ham that no one could have predicted.

“City finally gave the bettors something to cheer about as they got back to winning ways despite no Haaland, and a genuine scare from a battling Luton Town.

“In the final Premier League action of the weekend, punters saw another good result as Tottenham ended their recent poor form with an impressive 4-1 win against a Newcastle side very much running on fumes, but in the end, it was a case of too little too late and a weekend to forget.”

On the continent, Girona (9/2) returned to the top of La Liga with a stunning 4-2 win over Catalan rivals Barcelona (9/20).

Europe’s surprise package went into a 3-1 lead before a stoppage-time goal from İlkay Gündoğan that would have caused some concern had former Boro forward Cristhian Stuani not put the game beyond doubt moments later.

Kindred Group’s Sam Farley said: “Interestingly our customers really got stuck into Barcelona versus Girona on Sunday night. A cracking game that pushed Barca down to fourth and cemented Girona’s position at the top of La Liga. It’s going to be really exciting to see how their matches perform for the rest of this title race.”

Staying in Spain, while Jude Bellingham once again got on the scoresheet, Real Madrid (7/10) were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Betis (7/2).

Shockingly, over in Germany, Bayern Munich (1/4) fell to a 5-1 defeat to Frankfurt (15/2) as Harry Kane failed to find his shooting boots.

Freeth said: “We celebrated Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw with Real Betis but La Liga backers had the last laugh with our most expensive result in Europe being the 4-2 win for Girona at Barcelona as the visitors returned to the top of the League.

“Bayern Munich came a cropper as Harry Kane fired a rare blank and even PSG’s late winner against Nantes couldn’t take the gloss off a really good couple of days on the football front, both at home and abroad.”

Meanwhile, in the world of horseracing, meetings continued to battle against the weather and the punters were less than happy with results on Saturday.

In the rescheduled Fighting Fifth Hurdle from last week, Not So Sleepy eased to a victory after Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill and Shishkin were pulled from the meet.

The 9/1 shot came back to close down the favourite, You Wear It Well, and Goshen after their strong start to eventually win the race by eight lengths.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “Horses have been faced with heavy rain and deep ground of late, and punters also found the going tough on Saturday. We got a result in the rescheduled Fighting Fifth with 9/1 scorer Not So Sleepy, while only Jonbon of the real hot shots obliged, winning the Tingle Creek, and he was long odds-on.

“Old rival El Fabiolo was even skinnier when winning the Hilly Way over in Cork on Sunday, setting the scene beautifully for their eagerly anticipated clash in the Champion Chase at the [Cheltenham] Festival, for which we go Evens El Fabiolo, 5/2 Jonbon, and a whopping 14s bar the two,” he added.

Finally, Firkins had some notes on the flagship betting event of the weekend in the shape of the finale of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! as Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson became the King of the Jungle.

Firkins said: “Betfred customers enjoyed a jungle punt as hot favourite Sam Thompson was crowned King in I’m a Celeb, with punters having the upper hand throughout concerning the successive eliminations too.

“Tony Bellew finished a most deserving second and was even more delighted when advised about the current run of form his beloved Everton are enjoying.”