Weekend Review: Bowen's bullseye tanks Ten Hag as United dealt Hammer blow

Manchester United have sacked Erik ten Hag after the Red Devils fell to a 2-1 away defeat to West Ham on Saturday in a bumper weekend for the bookies.

Arsenal’s (5/4) thrilling 2-2 draw against Liverpool (9/4) came to the delight of multiple operators, with Kindred Group heralding the game at the Emirates as its “best result of the weekend”. 

Bukayo Saka opened the scoring, before the Gunners were swiftly pegged back by a Virgil van Dijk header. Mikel Merino nodded home his first Arsenal goal on the stroke of half-time to restore their lead, but Mo Salah silenced the home faithful late on to ensure the honours ended even. 

Reflecting on the weekend’s flagship fixture, Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “We went top price on both Arsenal and Liverpool in the big Premier League game of the weekend on Sunday at the Emirates, and it paid off courtesy of the 2-2 scoreline.” 

He went on to say the score draw had little impact on Betfred’s favourites to lift the title come May, adding: “There’s not much change at the top of the Premier League betting – City remain 5/4, with Liverpool 5/2 and Arsenal 11/4.” 

Francisco Cano, head of trading at LiveScore Group, remarked: “The weekend saw a series of high-profile European fixtures, generating significant turnover. The highlight was the intense Arsenal-Liverpool clash, which delivered the week’s peak turnover. Arsenal twice held the lead, but Salah’s late goal secured a draw.”

The draw in North London wasn’t welcomed by bet365 however, as it helped one customer win the 6 Scores Challenge Jackpot of £250,000, having correctly predicted the exact results of six different fixtures over the course of the weekend. 

Steve Freeth shed further light on a huge win for the punter: “Our free-to-play 6 Scores Challenge Jackpot of £250,000 has been won after one player correctly predicted six results over a weekend littered with late goals,” he explained.  

“We had four entries remaining going into Arsenal versus Liverpool and that was down to just one when Merino made it 2-1. If you needed one player in the world to put away a chance to seal £250,000 then Mo Salah would surely be near the top of that list, and that’s what he did much to the delight of our first sole winner, our fourth Jackpot winner in total.” 

Sky Bet also announced that “Lee from Swansea” had won the operator’s Super 6 game, taking home a huge £1m, including correctly predicting Manchester City would only beat Southampton 1-0, along with 0.2% of other Super 6 entrants.

The latest round of Saturday Premier League fixtures also produced a string of positive results for bookmakers, with a flurry of last gasp goals the scourge of many punters across the country. 

Everton (7/4) and Bournemouth (16/5) bagged stoppage time equalisers to rescue a point against Fulham (8/5) and Aston Villa (4/5), respectively, as Wolves (9/2) stunned Brighton (11/20) with two late goals to leave the south coast with just their second point of the season in an enthralling 2-2 draw. 

Brentford (13/20) broke Ipswich (15/4) hearts in a topsy-turvy clash that saw the Bees run out 4-3 winners, while Manchester City (1/10) scored fewer than many expected during their 1-0 win over Southampton (20/1). 

Firkins said: “It was a positive weekend results-wise, turnover was good, and all following a busy domestic and European midweek programme. 

“Manchester City winning by a solitary strike against Southampton denied many who were expecting an avalanche, and late goals were a fabulous bonus as both Wolves and Bournemouth picked up points at heavy favourites Aston Villa and Brighton.” 

Freeth also analysed Saturday’s action, noting bet365 had benefited from the fixtures at the Etihad, Villa Park and Goodison Park. 

“Clearly the margin of victory in the Manchester City versus Southampton game was a rewarding one as were the draws at Aston Villa and Everton,” he said. 

“Not so at Brighton, where we had already paid out on the 4/7 shots when Evan Ferguson put them 2-0 up thanks to our Early Payout offer.

“We’d also paid out on Ipswich in pre-game singles, multiples and bet builders when they went two goals clear at Brentford, but ended up paying on both when Bryan Mbeumo fired home the injury time winner.” 

Kindred’s Ali Gill dissected all the action from both Saturday and Sunday, citing the latter as the better day of the two for the bookmaker, particularly the surprise 2-1 defeat for United (11/10) away to West Ham (8/5) thanks to a Jarrod Bowen penalty after yet more VAR controversy. 

And, just as this edition of the Weekend Review was about to go live, United confirmed the sacking of manager Erik ten Hag after a poor run of form left the Red Devils in 14th in the Premier League.

“A great weekend all round on our side as, despite punters starting well and leaving us in the red on Friday night as [Nottingham] Forest beat Leicester. We managed to come out ahead in all nine games played in the Premier League over the weekend, with no surprises around the big winners,” Gill said. 

“On Saturday, Villa’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth was great for the book, but all told it was Sunday that really did the trick.  

“Manchester United losing to West Ham and Spurs losing to Palace, without a win all season until yesterday, was great to see and saw us well ahead. But the best was saved till last, as the draw between Arsenal and Liverpool came out as our best result of the weekend overall,” he added.

Sunday also saw Chelsea get the better of Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge, with Cole Palmer stepping up to be the Blues’ matchwinner once again during a 2-1 victory. 

Three points for the Blues was not welcomed by bet365, as Freeth bemoaned the brilliance of the young Englishman: “Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Newcastle was our worst result of the weekend after another inspired performance from Cole Palmer.  

“The Englishman now tops our PFA Player of the Year, betting at 11/4, having overtaken Erling Haaland. The 22-year-old is also into 4/1 in the ‘Top Goalscorer Without Haaland’ market after yet another goal.” 

Meanwhile, on the continent, there was also a standout clash between two Spanish giants on Saturday night, with Real Madrid welcoming fierce rivals Barcelona to the Santiago Bernabeu. 

It was a dismal night for the hosts, who were beaten 4-0 by a rampant Barcelona that came into the game after smashing Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League during the week.

Gill explained: “El Clasico came in as our biggest event of the weekend, Barcelona’s 4-0 win apparently not a surprise to punters, coupled with what looked like a generous price pre-match and that was our worst result of the weekend.” 

Freeth also addressed the memorable Barcelona triumph, stating: “It’s been a brilliant week for Barcelona with a 4-1 hammering of Bayern Munich (12/1 into 8/1 for the Champions League) followed by a 4-0 trouncing of Real Madrid with Hansi Flick’s side now 5/4 into 8/11 to win La Liga.  

“We had 468 pre-game bets on such a scoreline (80/1 best price) at the Bernabeu with two-goal hero Robert Lewandowski into 1/7 to finish top scorer having started the season at 9/2.” 

Discussing results elsewhere in Europe, Freeth added: “Good results on the continent included Atletico Madrid’s (23/20) 1-0 defeat at Real Betis and 4/9 Bayer Leverkusen drawing 2-2 with Werder Bremen. Noticeable losers were Villarreal’s (19/20) late winner at Valladolid and 7/5 poke Fiorentina winning 5-1 against Roma.” 

Betway’s Mike Reading added: “In La Liga, the Betis and Atletico Madrid fixture was our most profitable game across all leagues this weekend as José María Giménez’s own goal was enough to see Betis claim the spoils and ruin many an accumulator.

“As for El Clasico, Barcelona’s dominant performance over Real Madrid wasn’t ideal due to the high goal count and Barça were widely seen as a good price as underdogs especially considering their win against Bayern a few days prior.”

Away from the football, this weekend also included horseracing at both Cheltenham and Doncaster, with the former producing a positive performance for Kindred. 

The Masterson Holding Hurdle was won by 7/2 runner Givemefive, with the four-year-old making a push in the early stages of the home straight to eventually beat 5/1 Dodger Long by a length-and-a-quarter.

The race favourite, Bottler’secret, which went off at evens, could only muster a third-place finish having ran in second for the majority of the race at Prestbury Park.

Gill remarked: “As the jumps season swings into gear, on Saturday at Cheltenham the Masterson Holding Hurdle went the way of well-backed Givemefive in a race decimated by low sun, meaning no hurdles were taken in the home straight. With even money favourite Bottler’secret back in third, it was a profitable race for the book.” 

In the William Hill Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster, 11/1 shot Hotazhell shaded heavy favourite Delacroix (15/8) by a nose to win at Doncaster.

Looking to the future, Firkins said: “Donny’s Futurity was run on fairly deep ground on Saturday and the narrow, ultra-game winner Hotazhell, trained by the evergreen and quite magnificent Jessie Harrington, is 25s for the Betfred 2,000 Guineas and 33/1 for the Betfred Derby.  

“Runner-up Delacroix lost little in defeat, and both are surely better judged on a more suitable surface,” he added.