Weekend Review: Buzzing Bees sting stuttering United as tempers flare in London derby

The bookies had a weekend to remember after the Premier League produced four draws and Manchester United (3/4) were walloped by Brentford in the teatime match on Saturday at GTech Community Stadium.

Brentford (7/2) piled the pressure on Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United with a resounding 4-0 (150/1) victory, a result which leaves the Red Devils anchored to the bottom of the table.

United goalkeeper David De Gea had a game to forget as he let Josh Da Silva’s tame effort squeeze under him to give the Bees an early lead.

De Gea was then at fault for the second, as he played Christian Eriksen into trouble which led to fellow Dane Mathias Jensen rolling home.

The scoring was done in the first half as Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo added further salt into United’s wounds.

With United 4-0 down at half-time, Paddy Power announced it had seen enough as was paying out on Ten Haag to be the first managerial casualty of the season.

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? 4-0 ?#BrentfordFC | #BREMUN pic.twitter.com/42NM1Z6dfn

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) August 13, 2022

Elsewhere, tempers flared at the final whistle as Tottenham scored a 96th-minute equaliser to draw 2-2 (14/1) against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Managers Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel clashed at the final whistle, leading to both being sent off by the referee.

Tottenham showed that they are made of different stuff under Conte as they were both 1-0 down and 2-1 down to Chelsea thanks to goals from home debutant Kalidou Koulibaly and Reece James but Spurs twice pegged the Blues back firstly through Pierre-Emile Højbjerg then Harry Kane nodding in Ivan Perisic’s last-minute corner to send the away fans into raptures.

Matchbook’s Aidan O’Sullivan commented: “It was a mixed bag for football market makers over the weekend. Manchester United getting thumped by Brentford was a nice way to ease the pain.

“Odds against for much of the week close at roughly 2.1 (11/10), a surge of late money for Ten Haag’s side saw them go off at 1.83 (5/6).

“Alas, Red Devils backers were doomed early doors, and there was more likelihood of the Loch Ness monster making her first long-awaited public appearance than a United recovery.

“Our recently launched Matchbook Brokerage service is starting to see some decent Premier League action with two goals bets of note. In the aforementioned Brentford versus United game, one punter had a confirmed quote of £15k at 2.04 (21/20) on over 2.75 goals. On Sunday, unders were the order of the day at Stamford Bridge with a large bet of £30k on under 2.5 goals quoted at 1.93(10/11) between Chelsea and Spurs.”

The delivery ?

The finish ?

The celebrations ? pic.twitter.com/47RY1lSJTe

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 14, 2022

Meanwhile, Gabriel Jesus opened his account for the season with a brace in Arsenal’s (11/20) 4-2 win over downtrodden Leicester City at the Emirates on Saturday, possibly throwing his hat into the ring for the golden boot race.

Manchester City (1/20) eased past Bournemouth 4-0 on Saturday, while Nottingham Forest (3/1) enjoyed a brilliant home return to the Premier League with a 1-0 win over West Ham United (19/20).

There were two goalless matches over the weekend, with Brighton and Newcastle United ending as a stalemate and last week’s starman Aleksandar Mitrovic missing a late penalty against Wolves to leave both sides winless after two matches.

On the continent, PSG (1/25) walked to a comfortable 5-2 victory over Montpellier, with other European giants Bayern Munich (1/10), Borussia Dortmund (5/4) and Real Madrid (2/5) all picking up victories over the weekend.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth stated that the results in Europe were a mixed bag for bookmakers. He said: “Lewandowski and co. failed to do the business at 1/5 against Rayo Vallecano, but while Barcelona were struggling, Real Madrid were winning from behind against Almeria to give us one of the worst results of the weekend.

“We had a losing weekend in Serie A with Lazio getting all three points after an early red card before they clawed themselves back into the game with Immobile scoring a late winner. We had an even later winner in Florence, with Fiorentina beating Cremonese 3-2 to seal a miserable weekend in Italy.

Summing up the weekend’s action, Betfred’s Alan Firkins highlighted the contrast between Man City’s “breath-taking first-half display” and Man United’s “calamities”.

He added: “Erik ten Hag’s beleaguered troops are now out to 6/1 for a top-four Champions League place finish. How good were Brentford, by the way? Absolutely brilliant. More cheer for the traders from the Bridge – Chelsea were excellent, but Spurs just would not lie down. With Arsenal flying, the capital challenge looks strong.”

In horseracing, the results mainly split punter’s and bookmakers’ wins down the middle as Virgin Bet’s Janis Strauts said: “On what was close to a break-even weekend, 50% of Saturday’s races were won by favourites, a total which dropped to 40% on Sunday. The majority of Sunday’s winning favourites had seen very short odds, with nine of the 12 backed at 2/1 or less. We look ahead to an exciting week to come.”

On the equine action, Kindred Group’s Ali Gill added: “The Denford Stakes at Newbury on Saturday went the way of the short price favourite Victory Dance, who won fairly impressively in the end, and despite the short price, punters had got stuck in, and we took a hit there.

“Over at Ripon, the Great St Wilfrid Handicap went the way of 11/1-shot Intrinsic Bond. With second and third filled by 20/1- and 25/1-shots, and well-backed 16/5 favourite Blackrod very disappointing, that was another good result for the book.”

Meanwhile, Inspiral, piloted by Frankie Dettori, put her disappointing performance in the Falmouth Stakes behind her to land the Jacques le Marois at Deauville on the Normandy Coast.

She's back! Inspiral lands the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois at @fgdeauville for @FrankieDettori, the Gosdens and @CPStudOfficial! pic.twitter.com/4wuprgF9VQ

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 14, 2022

Betfred’s Firkins told EGR that he is looking forward to an exciting week on the turf. “One of flat racing’s great festivals takes place this week on the Knavesmire – four days of sensational Ebor action from York.

“While I can’t wait to see Baaeed up in trip in the Juddmonte (2/5), the race of the week for me is the Nunthorpe on Friday. New speed machine on the block Royal Acclaim looks rock-solid at 6/4, but any number of dangers lurk beneath.”