Weekend Review: Energetic Emirates encounter opens title race up while Mullins the main man at Leopardstown

A slew of Saturday draws in the Premier League were welcome acca-busters for the bookies ahead of a truly Super Sunday that saw the title race took another twist.

Tottenham Hotspur (6/5) conceded a 94th equaliser to Everton (2/1) at Goodison Park as Jarrad Branthwaite forced home from close range in the lunchtime kick off to set the scene for a drawn-laden weekend.

Two of the three Saturday 3pm kick offs ended in draws, with Burnley (7/4) and Fulham (7/5) sharing the points after the Clarets came from 2-0 down to level it at 2-2.

An epic at St James’ Park between Newcastle United (1/2) and Luton Town (5/1) saw the highest-scoring draw of the season, with the game on Tyneside ending 4-4 after Luton went into a shock 4-2 lead.

Aston Villa (3/5) and Brighton (7/10) picked up 5-0 and 4-1 wins respectively, with both sides recovering from a poor run of results. 

On the Saturday action, bet365’s Steve Freeth commented: “You’re always concerned when you see a weekend full of goals thrown in with a few ‘two goals ahead early payouts’, but we’ve managed to come out of it relatively unscathed. 

“I was expecting to see a big red minus on the 4-4 between Newcastle and Luton, especially with the early payout concession, but it was a winner, albeit only one of two in the Premier League on Saturday with losses taken at Brighton, Burnley (early payout) and Sheffield United.”

Betway’s Chad Yeomans added: “With a staggering 41 goals across the nine top-flight games, it kept our traders on their toes, offering both punters and fans plenty to cheer about.

“The saving graces for us on Saturday were the draws between Everton and Spurs, and the incredible 4-4 at St James’ Park between Newcastle and Luton which almost no one foresaw as a possible result.”

Moving to Sunday, Manchester United (1/2) made it back-to-back league wins with a resounding 3-0 win at Old Trafford against West Ham (9/2), a result that saw the Red Devils overtake their opponents in the league table. 

Wolves (5/1) heaped more pressure on Mauricio Pochettino as the Midlands side recovered from an early Cole Palmer opener to run out 4-2 winners at Stamford Bridge. The result saw Chelsea (1/2) slide into the bottom half of the table. 

In the star fixture of the weekend, Arsenal (11/10) secured a 3-1 win over Liverpool (9/4) to ensure the battle for the title will remain a three-horse race for the foreseeable after the Gunners closed to gap at the top to two points. 

The home side took the lead early on after Bukayo Saka latched onto a rebound from a Kai Havertz shot. A defensive mix-up just before half-time led to Gabriel putting it into his own net to send the teams into the break on level terms. 

Another defensive mistake, this time between Liverpool keeper Alisson and Virgil Van Dijk, gave Gabriel Martinelli an open goal to tap into and send the Emirates into raptures. Ibrahima Konate was given his marching orders two minutes from time, and Leandro Trossard finished the scoring for Arsenal in second half injury time. 

Freeth said: “It was a big three points in a must-win game for Arteta’s side. The result itself was a good winner for us with the visitors only managing one shot on target with a number of bet builders falling by the wayside after a below-par showing from the table toppers.

“The hosts may have also won comfortably at Old Trafford, but punters just don’t trust Manchester United right now. The same can also be said about Chelsea, so we did take a hit at Stamford Bridge, with Wolves becoming the latest side to bag four against them.”

As the title race hots up, with Manchester City heading to Brentford this evening, Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “The result was arguably appreciated most in East Manchester, and the latest Premier League outrights are as follows: Manchester City 4/6, Liverpool 9/4, Arsenal 11/2, Tottenham 40/1, Aston Villa 66/1, and Manchester United a whopping 400/1. Buckle up, get the pacemaker serviced, and make sure the fridge is well-stocked; it’s going to be epic.”

Over in Spain, the layers were also pleased with draws for La Liga title challengers Real Madrid and Girona.

A late Marcos Llorente equaliser from Atletico saw the Madrid derby end 1-1 after Brahim Diaz had opened the scoring for Los Blancos in the first half.

Spain’s surprise package, Girona (evens), could only manage a draw at home to Real Sociedad (14/5), while Barcelona (4/5) were the only one of Spain’s top three to win at the weekend with a 3-1 victory away at Alaves (3/1).

Francisco Cano, head of trading at LiveScore Group, said: “It was a great weekend in terms of actives, turnover and margin. [There was a] strong turnover margin in the Madrid Derby, which ended 1-1 thanks to a last-minute equaliser from the head of Marcos Llorente.

“Another game worth mentioning as a strong result for us was Girona’s 0-0 draw at home against Real Sociedad. 

“Overall, there were some very good results across the European leagues, helping us to start the month with a healthy margin,” he added.

However, Serie A did throw up some punter-friendly results over the weekend, with AC Milan and Napoli both securing three points, albeit laboriously.

Napoli came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Verona while Milan found themselves 2-1 down away at Frosinone before running out 3-2 winners.

Freeth commented: “Serie A belonged to the punters. We had 8/11 AC Milan winning from behind at Frosinone and 8/13 Bologna doing the same when beating Sassuolo 4-2 on Saturday, followed by 4/9 Napoli beating Verona with two late goals.

“We did claw some back with the low-scoring game between Inter and Juventus on Sunday.”

Elsewhere, in horseracing, Willie Mullins cleaned up at the Dublin Racing Festival with eight Grade 1 winners over the weekend in Leopardstown.

Victories for the likes of El Fabiolo, State Man and Fact to File led Mullins to describe the racing action as “extraordinary”.

Sunday’s four-race winners had combined odds of 8/1, with the odds-on favourites being augmented by Fact to File at 6/4 taking the Ladbrokes Novice Chase as he got the better of stablemate and 4/7 favourite Gaelic Warrior.

Mullins heads to Cheltenham next month with El Fabiolo odds-on at 4/9 for the Champion Chase and Galopin Des Champs a best-priced 10/11 for back-to-back Gold Cups after a comfortable victory at odds of 1/3 in the Irish Gold Cup on Saturday.

Firkins was effusive in his praise for Mullins as he explained the bookies were able to claw some ground back thanks to the shortcomings of Gaelic Warrior and Marine Nationale, which only finished fifth in the Irish Arkle despite going off the 4/7 favourite.

“The Dublin Racing Festival from Leopardstown provided more evidence as if any were needed that WP Mullins is an absolute force of nature when it comes to training thoroughbred racehorses.

“He hoovered up all eight Grade 1s over two scintillating days, and a notable haul at the Cheltenham Festival next month seems a mere formality.

“There were one or two shocks to keep punters from having it all their own way, with the defeats of especially Gaelic Warrior and Marine Nationale wrecking many permed wagers and denting Festival aspirations into the bargain,” he added.

Finally, the Six Nations got underway on Friday, with Ireland running out 38-17 winners over France. Saturday’s fixtures were a lot closer, with England edging Italy 27-24. The home nations clash between Scotland and Wales couldn’t have been tighter, with Scotland winning by 27 points to 26.

Yeomans said: “The Six Nations kicked off with a captivating clash on Friday evening between the two pre-tournament favourites.

“In a game that perhaps should have been reserved for the final round, Ireland secured a victory over France in Paris, setting the stage for potential back-to-back Grand Slams

“With Ireland now overwhelming favourites at 1/5 to win the Championship and 13/20 for the Grand Slam, pre-tournament backers of the men in green are licking their lips at the position they now find themselves in,” he added.