Weekend Review: Fulham foil Red Devils as City survive against Plymouth

Fulham (11/5) beat FA Cup holders Manchester United (5/4) 4-3 on penalties at Old Trafford in Sunday’s fifth round tie in what was a standout result for the bookies despite being a weekend bereft of Premier League action.

The game finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time, with Bruno Fernandes’ 71^st minute equaliser cancelling out Calvin Bassey’s first-half header

Both Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee had their penalties saved by Bernd Leno as the West London outfit secured a place in the quarter-finals.

Earlier that day, Brighton (12/5) got the better of Newcastle (6/5) at St James’ Park, beating the Magpies 2-1 after extra time.  

The home side took the lead through an Alexander Isak penalty, but the Seagulls fought back thanks to goals from Yankuba Minteh and Danny Welbeck.  

Both sides ended the game with 10-men after red cards to Tariq Lamptey and Anthony Gordon, the latter of which is suspended for the League Cup final clash with Liverpool.  

On Saturday, last year’s beaten finalists Manchester City (1/25) survived a scare to come back from behind at home to Championship side Plymouth Argyle.  

A Nico O’Reilly brace and a Kevin De Bruyne strike were enough for Pep Guardiola’s side to progress to the next round after Maksym Talovierov put Argyle ahead with a fine header.

On Friday night, Aston Villa (7/50) saw off Championship side Cardiff City in a 2-0 win at Villa Park. 

The weekend’s other FA Cup fixtures saw Crystal Palace (3/10) beat Millwall 3-1 at Selhurst Park, Bournemouth (7/10) progressed on penalties against Wolves after a 1-1 draw and Preston North End (2/1) became the only Championship side left in the competition after beating local rivals Burnley 3-0.  

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill explained how the FA Cup action made for a comfortable weekend for the bookmaker. 

He said: “The FA Cup was relatively layer-friendly in the end, despite little in the way of huge shocks. Fulham beating Man Utd on pens after finishing level after 90 mins was a great result for the book, while Newcastle versus Brighton finishing level after 90 also saw us finish nicely ahead.  

“Despite an eventually comfortable 3-1 win for Man City over Plymouth, Nico O’Reilly wasn’t a big name on punters’ lips and so him scoring two of the goals went relatively unbacked leaving a small black figure there, while Palace beating Millwall and Preston beating Burnley were both close enough to a draw between backers and layers.” 

Bet365’s Steve Freeth noted that the weekend’s results landed one customer a £250,000 jackpot via bet365’s free-to-play 6 Scores Challenge.

The customer correctly predicted the 90-minute result in a series of FA Cup and Championship games, while Sky Bet’s Super 6 game with a £250,000 prize pot was also won.

Across Europe, Real Madrid (19/20) surrendered their lead at the top of La Liga after losing 2-1 away at Real Betis.  

Barcelona (1/ 4) were able to capitalise by beating Real Sociedad 4-0 at home, while Atlético Madrid (11/10) defeated Athletic Bilbao 1-0.  

In Serie A, Napoli (2/1) drew 1-1 with Inter Milan (3/2) in a top of the table clash, while third-placed Atalanta (9/50) could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Venezia. The 10 men of AC Milan (23/20) also succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at home to Lazio.  

In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich (16/25), Bayer Leverkusen (17/20) and Borussia Dortmund (4/5) all enjoyed away wins at Stuttgart, Frankfurt and St Pauli, respectively.  

Freeth said: “The FA Cup fixtures hardly set the punters’ pulses racing but we had small wins on all fifth round ties.

“With our focus mainly on the continent where some big performances from Real Betis, Venezia and NEC Nijmegen helped hugely on Saturday and Holsten Kiel and Lazio on Sunday as customers looked for short-priced alternatives on the European coupon. 

“2/11 Real Madrid getting turned over was the highlight, followed by 2/11 Atalanta and 4/9 Feyenoord on Saturday, then 1/2 Union Berlin and 23/20 Milan on Sunday. 

“Punters benefitted from wins by 1/3 PSG, 9/10 Torino and 1/4 Barcelona but we didn’t take too many hits in a weekend that belonged to the bookmakers both at home and abroad.” 

Gill added that the Real Madrid loss at Real Betis was the best result of the weekend for the Unibet parent company.

Meanwhile, in horseracing, 5/6 favourite Grey Dawning won the bet365 Premier Chase at Kelso, beating out Iroko (2/1) and Barrons Land (200/1).  

Cracking Rhapsody (12/1) romped home in the Morebattle Hurdle ahead of Alnilam (16/1), Old Gregorian (12/1) and Slugger (12/1).  

At Newbury, Booster Bob (16/1) won the BetVictor Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase ahead of Vincenzo (5/1) and Saint Segal (10/1).  

Betfred’s Alan Firkins remarked on a tough racing weekend for customers.  

He said: “It was tough for racing punters at weekend – only two ITV favourites obliged from 10 contests, and all was a little tepid in fairness ahead of you-know-what, which commences in precisely eight days.

“Hard to find anything that enhanced its Cheltenham chances, and the phrase ‘lull before the storm’ was on the lips of many.” 

Gill added: “At Kelso on Saturday the Morebattle Hurdle went the way of 12/1 shot Cracking Rhapsody.  

“Despite some big prices filling the places and favourite Wilful being pulled up, there was some support for the winner and those in behind, and we came out marginally in the red there.  

“On the flip side results wise, the Greatwood Gold Cup went to 16/1 shot Booster Bob under Sean Bowen, in a result which saw us finish nicely ahead.” 

Finally, in rugby league, the sport flew the nest and hosted a regular Betfred Super League game in Las Vegas over the weekend, with Wigan thrashing Warrington 48-24.

Firkins said: “Wigan thrashed Warrington 48-24 but everyone agreed that the initiative to get involved, in a jamboree that included NRL clashes and England’s women in action, had been a great success.”