Weekend Review: Haaland haunts Palace as luscious Liverpool crush Cherries
Manchester City’s blushes were spared as a second-half Erling Haaland hat-trick snatched victory in a sticky weekend for the bookies
The layers had a tough weekend as all of the traditional top-six sides in the Premier League all won despite a couple of scares.
Manchester City (1/5) fought back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 (40/1) thanks to a 19-minute second-half Erling Haaland hat-trick against Crystal Palace to keep the Citizens in the chasing pack for the league.
The biggest victory of the weekend came at Anfield as Liverpool thumped hapless Bournemouth 9-0 (200/1), a result that has contributed to the downfall of Cherries boss Scott Parker who was relieved of his managerial duties this morning.
Before the game, Parker was available to back at 8/1 to be the first manager to be sacked.
It took the Reds just three minutes to open the scoring in the game as Luis Diaz nodded home. Two minutes later, Harvey Elliot curled one in. Trent Alexander-Arnold made it three with all three goals assisted by Roberto Firminio.
Firminio got in on the act, adding a fourth before Virgil Van Dijk made it a famous five just before halftime.
The second half started just as badly for the South-coast side as Chris Mepham stretched to divert the ball into his own net before Firminio made it a brace for himself after a lucky deflection. Youngster Fabio Carvalho added the eighth with eight minutes left before Diaz concluded a miserable afternoon for the Cherries.
A record-breaking afternoon ? pic.twitter.com/1ViG759VQu
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 27, 2022
Bet365’s Steve Freeth stated that the result at Liverpool did see some returns for the firm’s punters.
He said: “Ten bet365 customers managed to pick Liverpool 9 Bournemouth 0 at 200/1 before kick off at Anfield in what was a poor day in the English top flight with all the coupon ‘good things’ seemingly landing.”
On the topsy-turvy game at the Etihad, Freeth commented: “Manchester City had drifted to 7/2 in-play before Haaland did his thing having already paid out on Crystal Palace when they went 2-0 up at the Etihad thanks to our two goals ahead early payout offer.”
Elsewhere, Arsenal (2/5) grabbed a late winner against Fulham at The Emirates to maintain their 100% start to the season.
The Gunners went behind to an Aleksandar Mitrovic strike just before the hour. Midfield maestro Martin Ødegaard equalised eight minutes later before Gabriel scrambled a late winner to secure the 2-1 (7/1) victory for Arsenal to maintain their two-point lead at the top.
Chelsea (2/5) bounced back from last week’s Leeds loss to win 2-1 over bottom-of-the-table Leicester City.
Spurs (1/2) picked up a solid 2-0 (7/1) victory over newly promoted Nottingham Forest thanks to a Harry Kane brace. Kane was denied a hat-trick after he saw his penalty saved by Forest stopper Dean Henderson.
Substitute, Richarlison caused quite the media stir with his showboating antics in the final few minutes of the game but will be remembered for his peach of a pass to Kane for his second.
? Tottenham's new Brazilian, wearing white and blue… pic.twitter.com/CwWnRhDUXw
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 28, 2022
Manchester United (10/11) made it back-to-back victories with a 1-0 victory over Southampton thanks to a Bruno Fernandes strike just after half-time.
On the goal-scoring front, the bookies had a tough weekend as Betfred’s Alan Firkins stated: “Tough going on the Premier League front at weekend, with hefty ‘Double Delight’ first goal scorer pay-outs on Kane, Diaz and Sterling. Harry’s missed pen saved us a ‘Hat-trick Heaven’ packet.
“One intrepid customer had £40 on Joachim Andersen to score first at The Etihad, and as Palace’s initial strike was an own goal, they trousered a cool eight grand from the Dane’s thumping header.”
In the race for the golden boot, Haaland (8/13) put himself two goals clear of the chasing pack as Kane (6/1), Mitrovic (33/1) and surprise package Rodrigo (50/1) all sit on four goals.
Punters who have backed Mohammed Salah (9/1) for the golden boot will have been dismayed by the Egyptian blanking during Liverpool’s rout and early season hot shot Gabriel Jesus (9/1) misfired for the second game in a row as Ødegaard becomes the Gunners’ top marksman.
Europe was a completely different kettle of fish for punters, as the bookies were able to reel in some of their losses on the Premier League action.
Bayern Munich and PSG both failed to win at home, while the big match in Italy saw Juventus held to a 1-1 (5/1) draw at home by Jose Mourinho’s Roma.
Matchbook’s Aidan O’Sullivan commented: “On the continent, things didn’t exactly go to plan for home favs Bayern Munich (2/9), who even with 20 shots on target at home against Mönchengladbach were held to a 1-1 draw.
“A similar story occurred in Paris where PSG, fresh from a 7-1 hammering of Lille, were also held 1-1 at home to Monaco. We saw some very warm support for this double (4/7), so it wasn’t all bad news for the Matchbook football layers.”
19 saves. N I N E T E E N ?♂️ pic.twitter.com/iWoZNlVRT5
— Gladbach (@borussia_en) August 28, 2022
Other European results may not have gone the way of the bookies, as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and AC Milan all secured victories over the weekend.