Weekend Review: Kovacic burns bridges as Premier League returns 

Manchester City (19/20) brushed aside Chelsea with a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge to kick off their fourth successive title defence.

Erling Haaland inevitably opened the scoring for Pep Guardiola’s side, before former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic sealed the win late on.

Chelsea (4/1) didn’t start any of the club’s nine summer signings, with the encounter with the ante-post favourites for the title proving to be a real baptism of fire for Blues boss Enzo Maresca.

The champions pick up where they left off. 💪✨ pic.twitter.com/cC4ZqCOzsM

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 18, 2024

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said the result ultimately favoured Unibet, despite City marksman Haaland finding the back of the net.  

He commented: “It was a pretty good start on the Kindred side in terms of results. In the big game on Sunday, despite Man City coming out 2-0 winners, we saw some great margin.  

“Although Haaland got his name on the scoresheet, he was extremely quiet outside of that and so the majority of his stats lines were missed, and none of Chelsea’s abundance of players, new and old, got a goal, meaning all round that one went our way.” 

Elsewhere in the league, Manchester United (4/6) kicked off the new campaign on Friday night with a 1-0 win over Fulham at Old Trafford, with debutant Joshua Zirkzee grabbing the only goal after 87 minutes.

Friday night delight! ❤️‍🔥🙌#MUFC || #MUNFUL pic.twitter.com/EXBEXGjMJA

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 16, 2024

Promoted sides Ipswich and Southampton suffered defeats at home to Liverpool (1/3) and away to Newcastle United (2/5), respectively, while Arsenal (1/7) enjoyed a 2-0 home win over Wolves.  

Meanwhile, Brighton’s new manager, Fabian Hürzeler, the league’s youngest ever permanent manager at 31-years-old, enjoyed a dream first game with the Seagulls (13/10) recording an impressive 3-0 away victory at Everton. 

Bet365’s Steve Freeth explained that punters were largely successful across the weekend despite a relatively low-scoring set of fixtures. 

“Despite none of the five games being goal-fests, we took a buffeting on a number of bet builders with the worst being Liverpool beating Ipswich with Mohamed Salah scoring and assisting.  

“Not to be outdone a few hours later, Bukayo Saka did exactly the same for Arsenal, and Erling Haaland sealed a memorable weekend for many on Sunday as he predictably found his way onto the scoresheet.” 

Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth played out a 1-1 draw (12/5), Brentford (7/4) won 2-1 without Ivan Toney at home to Crystal Palace, while new signing Amadou Onana helped Aston Villa (9/5) to a 2-1 win away at West Ham. 

Across the Championship, there were big home wins for Sunderland (6/5), Burnley (3/5), Swansea (19/20) and Watford (13/8).  

Domestic football also returned across Europe over the weekend.  

In Seria A, defending champions Inter Milan (9/20) started their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Genoa, while Antonio Conte’s Napoli (7/10) slumped to a 3-0 defeat away to Verona in the Italian’s first game as manager. 

Barcelona (5/6) came from behind to beat Valencia 2-1 away from home, while Kylian Mbappe’s La Liga debut resulted in Real Madrid (2/5) drawing 1-1 with Mallorca, much to the delight of layers.

🏁 @RCD_Mallorca 1-1 @RealMadrid
⚽ 13' @RodrygoGoes
⚽ 53' Muriqi#MallorcaRealMadrid | @emirates pic.twitter.com/bWGN7zpiYC

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) August 18, 2024

Rodrygo had put the Champions League winners in front before Vedat Muriqi equalised less than 10 minutes after half time to give the islanders a welcome home point.

Livescore Group’s Francisco Cano added that Madrid’s draw proved to be good news for the bookmaker. 

He said: “The second-highest turnover event was the Mallorca-Real Madrid match in La Liga. Despite expectations for a strong performance from Kylian Mbappé’s new team, the match ended in a 1-1 draw and provided us the best margin of the weekend.” Freeth added: “Barcelona’s win from behind against Valencia hit us hard in La Liga, but we had to wait until late on Sunday to taste our biggest win of the weekend as Mallorca deservedly took a point off Real Madrid and their all-star cast.“So often Los Blancos scored late to break our hearts but it was a result that was worth staying up for.”

When it comes to horseracing, 4/1-shot Tiber Flow landed the BetVictor Hungerford Stakes, edging out Witch Hunter (8/1) by a nose.

TIBER FLOW wins the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes at Newbury in a photo-finish 📸

What a finish! Four in a line 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4Seskw6tQF

— Racing Post (@RacingPost) August 17, 2024

In fact, you could have thrown a blanket over the first four home such was the nail-biting finish to the Group 2 at Newbury on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Lethal Levi (15/2) led from start to finish to hold on for Newbury’s TPT Fire Handicap, while Faustus caused an upset in the Play The BetVictor Predictor Now Handicap by winning at 16/1, with 4/1 favourite Woolhampton dead last.Kindred Group’s Gill noted: “A busy day of racing on Saturday saw the Great St Wilfred go the way of 9/2 favourite Dare To Hope.“Despite that we managed to come out pretty much level pegging on that one. However, the TPT Fire Handicap from Newbury went to the impressive Lethal Levi under a strong Clifford Lee ride. At 15/2 that left us nicely ahead.”

Looking ahead, Betfred’s Alan Firkins cast his eye over the Ebor Festival at York this week.

He said: “All racing eyes are on York this week for the fabled Ebor Festival. Wednesday’s Juddmonte International is our latest chance to assess whether City Of Troy is as good as Aidan O’Brien thinks he is – and he’s a shade of odds-on to take the prestigious Group 1 prize.  

“Ambiente Friendly is surely more suited to this 10.5-furlong trip than the Derby distance that stretched his stamina to the limit both at Epsom and in Ireland, and I can see the son of Gleneagles, who himself was never campaigned beyond 10 furlongs, running a mighty race.”