Weekend Review: Man City seal fourth title in a row while Tyson Fury suffers first defeat

Manchester City (1/12) won their fourth Premier League title on the bounce on Sunday, beating West Ham 3-1 to dash Arsenal’s hopes of a first title in 20 years.

Phil Foden’s strike within the first two minutes killed any sense of drama, before the England star added his and the team’s second after 18 minutes.

Over in North London, Arsenal (1/5) found themselves a goal behind just before half-time against Everton to all but secure another league title for the blue half of Manchester.

Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu cancelled out Idrissa Gueye’s strike within minutes and set up a tense second-half when West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus pulled a goal back against Man City before the break.

However, Rodri sealed the three points for Pep Guardiola’s side with 30 minutes remaining, and Kai Harvertz’s late winner for the Gunners meant nothing short of further delight for punters.

Around the league, there were no upsets as Tottenham (3/10) comfortably beat already relegated Sheffield United 3-0, while Chelsea (2/5) continued their strong finish to the season with a 2-1 win over Bournemouth.

Manchester United (7/5) headed into this week’s FA Cup final with a 2-0 win over Brighton while the biggest ‘shock’ result saw Champions League-bound Aston Villa suffer a heavy 5-0 defeat to in-form Crystal Palace (3/5). Need shocked in inverted commas?

Liverpool (1/7) gave outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp the perfect send-off, beating 10-man Wolves 2-0 in front of a packed Anfield.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth commented on a “miserable” day at the office for bookies due to all the favourites bagging three points on Sunday.

He said: “A shockingly bad end to the 2023-24 Premier League season as punters signed off in style with a full house of favourites winning.

“The 10-fold paid 103/1 at kick-off, of which nine teams we paid out early thanks to our ‘2 Goals Ahead Payout’ and on top of that we had the acca boost of 35% for all correct 10 folds, leaving us with our biggest payout of the campaign.

“We were given a glimmer of hope when VAR checked Kai Havertz’s late winner but unfortunately for us, and to the delight of our customers, the German’s 89^th minute goal stood to seal a miserable final day.”

Francisco Cano, LiveScore Group head of trading, also cursed favourite-backers across the final matchday of the season as well as the 37 goals scored across the 10 fixtures.

Cano added: “We saw the conclusion of the English Premier League season at the weekend with all 10 games played on an enthralling Sunday afternoon.

“Across the day, we saw solid turnover figures in all the games; however, punters will be happy with the plenty of goals scored, as well as all 10 pre-game favourites winning their matches.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins noted the firm had already paid out on Man City retaining their title when Arsenal and Liverpool lost on 14 April, while looking ahead to the Wembley showdown between the Manchester clubs.

Firkins remarked: “A thrilling Premier League title race went the way of Manchester City on Sunday – though of course Fred had already paid out on them as winners after both Arsenal and Liverpool had lost at home on 14 April, to Villa and Palace, respectively, handing a slender, crucial advantage to Pep Guardiola’s men.

“Next Saturday’s FA Cup final against their neighbours offers City another chance of a first – successive Premier League and FA Cup ‘doubles’ – never before achieved in top-flight English football history.”

Meanwhile, in boxing, Saturday night saw odds-on favourite Tyson Fury suffer the first defeat of his 16-year career, losing on split decision to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (5/4) in a thrilling encounter.

With the title of undisputed heavyweight champion up for grabs in Saudi Arabia, this was one of the most highly anticipated bouts in the heavyweight division for years.  

Kindred Group’s Alistair Gill commented: “Out in Saudi, Tyson Fury lost his first ever professional fight in what was an absolute classic bout.

“The two fighters were tough to split ahead of fight night, and so it proved. Punters just about leaned towards Fury for the win, and while liabilities on a Fury win by KO started racking up a bit on Saturday, all told we finished nicely ahead once Usyk’s hand was raised by the ref after the final bell.”

For bet365, money made from Fury’s defeat was rendered redundant by Monday morning with the negative results in the Premier League.

Freeth said: “The football may have been abysmal, but we had a brilliant result in Riyadh with Tyson Fury being edged out on points by Oleksandr Usyk, but that profit was swallowed up come 6pm on Sunday.”

Elsewhere, on the turf, there was a shock result at Newbury in Saturday’s Lockinge Stakes as Audience made all to land the Group 1 at 22/1 after opening on the course at 33/1.

Before the race, all the talk had been about the clash at the head of the market between Inspiral and Big Rock, yet both ran poorly as 2/1 favourite Inspiral, piloted by Kieran Shoemark, finished a long way back in fourth while Big Rock (11/4) was a disappointing sixth.

Audience, ridden by Robert Havlan, had meant to be a pacemaker for stablemate Inspiral, however, the five-year-old went clear two furlongs out and couldn’t be caught by Charyn (4/1) in second and Witch Hunter (22/1) in third.

Although Richard Hannon-trained Witch Hunter had been tipped up by the Racing Post and there had been money for Audience, the result was good news for layers with the front two in the betting finishing outside the frame.

On Saturday’s action, Gill said: “Some top class racing on show at Newbury on Saturday threw up a few results for both backers and layers.

“The Carnarvon Stakes saw 13/2 shot Elite Status stay on strongly to beat 3/1 favourite Relief Rally in what was a great result for the book, while on the other hand the London Gold Cup saw a very impressive 7/2 favourite King’s Gambit win by four lengths to line punters pockets.

“However, the shock result of the day was undoubtedly Audience winning the Lockinge at 22/1 under Rob Havlin, with heavily backed favourite Inspiral back in fourth, in another result that was unsurprisingly cheered home by the traders.”

Betfred’s Firkins also highlighted Audience’s two-length win on Saturday: “Newbury’s Group 1 Lockinge provided another welcome bit of relief as pacemaker Audience made every yard at 22/1, having been twice that and more ahead of the race.

“He was supposed to be teeing things up nicely for stablemate Inspiral, but the five-year-old gelding had other ideas. Both are likely to feature at the Royal [Ascot] meeting,” he added.