Weekend Review: Manchester meltdown as City United in defeat

A dreadful weekend for both sides of Manchester left the bookies in clover as United and City’s stumbling seasons rumbled on.

United (4/5) fell to a 2-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace (7/2) in the 2pm kick off on Sunday, with a brace from Jean-Philippe Mateta darkening an already black mood around Old Trafford.

Defeat leaves Ruben Amorim’s side 13th in the Premier League on 29 points, closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League place.

City (12/5) would also fall to defeat as Arsenal (11/10) dismantled the champions at the Emirates 5-1, with goals from teenage starlets Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri the cherries on the icing on the cake.

Arsenal are still six points behind league leaders Liverpool, but the victory came with the added sweetness following a tense reverse match at the Etihad earlier in the season.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “One favourite that did win was Arsenal but, having expected us to see a big red number after the game, I was surprised to see it finished a winner despite six goals being scored.

“A low cards and corner count will have undoubtedly helped, as would names like Lewis-Skelly and Partey appearing on the scoresheet. Manchester City going off a shade shorter than 3/1 would’ve also gained attention.”

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill added: “Another good week for us in the Premier League, with the tough season in Manchester rolling on. Arsenal’s demolition of a terrible-looking City topped both turnover table and result table in the Premier League for the week, with United’s dismal display and 2-0 loss to Palace not far behind in terms of the book.”

Other positive results for the bookies included Wolves (11/5) surprise 2-0 win over Aston Villa, as Unai Emery’s side continue to struggle in domestic games following mid-week Champions League exploits.

Newcastle fell to a 2-1 home loss to Fulham, while Brentford lost 2-0 to Spurs having started the match as slight favourites.

And in perhaps the shock of the weekend, Nottingham Forest shook off their 5-0 loss to Bournemouth to hammer Brighton 7-0, with red-hot Chris Wood helping himself to a hat trick.

Gill said: “Wolves win over Villa was another result the traders were cheering home, while Newcastle’s 2-1 loss to Fulham was yet another really strong result.”

Freeth added: “Customers got off to the best possible start with a super-boosted Nottingham Forest to score (1/4 into Evens) landing before I’d tucked into my lunch on Saturday, but Premier League punters didn’t have a great deal to shout about later.

“Numerous favourites hit the buffers including 8/11 Newcastle, 9/10 Ipswich and 13/10 Aston Villa on Saturday and 3/4 Manchester United and 10/11 Brentford on Sunday.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins remarked that Fulham’s win at St James’ Park was a “coupon buster”, while Liverpool’s 2-0 away at Bournemouth has put them firmly in the driving seat for the title.

Arne Slot’s side are six points clear, with a game in hand on Arsenal. They’ve lost just once in the league this season, and top scorer Mo Salah has 21 goals to his name alone.

Firkins added: “The Slot machine weathered Bournemouth storms to win 2-0 on the south coast and are understandably a prohibitive 1/4 to land their second Premier League crown.”

On the continent, a shock 1-0 loss for Real Madrid away at Espanyol courtesy of an 85^th minute Carlos Romero goal was a big blow for the punters, as Gill said it was Kindred’s best result over the weekend.

La Liga rivals Barcelona only squeezed past Alaves 1-0 thanks to a Robert Lewandowski strike, which was marked as another positive for the operators.

Freeth noted: “A number of big clubs suffered a Champions League hangover on the continent too, most notably 3/10 Real Madrid, 1/2 Atalanta, 17/20 Inter and 5/4 Leipzig, while 1/6 Barcelona winning 1-0 wasn’t the worst result in the world either.

“No such hangovers for heavyweights 3/10 PSG, 1/28 Bayern Munich and 2/5 Juventus, with punters profiting from the 13 goals they scored between them.”

Betway’s Mike Reading added: “Over in Spain, Real Madrid’s shock defeat to Espanyol proved to be the most profitable result of the week, with Carlos Romero’s late goal sending Betway’s traders into celebration mode.

“Meanwhile, in Italy, both weekend’s marquee clashes in Inter versus AC Milan and Roma versus Napoli, ended in stalemates, ensuring the books finished ahead in Serie A as well.”

In horseracing, the Dublin Racing Festival took centre stage at Leopardstown, as State Man took victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle following a fall from Lossiemouth.

Have gone off at 8/11, Lossiemouth fell four from home, nearly taking State Man out in the process. Both the horse and jockey, Danny Mullins, got to their feet following the fall.

State Man was one of seven winners at the Dublin Racing Festival for trainer Willie Mullins as the Irishman gears up to head to Prestbury Park in little over a month’s time.

In the Irish Gold Cup, Galopin Des Champs, another Mullins horse, had a dominant win, with his odds for the Cheltenham Gold Cup having been cut in the process.

Gill said: “A bumper weekend of racing with the Dublin Racing Festival producing some big results. The Irish Champion Hurdle was always going to Lossiemouth or State Man, and a great finish looked in prospect until the home favourite fell four out at 8/11.

“State Man did well to stay on his feet and canter home at 5/4, a result which left us nicely ahead. Fingers crossed now that Lossiemouth is okay for five weeks’ time at the Cheltenham Festival.

“In the Irish Gold Cup, the absolute machine that is Galopin Des Champs put in another superb performance to comfortably beat a very strong field at 1/2. Despite the price, punters weren’t really looking anywhere else and that one left us in the red.”

Firkins added: “Four winning favs of the nine live ITV races meant some joy for punters, and we had the fabulous Dublin Racing Festival from Leopardstown, with Cheltenham clues aplenty.

“Among the market movers we’ve seen Majborough – now 9/4 for the Arkle (from 3/1); Galopin Des Champs (8/13 from 8/11 to make it a Gold Cup hat trick); Iknowthewayurthinkin (Grand National, 12/1 from 25s); and Hello Neighbour (Triumph Hurdle, 5/1 from 8s).”