Weekend Review: Pleased punters champion comebacks in Premier League

A weekend of comebacks in the Premier League made it a tough couple of days for the bookies as the favourites shook off earlier setbacks to secure all three points.

In the weekend’s highlight fixture, Manchester City recovered from going 1-0 down to a Marcus Rashford wonder strike to run out 3-1 winners thanks to two goals from Phil Foden and a stoppage time clincher from Erling Haaland, with the Norwegian having previously missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise in the first half.

Elsewhere, Spurs were able to brush aside Crystal Palace in North London after goals from Timo Werner, Cristian Romero and Son Heung-Min in an 11-minute burst cancelled out Eberechi Eze’s fantastic second half free kick.

Up on Merseyside, Everton’s Portuguese forward Beto made amends for an earlier penalty miss by heading his side in front against West Ham before the Hammers clicked into gear in stoppage time as goals from Tomás Soucek and Edson Alvarez added to Kurt Zouma’s equaliser to send all three points back down south.

Trailing in the Manchester derby?

Step up, Phil Foden 😮‍💨pic.twitter.com/Hj8unguV4J

— Premier League (@premierleague) March 4, 2024

Additionally, late winners for Aston Villa and Liverpool against Luton and Nottingham Forest were also blows for the layers, leaving punters able to mop their collective brow in relief.

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “A very tough weekend for us in the Premier League as comebacks and late goals helped line punters’ pockets.

“All things considered, Aston Villa’s last-minute goal to break Luton hearts hit us the most, but West Ham’s late goals to beat Everton, Spurs’ comeback win over Palace and, of course, Liverpool’s controversial late, late winner over Forest were all results which left us well in the red.

“ no surprise the Manchester Derby very comfortably topped the turnover table, but we in fact managed to squeeze a positive result out of that one, despite Haaland eventually getting himself on the scoresheet.”

Betway’s Chad Yeomans added: “Without doubt, the most frustrating result of the weekend for us was Liverpool’s dramatic victory in extra time of extra time when Darwin Nunez got up the highest to flick a header home and keep Liverpool’s title dream alive.

“Our traders were totalling up all the accas that were seconds away from being busted when Liverpool’s 99th minute goal had punters and fans alike jumping out of their seats.”

Gill’s comments were echoed by LiveScore Group head of trading, Francisco Cano.

He said: “It was a fantastic weekend of footballing action with amazing turnover, activities and GGR figures. The biggest game over the weekend was the Manchester Derby, where City completed another impressive comeback over their rivals.”

With City now just one point behind Liverpool ahead of a huge clash between the pair at Anfield next weekend, bet365’s Steve Freeth peered into his crystal ball for EGR.

He said: “Pep Guardiola’s side were a shade of odds-against just before Phil Foden equalised and, with the England midfielder grabbing his second on 80 minutes, he is now 7/2 from 10/1 to land the PFA Player of the Year award. Rodri, who continued his long unbeaten personal run in the 3-1 victory, leads the market at 9/4.

“With Spurs and Villa both winning, Manchester United are out to 16/1 for a top four finish and 7/2 for a top five spot after their latest defeat.”

Away from the Premier League, Celtic and Rangers both fell to defeat in Scotland in what was a major boost for the bookies.

Rangers lost 2-1 to Motherwell at Ibrox while 10-man Celtic failed to capitalise on the slip after going down 2-0 in Edinburgh away to Hearts.

Over in Spain, the top three all failed to find three points, as Real Madrid and Barcelona were held to draws and Girona slipped to a 1-0 loss away to Mallorca.

Another angle of the referee blowing the whistle as jude was about to score… 🤐https://t.co/1jMmvJupzU

— Out Of Context Real Madrid (@Bellingham__Hub) March 4, 2024

Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao played out a 0-0 stalemate at San Mamés while Real Madrid recovered from 2-0 down away to Valencia, only to see a last-minute Jude Bellingham winner chalked off as the referee blew for full time with the ball looping towards the Englishman’s waiting head.

Freeth said: “Elsewhere, 1/7 Rangers and 1/2 Celtic suffering surprise defeats gave us a lift and it was an interesting few days in La Liga.

“Valencia triggered our ‘2 Goals Ahead Early Payout’ offer by going 2-0 up at home to Real Madrid before being pegged back by the leaders, and we had a couple of costly results with Sevilla’s 3-2 win at home to Sociedad and Villarreal smashing Granada 5-1.

“That left us needing a favour from either Mallorca or Athletic Bilbao and the pair duly obliged with 23/20 Girona and 5/4 Barcelona failing to score a goal between them.”

Yeomans commented: “There were thankfully a couple of silver lining for us in the weekend’s football action as news from Scotland came through that both Celtic and Rangers had lost in the Scottish Premiership for the first time in over six years.

“It was also a real stroke of luck for us that Jude Bellingham’s late late goal against Valencia didn’t count as the ref deemed the game had finished. A Real Madrid win and a Bellingham goal would have stung badly so we got away with one there and at last our traders had something to smile about.”

Meanwhile in horseracing, with Cheltenham a little more than a week away, punters and bookies are gearing up for the showpiece event.

The headline news is that Constitution Hill may not be well enough to feature next week due to mucus build up, with further blood tests set to confirm if the star will make it on the card.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “The big news in racing was the revelation that all was not well with erstwhile Champion Hurdle hotshot and defending champ, Constitution Hill.

Has the decision been made?

Constitution Hill out to 3/1 on the exchange for the Champion Hurdle.

News that he is out seems inevitable.#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/81c8NefoMQ

— GetYourTipsOut (@GetYourTipsOut) March 4, 2024

“Trainer Nicky Henderson has been admirably frank and detailed about his stable star being off-colour, and a vital blood test is due to shed more light upon his participation or otherwise in the feature event of the Festival’s opening.

“Fingers crossed he can appear and do himself justice – many a good judge thinks he’s as talented as anything we’ve seen, but connections will want to be 100% sure.”

On the weekend’s racing action, Kindred Group’s Gill added: “At Kelso on Saturday, the opening bet365 handicap hurdle went to 7/2 shot Serious Operator, with favourite The Kalooki Kid disappointing in third in a good result for the book, while the Morebatttle Hurdle went the way of 9/1 shot Cracking Rhapsody, which was another positive result for us.”