Weekend Review: Punters push ahead on small Premier League offering as Kane and co crumble

Punters edged ahead in the Premier League this weekend with the four games on offer returning a glut of goals and wins for the favourites.

Arsenal (1/5) kicked off proceedings at Saturday lunchtime with a 5-0 pumping of Crystal Palace (14/1) to heap more pressure on Roy Hodgson.

That was followed up by a topsy-turvy game in West London as the returning Ivan Toney made his mark with a controversial free kick to set Brentford (17/20) on their way to a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest (16/5).

Sunday served up a dose of VAR controversy as 10-man Sheffield United (7/2) battled back to a 2-2 draw with West Ham (4/5) thanks to an Oli McBurnie penalty. Rhian Brewster had been sent off for the Blades before Alphonse Areola was deemed to have fouled McBurnie in the dying embers.

West Ham were then denied the chance of a winner as referee Michael Salisbury waved away appeals after Jarrod Bowen was seemingly fouled late on.

Saturday was Crystal Palace’s biggest defeat in the Premier League since December 2020. Anyone who watched #Arsenal over the last month saw a win like that coming. We played our best attacking football but couldn’t finish and it cost us heavily; this time we were clinical. #AFC pic.twitter.com/kpSHKxkqy4

— Adam Keys (@adamkeys_) January 22, 2024

Liverpool (7/10) closed out the weekend with a 4-0 win away at Bournemouth (18/5) to further strengthen their title credentials with goals from Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota sealing all three points.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “Singles wise, it was 4-0 to punters in the Premier League in the order of Brentford, Arsenal, Liverpool and the 2-2 draw between Sheffield United and West Ham, with it raining goals in the Premier League.

“Oli McBurnie’s late penalty certainly helped on the multi front but 18 goals over the four matches tells the story.”

Betway’s Chad Yeomans said: “West Ham just failed to get past the league’s bottom ranked side due to the latest goal ever seen in Premier League history from Sheffield Utd’s Oli McBurnie.

“It turned out to be a crucial result for the bookies as it busted plenty of the favourites weekend’ accas that had carried over from Saturday’s games.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins laid out the tale of tape for the title as Liverpool went five points clear of Manchester City, albeit with the Citizens having a game in hand.

He said: “Action was thin on the ground but the incident-packed Blades and Hammers draw in South Yorkshire provided a bit of relief for the traders. Latest Premier League title betting reads as City 8/13, Liverpool 5/2, Arsenal 13/2, Spurs 28/1, Villa 33s and a massive 300/1 bar.”

Kindred Group’s Sam Farley said: “It goes without saying but having just four Premier League games on over the weekend, ahead of one tonight, doesn’t help us hugely.

“That said, punters really got stuck into Bournemouth versus Liverpool and took full advantage of our odds boost on Darwin Nunez to score anytime.”

Over in Europe, Bayern Munich (1/11) continued to lose ground to a rampant Bayern Leverkusen as the Bavarians slipped to 1-0 defeat to Werder Bremen.

Leverkusen, who have been in inspired form under manager Xabi Alonso, scored a stoppage time winner away to RB Leipzig to open up a seven-point lead in the Bundesliga.

Francisco Cano, LiveScore Group head of trading, said: “We did see more favourable results across Europe with the pick of the bunch being Bayern Munich’s 0-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen, which helped to bust the majority of the accas on Sunday given their short price to win at home, given the last time Bayern Munich lost at home to Werder Bremen was in 2008.”

Over in Spain, Barcelona (EVS) ran out 4-2 winners away to Real Betis thanks to a hattrick from Ferran Torres while Girona (4/5) continue to breathe down Real Madrid’s neck after a 5-1 thumping of Sevilla.

Los Blancos (1/10) had found themselves in a spot of bother after going 2-0 down at home to rock-bottom Almeria (22/1) before a Jude Bellingham-led fightback saw them run out 3-2 winners.

Toni Kroos took to Instagram to praise Jude Bellingham's mentality after the England man kickstarted their comeback in the 3-2 win over Almeria ⚪️💪

High praise from his fellow teammate 🤝

Is Bellingham a future England and Real Madrid captain? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/2zU3zU1e99

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) January 22, 2024

The Englishman scored a penalty to halve the deficit before a deft header set up Dani Carvajal for a 99th-minute winner.

Freeth said: “Our ‘coupon buster of the weekend’ award went to 1/11 shots Bayern Munich, with Harry Kane and company suffering a most welcome surprise defeat to Werder Bremen.

“You won’t be surprised to learn our ‘villain of the week’– Jude Bellingham. Real Madrid were about to go 4/1 in-play when 2-0 down to Almeria before he slotted home a penalty and then assisted Carvajal for an agonising 99th-minute winner – we’d already paid out on Almeria due to our 2 Goals Ahead Early Payout offer.

“Barcelona bagging four and Girona getting five also added to the misery in La Liga,” he added.

Betway’s Yeomans said: “In La Liga, there was huge excitement in the trader’s office as bottom of the league Almeria took a shock two-goal lead at the Bernabeu in what would have been one of the results of the season for us if they could hold on.

“Unfortunately for us, Jude Bellingham had other plans and led an inspired Real Madrid fight back that saw them snatch a 3-2 victory and let the bettors breathe a huge sigh of relief.”

Elsewhere, in the US, the NFL is heading towards its season finale in the shape of the Conference Championships before the Super Bowl in Las Vegas next month.

The Baltimore Ravens will face the Kansas City Chiefs after blitzing the Houston Texans 34-10, while the Chiefs edged out the Buffalo Bills 27-24 after Bills kicker Tyler Bass fluffed his lines to draw the game level in the final two minutes.

In the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers progressed after beating the Green Bay Packers 24-21 and will face the Detroit Lions after their 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Josh Allen made sure to find Tyler Bass after the game 💙

That's leadership right there. pic.twitter.com/W9K6qs4dLA

— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2024

Firkins said: “Divisional Weekend provided plenty of thrills in the NFL. Much-fancied Buffalo Bills fell agonisingly short courtesy of a missed last-gasp field goal to their arch AFC rivals and defending Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Meanwhile, 6/4 overall Super Bowl favs the San Francisco 49ers sneaked past a determined Green Bay Packers. Baltimore Ravens thumped Houston Texans, and Detroit Lions saw off the Tampa Bay Bucs.

“Conference finals time next weekend – Ravens versus Chiefs and 49ers versus Lions. The road to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas just got a little bit clearer.”

Farley added that customers have been “flocking to play our odds boosts on the games” with the playoffs proving to be “really popular”.