Big winning bets from the weekend's football, tennis & snooker

Were there any shock results in the Premier League over the weekend?

After the season they’ve had so far, West Ham beating Chelsea shouldn’t really be classed as a shock, but given their visitors were top of the league, champions of Europe and hadn’t conceded more than one goal in any game this season, the Hammers’ 3-2 defeat of Chelsea certainly raised a few eyebrows. Goals from Thiago Silva and Mason Mount twice put the visitors ahead, but Manuel Lanzizi and Jarrod Bowen pegged them back each time. With Chelsea looking like they were settling for a point, having dominated the early exchanges, West Ham pushed for the win, though Arthur Masuaku admitted he was as shocked as anyone when his 87^th minute mishit cross sailed past Edouard Mendy to seal a memorable victory.

West Ham Total Goal Minutes (settled at 183)

West Ham were the first team to beat Liverpool this season, and despite a run of indifferent results since then, the Hammers repeated the trick again against Chelsea. The Blues hadn’t conceded more than one goal in any game this season, but those who bought West Ham Total Goal Minutes when the spread was set at 42-50 were richly rewarded with a profit of 133 times their initial bet.

Who are new the leaders of the Premier League?

Manchester City moved to the top of the table as they cantered to a 3-1 win at Watford. Raheem Sterling nodded the early opener before in-form Bernado Silva scored twice as City looked like they could run up a cricket score. Watford showed some backbone though, Cucho Hernandez putting in the rebound after his shot hit the post to get the home side on the scoresheet, though losing 3-1 really flattered Watford. City have now won seven straight games, taking over top spot after West Ham’s win over Chelsea.

Bernado Silva Super Mega Minutes (settled at 157)

Pep Guardiola reckons there’s no better player in the Premier League on current form than Bernardo Silva, and on this performance it’s hard to argue. The Portuguese playmaker scored two more goals, making it five in his last five games, rewarding those who bought his Super Mega Minutes. This market, which aggregates total goal minutes but doubles the goal minutes for a 2^nd goal and trebles those of any 3^rd, was set at 20-24 before the game, meaning buyers pocketed 123 times their bets.

Did Newcastle finally win for the first time this season?

It may have taken until the first week of December, but Newcastle finally claimed their first victory of the season, beating Spreadex sponsored Burnley 1-0 at St James’ Park. Callum Wilson scored the only goal of the game, taking advantage of Nick Pope’s mistake to fire home a smart finish as the Geordies claimed their first Premier League win since they beat Fulham at the end of last season. Burnley started the better but quickly faded as the 50,000 home fans roared on their side, who also kept a first clean sheet of the season. All three teams in the relegation zone – these two and bottom club Norwich – now have 10 points, three points adrift of Watford.

Newcastle Performance (settled at 75)

After 14 games without a win to start the season, Newcastle finally claimed the three points, and with it their first clean sheet too. Spread bettors who believed Eddie Howe when he said he thought the Magpies will escape relegation, would have been buyers of Newcastle’s Performance against their fellow strugglers, with the spread set at 41-45. This market awards points for different aspects of a performance, with 25 for a win, 15 for a clean sheet, 10 for a goal or a draw and 3 for a corner, with points deducted for cards, -5 for a yellow and -15 for a red. Buyers of Newcastle’s Performance at 45 made 30 times their bet.

Who won the 2021 UK Championship snooker title?

China’s Zhao Xintong became just the 4^th overseas player to win the UK Championship with a 10-5 win over Belgian Luca Brecel. In a tournament where big names fell at every hurdle, Zhao put on a clinical final performance that the Belgian Bullet described as ‘unbeatable’. Seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan said he had ‘not seen a more talented snooker player’ earlier in the week, and Zhao lived up to that, beating Barry Hawkins 6-1 in the semis before dominating the final. He won the first session 5-3 and never let Brecel into the match, winning 10-5 to follow fellow countryman Ding Junhui, Aussie Neil Robertson and Ireland’s Patsy Fagan to take the title, one of snooker’s Triple Crown. The Cyclone moves up to world number 9 with his career best victory.

Luca Brecel Points (settled at 573)

Luca Brecel has been the next big thing in snooker since appearing at the Crucible in 2012 aged just 17, but has won only one title – the 2017 China Championship – in his only previous ranking final. Punters who expected him to crumble in the UK Championship final sold his total points spread at 813-838, making a profit of 240 times their stake.

Can Lewis Hamilton win the F1 world title?

After his third straight victory – in an incident packed Saudi Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton goes into a winner takes all final race of the season next week in Abu Dhabi level on points with Max Verstappen. An amazing race in Jeddah saw the two title rivals constantly clash, with the Dutchman given two penalties for dangerous or unfair driving totalling 15 seconds. At one point he was told to allow Hamilton through to take first, but slammed on his brakes so suddenly that the seven times champion ploughed into the back of him, damaging his front wing. Verstappen did let Hamilton through eventually, but retook the lead straight away in a cunning manoeuvre, but he couldn’t hold off the Brit, who still needs to finish ahead of his rival next weekend on countback. Verstappen is currently ahead having won nine races to Hamilton’s eight, meaning if neither finish in Abu Dhabi, he will be crowned champion.

Safety Car x 50 (settled at 150)

The aggressive battle between Verstappen and Hamilton may have influenced punters to buy our Safety Car x 50 market, which was set at 85-93. A bit of research into this new F1 street track in Jeddah may also have influenced the buying, with the fast, tight track proving hard for drivers to negotiate with plenty of scrapes and crashes. This market does not include virtual safety cars, and there was plenty of them, but three safety cars meant a 57 point profit for buyers.