What happened in the Premier League this weekend?

Chelsea went top of the table on Saturday afternoon with a comfortable win against Southampton, after both Manchester United and Everton had missed their chance to take over at the top by drawing at Old Trafford. On Sunday, Liverpool and Man City also had the chance to go top, but their 2-2 draw ensured we hit the international break with Chelsea in the Premier League box seat.

How did Manchester United get on this weekend?

Manchester United 1-1 Everton

Either of these teams could have gone top of the Premier League table with a win in the early game, but neither managed it as they played out a 1-1 draw. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided to rest star man Cristiano Ronaldo, who took a place on he bench beside Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho. With an international break coming up, was that a sensible decision? Things could have been worse for United, Everton coming within a close VAR decision of scoring a late winner through Jerry Mina.

Cross-Corners (settled at 10)

Everton went into this game without their first choice front two in Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, a fact that might have influenced that United line-up. With Salomon Rondon leading the line, and most of the goal threat coming from midfield, Everton only managed one corner kick in the game, the late one that almost led to that Mina winner. United racked up 10 corners as they pushed for that all-important victory, giving an interesting skew to our corners markets. The Cross-Corners spread, which multiplies United corners by Everton, was set at 23-26, meaning sellers won 13 times their wager. Total corners (set at 10.3-10.8, settled at 11) and Multi-Corners (set at 26-29, settled at 28) both finished at or very close to the expectation, so winning in this market was all about predicting the dominance of one team against the other in terms of corners.

Burnley 0-0 Norwich

Spreadex-sponsored Burnley faced the only team below them in the table, with both the Clarets and Norwich still looking for their first win of the season. Ultimately neither managed it, though the Canaries did at least get their first point of the campaign. In a game were neither team quite showed the quality to claim all three points, there was no lack of effort as the tackles flew in. With so much on the line – this looked like a relegation six pointer even this early in the season, we saw plenty of buyers in various bookings markets, and plenty of profit secured.

Multi-Bookings (settled at 1000)

Buyers of Multi-Bookings – which multiplies first half booking points by second half – banked a decent profit, though they could be forgiven for thinking it could have been even better! The spread was 190-250 before the game, so winning 750 times your bet is not a bad day! But often in the market there is a lack of first half bookings, as the ref gives players warnings and lets them get away with one bad challenge, it makes sense more booking come later in the game. So when the yellow card was flashed for the 5^th time just after the half hour, buyers had the kind of pound signs in their eyes that Simon Cowell got when Susan Boyle stopped talking and started singing. No more cards in the first half and only two in the second still meant that hefty 750 times their bet profit. Cross-Bookings (set at 245-295) also settled at 1000, meaning a profit for buyers of 705 times the bet, while Bookings (30-34) settled at 70, meaning buyers won 36 times their wager.

Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City

The weekend’s football action finished with the match of the season so far, as Liverpool and City slugged it out like two old heavyweights who wouldn’t go down. City started far the best, but like in midweek against PSG, they lacked that cutting edge to put the ball in the net when they were on top, almost like playing without a striker diminishes your scoring chances. After being lucky to get to the break at 0-0, the Reds came out a different team, taking the game to the champions and taking the lead through Sadio Mane. City hit back through a neat Phil Foden finish. Liverpool went ahead again, Mo Salah doing his best Lionel Messi impression to score one of the goals of the season, but City wouldn’t lie down, and again hit back, this time through Kevin de Bruyne.

Goal Minutes (settled at 285)

As we mentioned in Friday’s weekend preview blog, while matches between Premier League big guns can often be tight, this particular game always seems to have goals, as if both managers decide attack is the best form of defence. When we got to half-time without a goal, it looked like maybe that wouldn’t be the case, and buyers of total goal minutes (144-154) were not sitting comfortably. Four goals in the last half hour settled them down though and after an exhilarating match they were able to bank a profit of 134 times their bet.

What happened in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe?

The best middle distance horses in the world gathered in Paris for the 100^th running of Europe’s richest horse race. All the talk beforehand was whether the British or Irish would have the winner, while a couple of top Japanese runners had designs on taking the loot to the Far East. Torrential rain leading up to the Lonchamp race led to heavy ground, a classic leveller, and as the more fancied runners tired, it was German outsider Torquator Tasso that prevailed.

Torquator Tasso (won at 80/1)

Derby winner Adayar moved to the front and looked a likely winner before tiring, and while illustrious rivals Tarnawa (5-1) and 5/2 favourite Hurricane Lane couldn’t quite get there, finishing second and third, it was 80/1 shot Torquator Tasso that prevailed.

Who made rugby league’s Grand Final?

St Helens made their third successive Grand Final with a clinical 36-8 defeat of Leeds Rhinos. These two old rivals were slugging it out for the right to take on League Leaders’ Shield winners Catalans Dragons, and while Leeds gave it everything they had, this team isn’t a patch on great Rhinos teams of the past, and Saints crushed them into submission.

St Helens Multi-Points (settled at 308)

Leeds had ground out an 8-0 win at Wigan in the eliminator, but St Helens, who beat Leeds 40-6 in the penultimate round of the regular season, were a different proposition. Saints scored 14 in the first half and 22 in the second (Leeds scored 4 in each) to reward St Helens Multi-Points buyers (135-158) with a 150 times their bet profit. Regan Grace and Phil Percival scored two tries each.

Anything else notable happen over the sporting weekend?

British tennis number 2 Cameron Norrie made another ATP Tour final on Sunday, but went down in straight sets to Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-0 6-2. Norrie, playing in his 5^th final of the season, started tentatively in San Diego, winning only three service points as he lost the first set in 27 minutes. He made more of a fight of it in the second, but was broken in the 6^th game and Ruud went on to claim his 5^th title of the season, more than any other player.

X-Courts (settled at 12)

Norrie was coming off a superb display to knock out the number one seed Andrey Rublev in the semis, and after the adrenaline rush of such a big result, we saw some money in the unders markets as punters predicted the British number 2 would come back down to earth with a bump. The sellers were proved right, as Norrie struggled, particularly on his own serve. Failing to win even one game in the opening set was crucial for players in the X-Courts spread, which multiplies each players’ games in each set then totals them. The spread was set at 56-60, and with the 6-0 first set counting for zero (6x0), and the 6-2 second set 12 (6x2), sellers banked 44 times their bet.