Top 5 EFL Cup, European + T20 WC winning bets

When was the last time Manchester City lost in the EFL Cup?

More than 5 years since they last tasted defeat in this competition, Manchester City have been knocked out of the EFL Cup. West Ham knocked the holders out on penalties after the two teams played out an entertaining 0-0 draw. City peppered the West Ham goal without ever making the breakthrough, so the tie went to penalty kicks. Phil Foden missed City’s first spot kick, and the Hammers withstood the pressure to score all five of theirs, Said Benrahma sealing the win. The last team to beat City in this competition was Manchester United in 2016.

Total Goal Minutes (settled at 0)

We pointed out yesterday we’d seen some action in this market, with sporadic buying from those expecting City to run up a big score, given they’d scored either 4 or 5 goals on 4 of the last 5 visits to the London Stadium. However, as pointed out, this West Ham team is a different prospect to those in years gone by, galvanised by David Moyes, and it was the sellers in Total Goal Minutes, who expected the tight game that materialised, that were the big winners. Selling the pre-match spread of 150-160 earned a profit of 150 times the stake.

Are Burnley still on course to take the Spreadex logo all the way to Wembley?

Spreadex-sponsored Burnley saw their EFL Cup dreams shattered by a 68th minute headed goal from substitute Lucas Moura. The Clarets huffed and puffed but couldn’t find an equaliser and it was Spurs who advanced to the last 8. Burnley last faced Spurs in this competition in 2009, when they lost in a two-legged semi-final in extra time. Jay Rodriguez, who was in the Burnley side for that semi-final second leg 12 years ago, led the line again for the home side, but the result was not dissimilar to last time.

Headed Goal Minutes (settled at 68)

We told yesterday how there had been some buying in this market. Whether it was the presence of striker Rodriguez, who scored two headers in the last round, or the way Spurs defended corners in their weekend defeat at West Ham, or even the return of skipper Ben Mee, always a threat from set pieces, the buyers probably weren’t expected to be relying on Moura to head them into profit. But the Brazilian made no mistake, nodding Emerson Royal’s cross into the ground and bouncing past Nick Pope to make those who bought the pre-match spread of 26-29 a profit of 39 times their bet.

Why was Ronald Koeman sacked by Barcelona?

Barcelona, fresh from their home defeat in El Clasico on Sunday, lost again last night, going down 1-0 at Rayo Vallecano. Veteran striker Radamel Falcao scored the only goal of the game to leave the Catalan giants languishing in 9^th place, proving one defeat too many for Koeman, who was sacked after the game. This was Barcelona’s third straight away defeat without scoring; the last time they suffered a run like that, Terry Venables was sacked as manager, so Koeman is in good company.

Barcelona Total Goal Minutes (settled at 0)

After two away games without a goal, and coming off that dispiriting display at home to Real Madrid at the weekend, we saw plenty of selling in a variety of Barcelona markets, including Total Goal Minutes. This Barca team is a shadow of the great teams of the past, and of course no longer has Lionel Messi to bail them out of sticky situations. Sellers of Barcelona Total Goal Minutes, set at 84-92 before the game, made 84 times their stake as yet again the toothless Barca attack failed to fire.

What is Bayern Munich’s heaviest ever German Cup defeat?

Bayern suffered their heaviest defeat in more than 40 years - and their heaviest German Cup defeat ever - as they went down 5-0 at Borussia Monchengladbach last night. The German champions were at full strength for this 2nd round clash, but Gladbach scored with five of their six shots on target, while stifling the Bayern attack, the first time in 85 games the German champions haven’t scored.

Performance Superiority Bay/Gla (settled at -89)

Unlike Barcelona, Bayern have been in decent form this season and are in this usual position atop the Bundesliga, so this result was a real shock. Those punters who somehow saw this coming will have sold the Performance Superiority of Bayern over Gladbach, which measures the winning margin of one team over the other, and, like last night, can be settled at a negative number if the underdog wins. Points are awarded for winning (25 points), scoring a goal (15 points each), a clean sheet or a draw (10 points) or a corner (3 points each). Points are taken off for red (-15) or yellow (-5) cards. The spread for Bayern’s superiority over Gladbach was set at 49-54, meaning anyone who predicted this shock will have sold at 49 and banked 138 times their stake.

Are England going to win the T20 World Cup?

They’re 11/4 joint favourites, along with Pakistan, after keeping up their 100% start to the tournament with a comfortable win against Bangladesh. After bowling out the West Indies for 55 in their first match, England again performed well with the ball, restricting Bangladesh to 124-9. Jason Roy smashed 61 off 38 balls as Eoin Morgan’s side chased down their target with nearly six overs to spare. England, now top of Group 1, take on Australia on Saturday in their next game.

Bangladesh Joy of 6 (settled at 0)

In our look ahead to this game on Tuesday, we pointed out that the sellers were out in force in this market, given the problems the Bangladesh top order have had clearing the ropes. The Joy of 6 market awards 25 points per maximum hit by three named batters – in this case Mohammad Naim, Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladeshi top 3 – and as they hadn’t managed one between them in the previous game against Sri Lanka, despite posting 171-4 and scoring 88 between the three of them, we’d seen plenty of sellers of the 45-51 spread. Sure enough, none of the three hit a 6 - only number 9 Nasum Ahmed managed to clear the ropes, scoring both of Bangladesh’s maximums – so sellers won 45 times their stake.