Top 5 winning bets from the weekend

Why did Manchester United sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer?

Saturday’s 4-1 thrashing at Watford was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the United board, who dispensed with the services of the beleaguered boss yesterday. The result at Vicarage Road, where captain Harry Maguire was sent off, could have been even worse, with David de Gea twice saving a penalty from Ismaila Sarr, stopping the original kick and the retake, awarded for encroachment. Josh King and Sarr scored to put Watford two up at the break. Donny van de Beek got one back five minutes after half-time but that’s as close as United got to a comeback, with Joao Pedro and Emmanuel Dennis capping a fine performance with late goals that sealed both the match and the visiting manager’s fate.

Watford Total Goal Minutes (settled at 252)

With United in turmoil and Watford having already shown that under new manager Claudio Ranieri they can spring a surprise, scoring five at Everton, there was a few shrewd punters who bought Watford TGMs at the pre-match spread of 44-52. Those buyers made a tasty profit of 200 times their bet.

Who has the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League?

Going into Saturday’s game at Anfield, Arsenal’s eight-game unbeaten run was the longest in the Premier League, after Liverpool lost at West Ham just before the international break after 25 games without defeat. Jurgen Klopp’s side bounced back in style, thrashing the Gunners 4-0 in a totally one-sided affair where Arsenal just couldn’t cope with the Liverpool high press. Time and again the Reds swarmed the visitors as they tried to play out from the back and won the ball back to launch waves of attacks. The front three of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Mo Salah were all on the scoresheet, with substitute Takumi Minamino adding a late fourth. Arsenal’s defeat means Crystal Palace now have the Premier League’s longest current unbeaten run at seven games.

Total Goal Minutes (settled at 241)

Arsenal came into this game on a run of three clean sheets and eight games unbeaten, but they’d had a nice run of games avoiding the big boys. Liverpool, beaten in their last game at West Ham, had scored at least two goals in each of their last 14 games, and kept up that run with a clinical second half display. They had conceded twice in each of their last two games so there was more interest in the game totals than the Liverpool only market. The Total Goal Minutes spread was set at 160-170 before the game, meaning buyers won 71 times their bet.

Who won the Lancashire Chase at Haydock?

A Plus Tard was a hugely impressive winner of the big race of the weekend, the Lancashire Chase at Haydock. The Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up won by 22 lengths in what jockey Rachel Blackmore described at ‘a brilliant performance’. The 11/10 favourite came home miles in front of Royale Pagaille, Chatham Street Lad and Clondaw Castle as only four finished. Bristol De Mai, looking for a fourth win in this race, was pulled up.

Race Squared Number (settled at 1)

There was many ways of getting with A Plus Tard on the spreads if punters didn’t fancy taking the 11/10 fixed odds on offer. One of those was playing the Race Squared Number spread, which was set at 15-17 before the race. A Plus Tard was horse number 1, so as long as punters wanted to side with him, selling markets like this one made sense. The Race Squared Number is made up by multiplying the number of the winning horse by itself, so when horse 1 wins sellers make maximum profit. Sellers at 15 therefore made 14 times their bet.

Did England get revenge against South Africa for the 2019 rugby World Cup final defeat?

Marcus Smith kicked a last-minute penalty to give England a 27-26 win over world champions South Africa at Twickenham. In their first meeting since the Springboks beat England 32-12 to win the World Cup two years ago, a much changed England team, full of youngsters, went toe-to-toe with the Boks and came out on top – just – in a thrilling game. Manu Tuilagi, Feddie Steward and Raffi Quirke crossed for Eddie Jones’s team, with Smith converting all three while also slotting over two penalties.

Match Cross-Points (settled at 702)

This market is made up of England’s points multiplied by South Africa’s points, and a close encounter like Saturday’s was perfect for buyers. Before the game, the Match Cross-Points spread was set at 408-452, meaning buyers pocketed a profit of 250 times their bet.

Who won the Qatar Grand Prix?

Just when you thought the F1 season was over and Max Verstappen had the championship sown up, champion Lewis Hamilton has thrown down the gauntlet with wins in Brazil and now Qatar. The gap at the top of the table is down to eight points, with Verstappen taking second place as well as the point for the fastest lap. After three races in three weeks, the season takes a week off before finishing with back-to-back races in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

Multi Finishing Positions: Alpine (settled at 15)

While the battle between the front two took all the headlines, value hunters who had looked a little further down the field will have enjoyed the performance from the two Alpine drivers. Fernando Alonso grabbed a first podium since 2014, finishing 3^rd, while his teammate, Esteban Ocon, came 5^th. The Multi Finishing Positions market is made up by multiplying the finishing positions of both drivers to get the team result. Before the race the Alpine team had a spread of 69-74, meaning sellers made 54 times their stake.