Top 5 winning bets from the weekend's action

Did the Manchester United versus Liverpool game live up to expectations?

For neutrals, yes, for Liverpool fans definitely, for the United faithful, not so much. Ole is still at the wheel, but in the same way as the coach driver is at the end of The Italian Job. Liverpool smashed their rivals 5-0 at Old Trafford and it could have been more. The visitors took their foot off the pedal in the second half having gone in at half-time 4-0 up, and with Mo Salah having completed his hat-trick and Paul Pogba getting himself sent off 15 minutes after coming on, Jurgen Klopp’s side were happy just to knock the ball about for the last half an hour on a momentous day for Liverpool.

Mo Salah Super Mega Minutes (settled at 278)

The Egyptian king went into this game having scored in all of Liverpool’s previous nine games, and the Reds arrived at Old Trafford having scored three or more in all seven previous away games this season, so all the clues were there. Overs landed in all sorts of markets, including Total Goals (settled at 5, pre-match spread 3.2-3.4), Shirt Numbers (settled at 61, pre-match 42-45) and thanks mainly to Pogba, Multi-Bookings (settled at 1650, pre-match 275-355). But backing Salah to score was really popular, and he rewarded buyers with the first ever Premier League hat-trick scored at Old Trafford by a visiting player. The Super Mega Minutes market is similar to Player Goal Minutes, but doubles the second goal and trebles the third. Salah’s Goal minutes spread was 31-34, meaning buyers won 99 times their bet, SMM started at 50-58, winning buyers 220 times their bet.

Are Liverpool top of the Premier League now then?

Chelsea remain top of the league after they staged a demolition of their own in the early game on Saturday. While the standard of opposition was (arguably) worse in bottom club Norwich, the Blues were really impressive given they were without both first choice strikers. Norwich would have hoped that would curtail Chelsea’s goal threat, and maybe it did, as they ‘only’ won 7-0! Chelsea have often been criticised for buying success and trusting foreign players over English, so the fact that, ignoring Max Aaron’s own goal, all the goals were scored by Englishmen, and all but one by Academy graduates, made this win even sweeter. Mason Mount scored a hat-trick, Callum Hudson-Odoi scored one and forced the own goal, and both full-backs, Reece James and Ben Chilwell were on the scoresheet. It was top versus bottom and at times it looked like men against boys as Norwich remain without a win with a quarter of the season gone.

Mason Mount Super Mega Minutes (settled at 448)

With Lukaku and Werner out, someone was going to have to step up and score the goals, and England midfielder Mason Mount was the man with his first Chelsea hat-trick. If Liverpool took their foot off the gas at Manchester United, the same could not be said of Chelsea or Mount, who scored two in the last five minutes and ruthlessly pursued more goals right up to the final whistle. Mount’s SMM spread was 25-30 before the game, meaning buyers won an eye-opening 418 times their bet.

Did anyone else catch the eye in the weekend’s Premier League games?

Watford won for the first time ever at Everton as the Claudio Ranieri revolution started proper. Dilly ding, some weeks you get hit for five, dilly dong, sometimes you hit someone else for five! The Hornets lost 5-0 at home to Liverpool in Ranieri’s first game, but they enjoyed their tussle with the Reds’ Merseyside rivals much more, coming from 2-1 down with 12 minutes remaining to win 5-2.

Watford Total Goal Minutes (settled at 347)

There was yet another hat-trick in this game, Joshua King returning to Goodison Park to show the Everton faithful what he failed to do in a Toffees shirt and score. And three times too! King’s SMM settled at 431, a massive profit of 414 times their stake for buyers, but it’s Watford Goal Minutes where we saw more buying. Buyers of the pre-match spread of 44-50 made 297 times their bet as Watford launched their amazing late salvo.

Is Lewis Hamilton leading the championship again, winning the the US Grand Prix was a foregone conclusion, wasn’t it?

Unfortunately not. In arguably the best race of the season, Max Verstappen took the chequered flag ahead of Lewis after a see-saw battle, and he’s now extended his lead overall to 12 points with 5 races to go. Hamilton was odds on to win at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas, a track where he has been victorious in 5 of the 8 races here. Verstappen qualified fastest but Hamilton took the lead at the first corner. The Dutchman looked faster then the Brit, and pitting first proved a masterstroke, forcing Hamilton in earlier than he had wanted. Verstappen came out on top, and though the reigning champion closed on his rival, he couldn’t do anything to stop him winning his 8^th race out of 17 this season. They now head to Mexico and Brazil, two tracks that have historically favoured Red Bull.

Verstappen Live Race Index (settled at 25)

The Race Index awards 25/15/5 points to the top three finishers and if all we’d read in the build up to the US Grand Prix was to be believed, the best championship leader Verstappen could hope for was 15 points for 2^nd as Lewis always wins this race! Not so though, and shrewd buyers at the pre-race spread of 15-16.5 made a nice profit of 8.5 times their bet.

How did England’s first game of the T20 World Cup go?

England faced the West Indies in a tough opener at the T20 World Cup in the UAE, but the made short work of the holders. Known for their explosive batting line-up, it was England’s bowlers that got the job done here, skittling the Windies out for just 55. Adil Rashid took 4-2 and Moeen Ali and Tymal Mills both took 2-17 as only Chris Gayle got into double figures. The world's number 1 team knocked off the runs in just over 8 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.

Windies Runs (settled at 55)

The fearsome West Indies batting line up strode to the middle with a spread of 155-161 but they barely went an over without losing a wicket after Chris Woakes started the collapse with the wicket of Evin Lewis in the second over. They lost wickets in the 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th, 8^th, 9^th, 11^th, 13^th(2) and finally 15^th over in a spineless display. Sellers who saw this coming made exactly 100 times their stake, with the Windies predicted score 155-165.