Are Manchester United back to their best?

Ole asked his team for a reaction, and he got one with a thumping 3-0 win at Spurs that was dominant Tottenham have since sacked their manager Nuno Espirito Santo. Switching to a back three, and picking his most experienced side, with Cavani in and the likes of Rashford and Greenwood dropped to the bench, the first goal was crucial, and cometh the hour, cometh the man, Cristiano Ronaldo volleyed home six minutes before the break. From then on, there was only one team in it, Ronaldo setting up Cavani for the second before substitute Rashford came on to grab a late third.

United Corners Squared (settled at 1)

Whether you were predicting Manchester United to come out fighting and put on a dominant display, as they did, or to be played off the park like last week against Liverpool, there was reason to believe they wouldn’t rack up that many corner kicks because of the formation they set up in. Old Gunnar Solskjaer decided to go with five at the back and two up front in Cavani and Ronaldo, and dispense with young wide players Greenwood and Rashford. Without those wide attackers, and with the United wing-backs given strict defensive duties first after the 5-0 thrashing against Liverpool, sellers of various United corner markets made tidy profits, despite the team performing so well. United Corners Squared was one such market – United only got one corner all afternoon, so this market settled at 1. The pre-match spread was 33-40, so sellers won 32 times their stake.

Were there any shock winners in the Premier League?

Patrick Vieira has transformed Palace this season, but even he couldn’t have envisaged taking the Eagles to his old club City and coming away with three points. Palace have thumped Spurs and would have beaten Arsenal but for a last minute equaliser, and they thoroughly deserved their shock win at the Etihad, Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher getting the goals in a 2-0 victory.

Palace to win (settled at 20/1)

As we pointed out in the weekend sports update, Palace were a huge price to win at the Etihad given they’ve won one, drawn one and lost one on their past three visits. Add in the fact that Patrick Vieira has had a hugely positive impact on the Eagles since taking over in the summer, and the way they’ve stood toe-to-toe with some of the big boys they’ve already faced this season, like Arsenal and Spurs, and an away win didn’t look that far-fetched. Punters who predicted this shock of course won 20 times their stake with Spreadex’s industry best Premier League match odds.

Are Burnley still searching for their first win of the season?

After 14 matches without a home win, and no Premier League wins at all this season while sporting the Spreadex logo on their chests, Brentford really needed a home win against Brentford, and the result never looked in doubt after Chris Wood smashed home the opener after four minutes. Matt Lowton, who set up Wood’s opener, nodded the second after 32 minutes and four minutes later Maxwel Cornet’s 4th in 5 games put the game beyond Brentford, who did get a late consolation from Saman Ghoddos to make the final score 3-1.

Multi-Bookings (settled at 0)

Those who follow Burnley closely will know that any reputation for being a physical or dirty team is unfair, and often is levelled at the Clarets by opposition managers who have just seen their own teams outworked. Burnley fans proudly point to the amount of games it is since they last had a man sent off (around 100 games) and Sean Dyche is the epitome of the type of manager who likes hard but fair play. Punters can use this to their advantage, as lazy bettors go with the headlines and presume Burnley games will be littered with x-rated challenges and a referee running out of space in his notebook. The game on Saturday was another example of this, with only one yellow card shown to each team, both in the second half. This meant selling just about any bookings market would show a profit. Those who sold the pre-match Multi-Bookings spread of 235-305, which multiplies first half bookings points by second, made 235 times their bet, given the market settled at 0.

Did Cyrname win the Charlie Hall Chase again?

Fusil Raffles was the somewhat lucky 10/3 winner of the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby, but 85/40 favourite Cyrname was pulled up again. Shan Blue (2/1) was about 15 lengths clear when he fell three from the finish, leaving Fusil Raffles in front, a position he didn’t give up. As for Cyrname, who won here last year but was pulled up in the King George and again at Ascot, he was pulled up before the last.

Favourite Performance (settled at 0)

Cyrname has shown in the past what a classy performer he is, not only winning this race last year but of cours infamously ending the 19-race winning record of Altior in 2019. But with an SP of 85/40, many thought he was too short, having been pulled up in the King George and again at Ascot. Rather than laying at exchanges or trying to find another horse to back, there are plenty of ways to get against a horse using our spreads, and selling the Favourite Performance was one. This market awards 25, 10 or 5 points for a 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd place finish. As Cyrname was once again pulled up, sellers at the pre-race spread of 10-11.5 made the maximum 10 times their bet.

Are England going to win the Ashes after they win the T20 World Cup?

If their destruction of Australia in their T20 World Cup group game is anything to go by, England are going to win this trophy, the Ashemas and anything else they choose. While the shortest form of the game probably isn’t going to have much impact on this winter’s Test series, Eoin Morgan’s side have been mightily impressive in the T20 World Cup, winning their third game from three in clinical fashion against their oldest enemies. Once again the bowlers put them in the box seat, skittling the Aussies out off the last ball of their 20 overs for just 125. Jos Buttler smashed 71 off 32 balls in reply as England reached their target with more than 8 overs left and just two wickets down.

Jos Buttler Player Performance (settled at 91)

This market awards a point per run, 10 for a catch, 20 for a wicket and 25 for a stumping. After two catches in the Aussie innings, England’s wicketkeeper-batsmen was almost halfway to exceeding his pre-match spread of 39-44. It was with the bat Buttler really rewarded buyers, scoring 71 not ouin a fashion that suggested he’d still be batting now if England hadn’t won the game. Buyers at 44 collected 47 times their bet.