WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

In a relatively quiet Wednesday - Thursday, there have still been a fair few moments of excitement for betting punters. Man Utd missed the chance to draw level on points with Man City after salvaging a 2-2 comeback against managerless Leeds, Sunderland crashed out of the FA Cup, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi Arabian adventure came into mainstream focus once again.

Elsewhere, there were a couple of surprise results in the NBA action on Thursday, while the cricket action saw a draw between Zimbabwe & West Indies and night two of the Premier League darts saw several exciting match-ups.

As always, we have picked out three big winning spread bets from the last few days.

Please remember that unlike fixed odds betting, when spread betting losses can exceed deposits.

AL-WEHDA V AL-NASSR – TGM SUPREMACY (WEH/NAS) (SETTLED AT -175)

Al-Nassr had surely signed Cristiano Ronaldo with the expectations of the Portuguese legend producing exactly this kind of goalscoring performance, as he netted no less than FOUR times in a 4-0 away win against Al-Wehda.

Ronaldo scored two goals each side of half-time, including his 500^th career league goal, to ensure his side ended the evening at the top of the Saudi league, and just days after his 38^th birthday he will surely be expecting more matches like this – especially if he faces similarly mediocre defending as Al-Wehda produced here.

But where was the profit for punters? In this instance, it was all about selling and negative makeups. With an opening Total Goals Supremacy spread of -88 – -74, punters who were confident in Al-Nassr’s upcoming domination and opted to sell at -88 would have been very pleased with the final makeup of -175, meaning an 87x return on their opening wager!

MAN UTD V LEEDS – 1ST LEEDS GOAL (SETTLED AT 1)

While the Red Devils’ resurgence with Erik ten Hag has been one of the stories of the season, much of their success has been down to strong home form. However, there have also been several instances this season where Utd have got results in matches they were not expected to win and dropped points against teams most expected them to beat.

That scenario was certainly not expected ahead of Leeds’ visit to Old Trafford, not least based on their poor form which has led them to fall into potential relegation trouble, but also due to coming into this match managerless after Jesse Marsch’s sacking.

However, it seemed a ‘new manager bounce’ was not required for the visitors here. Not only did they start well, but they managed to score after just a minute of the match. With that, punters who decided to sell on the 1^st Leeds Goal spread of 62 – 65 would have been celebrating a 61x return on their stake.

ZIMBABWE v WEST INDIES 1^ST TEST – DRAW (SETTLED AT 100)

Zimbabwe’s lower-order batters held out in the final session of the last day, including a 36-ball zero from Wellington Masakadza, to force a draw in the first cricket test against West Indies. The hosts finished at 134-6 on Wednesday in 54 overs after being set 272 to win.

Zimbabwe will be happiest with the result, given how Windies’ late bowling surge gave the visitors a real possibility of winning before debutant wicketkeeper Tafadzwa Tsiga (24 not out) and Masakadza helped their team survive.

For punters backing the draw and buying at a pre-match spread of 43.40 – 48.80, they would have been celebrating a 51.20x return.

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.