In the final weekend before the World Cup break, we saw another selection of sporting shocks, triumphs, and excitement. Among the notable football action, Man City fell to a highly surprising 2-1 defeat to Brentford at home, while Spurs overcame Leeds in a thriller, and there were wins for Spreadex-sponsored Burnley and West Brom in the Championship.

Amongst the other sport, England ended with glory in a triumphant T20 World Cup final against Pakistan, while in the Rugby League World Cup the English joy unfortunately didn’t continue as the team fell to a defeat against Samoa.

As always, we have looked at the market make-ups and picked out three big winning spread bets from savvy punters.

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

SPURS V LEEDS – GOALS X CORNERS X BOOKINGS (SETTLED AT 4235) 

With Spurs producing inconsistent performances of late and Leeds full of confidence off the back of their recent victory at Anfield, this was always going to be an exciting match with a high chance of many goals, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

After falling behind 1-0 early and later 2-1 and 3-2, two late quickfire goals from Rodrigo Bentancur meant that the home side would be celebrating a crucial victory before the World Cup break. To compound things for the away side, Tyler Adams received a red card in the closing minutes.

But where was the profit for punters? The Goals x Corners x Bookings multi-market would certainly have been a good option. With seven total goals, eleven total corners, and 45 booking points (two yellows, one red), the market settled at a massive 4235 from an opening spread of 1250 – 1400 meaning a return of 2835x their opening wager for buying punters!

PAKISTAN V ENGLAND – LAUNCH! (SETTLED AT 832)

It was celebration for England as they became the first men's team to hold T20 World Cup (their first win in the competition since 2010) and 50-over World Cup titles simultaneously, as Ben Stokes steers the side to a five-wicket win over Pakistan.

Stokes of course played an instrumental role in the heroic run chase against New Zealand back in 2019 and was at the heart of this victory too with his unbeaten 52 from 49 balls propelling England to their target of 138 with an over to spare against a tough Pakistan side producing plenty of challenging bowling to contend with.

But where was the main profit for punters? The Launch! market was surely a great option – with a fairly low make-up of 832 meaning selling punters would have been left with a 526x return on their stake from the pre-match spread of 1210 - 1310!

ENGLAND V SAMOA – TOTAL TRY MINUTES (SETTLED AT 428)

And finally, England missed out on reaching the Rugby League World Cup final in quite bizarre circumstances, losing in extra time after a 26-26 draw after the regulation period of the match. Before we get into big spread winners, we have to note that the draw result was at a massive 25/1 before the match!

Stephen Crichton’s golden-point drop goal saw Samoa secure the win - a historic first Rugby League World Cup final with a 27-26 win in Saturday’s semi-final at the Emirates Stadium. Samoa stood on the verge of an upset at half-time as tries from Super League pair Lafai and Ligi Sao helped them into a 10-6 lead despite having been down to 12 men temporarily when Junior Paulo was in the sin-bin.

Elliott Whitehead's converted try had kept England within touching distance and Bateman put England back ahead early in the second half. Crichton's stunning score and Lafai's second put Samoa in control, yet there was still more drama though, as Herbie Farnworth's try and a Tommy Makinson penalty drew the hosts level, with the sides then swapping tries through Crichton and Farnworth again to send the match to extra-time before the dramatic conclusion.

But where was the spread betting profit? Total Try Minutes were as decent an option as any, with a pre-match spread of 289 – 310 and a makeup of 428 meaning a 118x return on a buying wager – perhaps a decent consolation for disappointed England fan punters.

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.