Top 5 bets on the weekend's football, snooker and racing

Is there any Premier League football this weekend?

The bad news is that half of this weekend’s Premier League games have fallen foul of Covid and been postponed. The good news is – at the time of writing – the top three sides are all in action as the title race hots up.

Leaders Manchester City, fresh from their 7-0 thrashing of Leeds in midweek, travel to second bottom Newcastle on Sunday. After threatening to put together a clinical performance for some time, everything clicked for City against Leeds, with six different players getting on the scoresheet. Newcastle might have feared a similar scoreline at Liverpool on Thursday, but kept things respectable, only losing 3-1, even taking the lead through Jonjo Shelvey. City are looking for their 8^th straight win, and while they did lose at St James’ Park two years ago, that was their only defeat in the past 27 Premier League games against Newcastle.

Goal Rush (43-46)

A game between the Premier League’s second top scorers, fresh off a 7-0 win, and the division’s leakiest defence should spell goals, and we’ve seen plenty of buying in the Goal Rush market. In this market points are awarded depending on how many goals are scored in the match – one goal is 10 points, two is 20, three is 33, 4 is 50, 5 is 70 and 6 or more is 100 points. Given Newcastle are better going forward than defending, and City look dangerous every time they attack, the buyers have been out in force.

Who are Liverpool playing this weekend?

Jurgen Klopp takes his Liverpool side to Tottenham on Sunday looking for a 7^th straight Premier League win. The Reds came from behind to beat Newcastle on Thursday to keep the pressure up on top of the table Manchester City, remaining one point behind. Spurs have lost their last 7 games against Liverpool, though they are currently on a three-match winning run. Both teams will be missing key players because of Covid, and Spurs have had games postponed recently because of outbreaks within the club. Whether they come into this rusty or well rested could decided how the game goes.

Liverpool Leading Minutes (34-37)

The Reds have been ruthless recently, winning every game in all competitions since their 3-2 reverse at West Ham last time they visited London, at the start of last month. They’ve scored in a record 32 straight games, and while they conceded early against Newcastle, that was only the second goal conceded in the six games since the West Ham defeat. As such, we’ve seen some buyers in the Liverpool Leading Minutes market, set at 34-37.

Are Chelsea having a mid-season wobble?

The Blues are still in third place in the Premier League, though they’re now four points behind leaders Manchester City after the midweek 1-1 draw with Everton. They face a tough trip to Wolves, made tougher by the lengthening list of Covid absentees, currently including Lukaku, Werner, Hudson-Odoi and Chilwell. Chelsea have won only two of the last five games, while rivals Manchester City and Liverpool have both won every game over the same period. Wolves have conceded just two goals in the past six games – one each to City and Liverpool – but have scored only twice in that period.

Goal Minutes 117-127

With only 4 goals in total across Wolves’ last six games, and Chelsea without a number of forward options, we’ve seen some selling in goals markets for this match. The Total Goals spread in this game is 2.3-2.5, and of course to lose selling Goal Minutes at 117 there must be at least two goals.

Who is going to win Snooker’s World Grand Prix?

We’re down to the final four at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, with Neil Robertson facing Mark Selby on Friday night, with the winner facing Ronnie O’Sullivan on Stuart Bingham, who face off on Saturday, in Sunday’s final. This tournament sees the season’s top 32 players battle it out, and the quality has been top draw all week, and the semi-finals feature four men who have all won the world title.

Points Supremacy Robertson/Selby 10-50

The 1^st semi-final looks very tight, with Robertson 5/6 to win and Selby 19/20. Punters seem to be siding with the current world champ even if he is a slight outsider, and selling the Points Supremacy (Robertson/Selby) at 10. This means that if Selby scores 100 points more than the Aussie over the match, the make-up with be 110 times the stake in profit, but if he scores 100 less, the loss will be 90 times the bet.

Which is the biggest race of the weekend?

The Howden Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot looks a competitive race, even without Buzz, who has been ruled out for the foreseeable future by trainer Nicky Henderson. Thyme Hill, last year’s runner-up is favourite, but the likes of Ronald Pump, and Champ, who returns to hurdling, will also fancy their chances.

Ronald Pump (7/2)

Ronald Pump was second to the impressive Honeysuckle in Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse last month, and hasn’t won in nine runs, but the step up in distance here to three miles and half a furlong could be just what’s needed. Thyme Hill looks a favourite that could be beaten, and Ronald Pump will be there or thereabouts.