Weekend Review: Arsenal’s pulsating 2-2 draw with Liverpool leaves layers eggstatic

Arsenal’s title hopes sustained a dent on Sunday after the Gunners squandered a two-goal lead in what proved to be a thrilling encounter with Liverpool.

Arsenal, who were 6/4 before kick-off, were comfortably in control in the first half with goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus silencing the Anfield crowd.

However, Granit Xhaka’s needless tangling with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, in which both players were booked, fired up the home fans and Mo Salah soon pulled one back for Liverpool before half-time.

Despite the Egyptian missing a penalty on 54 minutes, some poor defending by Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko allowed Alexander-Arnold to find substitute Roberto Firmino free in the box to header home the equaliser.

Meanwhile, Man City (1/4) made light work of their trip to the south coast, running out 4/1 winners against strugglers Southampton.

The results mean Arsenal are now on 73 points, with Man City six points behind but with a game in hand. Both sides meet later this month in what could be a title-decider.

Alan Firkins of Betfred said: “After the dust settled on the draw, rarely a bad result for the books, we now see Manchester City favourites once again at 8/11, with Arsenal slipping to 11/10.

“It’s in City’s hands now, but further drama seems almost assured between now and 28 May. The Gunners remain a big liability in our book.”

Not the result we wanted, but always proud of this group. We still have a lot to fight yet. Let's do it together! 💪🏽👊🏽#alômãe#gratidão#doperi pic.twitter.com/eMc0BLfuoq

— Gabriel Jesus (@gabrieljesus9) April 9, 2023

It wasn’t such a good result for bet365, though, who paid out on Arsenal thanks to their ‘two goals ahead early payout’ offer.

Steve Freeth of bet365 said: “The Gunners were attractively priced to break their Anfield hoodoo, but with Salah also scoring and Paul Tierney brandishing eight cards it was an expensive Easter Sunday.”

Elsewhere, Brighton were left cursing some diabolical refereeing and VAR decisions as the Seagulls lost 2-1 away at Spurs (7/4).

“Poor Brighton,” said Firkins. “Some might say robbed blind by VAR at Spurs [but] belated apologies don’t butter any parsnips.”

Man United (4/7) and Aston Villa (4/7) both recorded 2-0 victories against Everton and Nottingham Forest, respectively, on Saturday.

There were also away wins for West Ham (6/4) versus Fulham, Bournemouth (11/4) against Leicester City and for Newcastle United (10/11) at Brentford.

Chelsea’s poor run of form continued with a 1-0 loss to Wolves (4/1) courtesy of a right-footed rocket from Matheus Nunes. The result leaves the London side in 11th place, closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League qualification spots.

Crystal Palace (11/4) pulled six points clear of safety and made it two wins on the trot for septuagenarian head coach Roy Hodgson with a remarkable 5-1 win away at Leeds United.

Leeds had been one-nil up but capitulated in the second half to leave the club just two points above the trap door.

“Barring the result at Molineux, it was a really good weekend for Premier League backers with a plethora of big-name players coming to the Easter party,” bet365’s Freeth remarked.

Reflecting on the action, Ali Gill of Kindred Group said: “No question it was an Easter Weekend for the punters in the Premier League as they came out ahead in six of the 10 games played, and certainly in the results that mattered.

“Man City swept aside bottom of the table Southampton in what was our overall worst results of the weekend, with wins for Man United, Newcastle, Spurs and Villa also lining punters’ pockets.”

He added: “Chelsea’s poor season continued, and their loss to Wolves was a good result for us, and while there was a whole lot of goals in the Liverpool versus Arsenal match, which came in as our biggest event of the weekend.

“A draw was a good result in the 1X2 market, so we managed to finish ahead in that one.”

The bookies received a welcome boost in Spain as Barcelona 1/3 were kept to a 0-0 draw at home to Girona and Real Madrid (1/2) lost 3-2 in the capital at the hands of Villarreal.

Freeth said: “Monday also gave us our best result in the form of Barcelona drawing a blank against Girona at the Camp Nou. Coupled with Real Madrid’s defeat at the Bernabeu, we had a stormer in Spain.”

Meanwhile in golf, Jon Rahm slipped on the famous green jacket at Augusta National after carding a fourth round of 69 to finish the 87th Masters with a final score of 12 under par.

The 28-year-old – generally a 9/1 chance before the Masters began – didn’t get off to the most promising of starts on Thursday with a double bogey on the first hole, which meant his outright odds more than doubled to 20/1.

However, he quickly put the disastrous start behind him to overcome early runaway leader Brooks Koepka, and tricky weekend conditions due to the inclement weather (the strong winds upended three trees near the 17th tee and close to spectators) to become the fourth Spaniard to win the tournament.

Phil Mickelson, 52, rolled back the years to shoot a remarkable seven-under 65 on the final round to finish in joint-second with Koepka at eight under par.

One of the pre-Masters favourites, the highly fancied Rory McIlroy seemed to buckle under the weight of expectation of completing the elusive Grand Slam, and the Northern Irishman ended up missing the cut.

Gill commented: “Jon Rahm took his first green jacket at the Masters at Augusta on Sunday after being well backed in the lead up. Rory missing the cut was sad to see, but the traders probably disagreed and, overall, the tournament was a profitable one for us.”

A well-deserved win. #themasters pic.twitter.com/YkdHxF12cF

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2023

Finally, horseracing fans were treated to thrilling finish in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday as I am Maximus got up in testing conditions to win at an SP of 8/1.

Owner JP McManus and the racing media were full of praise for jockey Paul Townend, who managed to cajole I am Maximus back into contention after some early reminders.

In fact, the Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old was matched on the exchange for almost £10 at odds of 119/1 in-running.

In the end, the horse hit the front on the run in to beat Gevrey (28/1), Defi Bleu (28/1) and Dolcita (33/1), in that order. Only six of the 27 runners completed the three-mile five-furlong Grade One.

An Easter weekend to remember for @WillieMullinsNH & @PTownend 👊

Recently purchased by JP McManus, I Am Maximus stays on best to land the €500,000 @BoyleSports Irish Grand National @Fairyhouse pic.twitter.com/AIzIORjlWs

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 10, 2023

All eyes now turn to the Aintree Grand National meeting this week from Thursday, when hurdling superstar Constitution Hill aims to seal a stunning season by taking the William Hill Aintree Hurdle.

Then, on Saturday, it’s the big one with the world’s most famous steeplechase: the Grand National.

Corach Rambler currently heads the market at 13/2 in places followed by last year’s surprise winner Noble Yeats who can be backed at 8/1 to retain his crown.

“On Saturday it’s Liverpool once again at the centre of attention but at Aintree this time,” Betfred’s Firkins said.

“The world’s greatest steeplechase sees Corach Rambler favourite in most ledgers, with last year’s hero Noble Yeats not far behind. I can’t wait for one of the highlights of the sporting year.”