Weekend Review: Men in Red dazzle in derbies to punish punters

Wins for Manchester United and Arsenal in their respective derbies gave the bookies a boost at the weekend as the race for the Premier League title added a new challenger.

United (3/1) came from behind to defeat rivals Manchester City (4/5), who took the lead via a Jack Grealish header but were soon pegged back after a goal by Bruno Fernandes which was mired in offside controversy.

Marcus Rashford’s run to coerce the ball to the edge of the area, despite being beyond the last defender, was deemed fair, with the star man getting the winner just a few minutes later to send Old Trafford into raptures.

Meanwhile in north London, Arsenal (6/5) went to Spurs (9/4) full of belief and duly dispatched of Antonio Conte’s men in fine fashion.

Bukayo Saka forced a comical own goal from Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris before captain-fantastic Martin Ødegaard produced a stunning long-range effort to secure all three points.

These two 🧱 pic.twitter.com/NL3So29FAV

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 15, 2023

With the 2-0-win, Arsenal opened up an eight-point lead on Manchester City in second place, with Newcastle and Manchester United just a point behind Pep Guardiola’s side on 38 points each.

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “Another good weekend for the traders in the Premier League as a few results went nicely our way. United beating City was unsurprisingly our biggest event of the weekend, and United were not without their backers off the back of their good run and City losing in the cup. Although that went our way, it wasn’t a bloodbath for punters.

“Slightly surprisingly, punters did seem to think Arsenal were going to choke rather than capitalise on City’s loss, with that match being a great result for the book in the end,” he added.

Betway’s Chad Yeomans echoed Gill’s sentiment, with City having been backed to come out on top by Betway punters.

He said: “City were odds-on favourites and relatively well supported in the early kick-off as punters had expected them to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Southampton in midweek. It’s fair to say though, United were the better of the two sides over 90 minutes and despite Bruno Fernandes’ contentious equalising goal, there was nothing to dispute about Marcus Rashford’s winner.”

The wins for Arsenal and United have also shaken up the outright markets, with Yeomans and Betfred’s Alan Firkins heaping the pressure on the Gunners to win their first title since 2004.

Yeomans said: “Mikel Arteta’s men are now favourites to win the Premier League, which is the first time the red team of North London sit at the top of the market since 2016.”

Firkins commented: “It’s official – and it’s probably been the case unofficially for a few weeks now. Arsenal are favourites to take the Premier League title at 4/5, with City out to 5/4, and its 14s bar. After laying the Gunners from an opening 66/1 you could say with some certainty, they’re a potential disaster for us.”

Bet365’s Steve Freeth revealed United’s win caused the bookmaker a degree of pain on Saturday, and indicated it could be a good second half of the season for the Red Devils.

He said: “Manchester United’s controversial 2-1 victory over City handed us our worst result of the weekend in Europe, and catapulted them into a title race of which they had seemingly little chance of entering after the first couple of games when they were 125/1 for the title and close to double figures for the top four.

“United are still a whopping 750/1 to win all four competitions they’ve entered this season, but at 4/9 to lift at least one, the future under ten Hag looks a lot brighter than it did after opening back-to-back defeats against Brighton and Brentford,” he added.

🔟 home wins in a row.

🔥 ERIK. 🔟. HAG. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0zORwmDD0u

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 14, 2023

Elsewhere, in horseracing, a photo finish in the Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at Kempton gave the layers something to shout about.

West Balboa, ridden by Bridget Andrews, went off at 12/1 and recovered well after a fumble on the final flight to roar back to victory.

Kindred’s Gill said: “At Kempton on Saturday, the Lanzarote went the way of West Balboa at 12/1. The next two in were priced 25s and 22s, so although favourite Green Glory did grab a place, with only four finishers that was a race that went in the black column for us.”

In the NFL, as playoffs fever takes hold, one stunning result in the Wild Card round gave the bookies a bloody nose.

The Los Angeles Chargers powered into a 27-0 lead before a miraculous second-half come back, inspired by quarterback Trevor Lawrence, saw the Jags record a memorable 31-30 victory.

The 27-point comeback was the third largest in NFL post-season history, the biggest comeback win in Jacksonville’s history and the biggest blown lead ever by the Chargers.

Freeth detailed how bet365’s 17-point NFL early payout offer meant the bookie was hit from both sides.

When the Chargers went up 27-0, a bettor bet $1.4 million on them to win the game to net $11,200.

Jacksonville came back and won 31-30.@DKSportsbook has confirmed that this bet was indeed made. pic.twitter.com/TvwCNyEjyr

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 15, 2023

Freeth said: “I would add that this offer copped on Chargers versus Jaguars, meaning we paid on both with the Chargers taking a 27-0 lead before Jacksonville performed an incredible fightback to win the game 31-30. No such worries for pre-game Money Line backers with the bet365 NFL Early Payout Offer.”

Over in the US, one DraftKings punter slapped a $1.4m bet on the Chargers to see out the game after going 27-0 up for a measly $11,200 profit. Ouch.