Weekend Review: Super Saturday for the layers in FA Cup weekend of two halves
Liverpool’s fourth-round loss to West Brom on Saturday offset routine televised victories for Chelsea and Manchester City
The FA Cup fourth round took centre stage this weekend and produced some layer-friendly results on the Saturday.
Liverpool were eliminated from the competition on Saturday evening after their 3-2 loss at the hands of West Bromwich Albion at Anfield produced the shock of the round.
League One highfliers Wigan Athletic also knocked out Premier League side West Ham United, while Tottenham Hotspur could only muster a draw with minnows Newport County.
Sunday brought a change in fortunes and paid off for the punters as both Chelsea and Manchester City won very comfortably in the televised fixtures.
“Saturday had more than enough shocks to keep the traders happy,” said Kindred Group’s Ali Gill.
“Even the regulation wins went our way- Man City’s 2-0 win over Cardiff was our second biggest win due to the low score result, leaving us behind in only three ties all round; Leicester Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton.”
Bet365’s Steve Freeth provided a similar account of the action: “It was honours even on the football front with the bookmakers leaving it late to take the spoils on Saturday thanks to Newport and West Brom upsetting the odds.
“It was a different story on Sunday with comfortable wins for hot-pots Chelsea and Man City while Lionel Messi sealed a late Barcelona/punter fightback.”
William Hill were helped out on the Sunday by some decent European results according to spokesperson Rupert Adams: “Sunday was certainly less spectacular but Sevilla, Roma and Fiorentina made sure it was another good weekend for Hills on the football.”
Elsewhere, BetVictor’s Charlie McCann was left cursing the evergreen Roger Federer after the tennis star secured his 20th Grand Slam title with a five-set final victory over Marin Cilic.
“The Australian Open Tennis was a decent tournament for us, although it would have been a great tournament had Cilic somehow won the fifth set against the great Roger Federer in Melbourne,” said McCann.
BETDAQ reported strong levels of trading on their opening weekend as a 2% exchange, with £50m matched in the three days since launch.
Shane McLaughlin, director of exchange at Ladbrokes Coral said: “The Cheltenham Trials meeting proved most popular with customers, who matched over £5.3m on Saturday.”