Weekend Review: Dour draw delights bookies as Liverpool lament lack of goals

Manchester United spoilt the punter party on Sunday evening in a dour 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield to give the traders a triumph.

Much talk ahead of the game was around how many goals Mo Salah and company were going to put past United as the home side were backed into 1/3 before kick-off, but despite more than 40 shots, Erik ten Hag’s men held on for a point.

Despite a bizarre red card handed to the away side’s Diogo Dalot for dissent, United could have scored on one of their few and far between breaks, but it will go down as a match to forget for both sides.

Francisco Cano, LiveScore Group head of trading, said: “Overall, we saw a very good weekend with decent turnover figures, strong activity and some very good results and margins.

“The biggest game of the weekend, Liverpool at home to Manchester United, had the perfect ending for us as Liverpool tried their best to find a winner, resulting in plenty of shots on target and corners but to no avail, providing us with the best margin of the week.”

The other half of Manchester looked a shoo-in at 1/6 on Saturday at home to Crystal Palace yet they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2.

Goals from Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis had put City in a commanding position, so much so that more than £117,000 was matched on Man City in the 1X2 market at 1.01 (1/100) on the Betfair Exchange.

Backers at the shortest odds possible on Betfair must have had their heads in their hands as Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta popped up to halve the deficit and Michael Olise dispatched a 95th minute penalty to salvage a point for the Eagles.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth detailed the fortunes of United and City for EGR: “It was looking a good weekend for Premier League punters with a whole host of favourites obliging, only for Manchester United to bail us out right at the end with their gutsy performance at Anfield.

“Many were predicting a cricket score and it was hard to believe that a side vying for favouritism just nine months ago could go off at such a big price at the same venue, although there was late money for the Red Devils back into 6/1.

“It was a fine way to sign off for the weekend in the English top-flight having seen a number of jollies land previously.

“We took a hit at the Etihad where our ‘2 Goals Ahead Early Payout’ offer was triggered as Manchester City went 2-0 ahead before being pegged back by Crystal Palace,” Freeth added.

Back to Sunday’s action, and West Ham (10/11) put the pain of a 5-0 loss to Fulham behind them with a comfortable 3-0 win over Wolves at the London Stadium.

A hattrick of Lucas Paqueta assists put Mo Kudus and Jarrod Bown in behind, with the duo sealing all three points for the Hammers.

Aston Villa (5/4) came from behind away to Brentford after the Bees went down to 10 men thanks to a VAR intervention on a Ben Mee challenger.

Ollie Watkins’ winner sparked brawls between the two sides, which ultimately saw Villa midfielder Boubacar Kamara shown a red card.

LiveScore’s Cano said: “The only bad result was in the Brentford versus Aston Villa game, where the away team started losing the match but completed the comeback in the second half with both goals in the last 15 minutes. The result together with the large amount of corners and cards led to a negative margin.”

Freeth added: “We also suffered at Brentford, as Aston Villa, who went 12/1 in play, won from behind in a game that was littered with late cards. Villa find themselves above the Champions with Emery’s impressive outfit now into 14/1 for the title.

“West Ham’s 3-0 win over Wolves had bet builder punters jumping for joy with the popular Bowen, Kudus and Paqueta all featuring one way or the other. The Brazilian is now 33/1 from 150/1 for the Most Assists market after making all three goals on Sunday.”

Kindred Group’s Sam Farley said: “What was generally a good weekend for us was helped by the Liverpool game, which was absolutely dire to watch but obviously a big winner for us thanks to the result.

“The Friday night game between Forest and Spurs felt quite easy to predict pre-game and it seemed our customers felt the same, and they very much won that result.

“In truth it wasn’t the most exciting Premier League weekend for punters, and with all due respect to the teams involved, Burnley versus Everton isn’t what most neutrals want as their primetime game on a Saturday. It still did fairly well for us but not as well as other games have done in that slot this year.”

Heading into Christmas, Betfred’s Alan Firkins laid out the latest title odds after another weekend of stellar action.

He said: “West Ham are up to eighth – massive Kudus to them – and Arsenal now lead Liverpool and Villa at the top by just a point.

“Stuttering City are odds-against for that record fourth title on the spin, at 5/4. It’s then 5/2 Arsenal, 13/5 Liverpool, 14/1 Aston Villa, 33/1 Spurs and 150/1 bar.”

Elsewhere, in horseracing, it was an emotional day at Cheltenham as jockey Henry Brooke was moved to tears after steering White Rhino to victory barely 30 minutes after his previous mount was fatally injured.

Brooke, who led 3/1 favourite White Rhino to victory in the Handicap Hurdle, was visibly distraught after his win following the passing of Gesskille.

Brooke told ITV Racing: “This lad [White Rhino] was brilliant there, but nothing can bring away that we’ve lost a friend today in Gesskille and a big member of the team, and it’s just a sad day all round.

“But take nothing away from this lad. We’ve lost one star, we might have another one on our hands.”

Arguably the most thrilling finish of the day was in the Virgin Bet December Gold Cup Handicap Chase as 13/2-shot Fugitif stayed on up the Cheltenham hill to catch Il Ridoto on the line by the narrowest of margins.  

One Star Sports customer had an early Christmas present after sticking £100 on Fugitif at 7/1, and also getting the straight forecast and tricast up with Frero Banbou finishing third. That winning bet paid almost £7,000 in total.

Summing up the action, BetFred’s Firkins remarked: “A couple of Fred’s Saturday morning pushes readily obliged at Cheltenham; 3/1 won at 11/8, and 11/4 won at 15/8.

“Fred’s getting his eye in nicely for the Festival, evidently. One of those scorers, Broadway Boy, is now 14/1 from 20s for the Brown Advisory in March, and 10/1 joint favourite for the National Hunt Chase from 18s, should that be his target.”