Read what bet365's Steve Freeth had to say after the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Weekend Review
Two of the three newly promoted sides were the toast of the trading room this weekend, as Ipswich (19/10) and, more significantly, 8/1 Hull made it a profitable Saturday.
It looked like that joy would carry over to Sunday, but 17/2 Manchester City put paid to that with their late show against Bournemouth. Substitute Rayan Cherki provided two assists from the bench, much to the delight of Nico O’Reilly 11/2 Assist backers, with the Sub On, Play On offer coming to the fore.
However, it was Newcastle that kept the weekend ticking over in our favour with a 2-2 draw against odds-on Liverpool.
Arsenal got the season underway in routine fashion, with the Gunners comfortably beating Coventry 3-0. However, those waiting on the Arsenal (2/11) and Manchester United (1/3) double were in for a rude awakening as the Red Devils were mauled by the Tigers.
Many a judge had been talking up Nottingham Forest this season, but the smart money backed Leeds from 21/10 into 19/10 by kick-off.
Keith Andrews’ critics were silenced a long time ago, and the former set-piece coach got off to a flying start. His Brentford side are the last you want to face if you have a mish-mash of a starting XI, as the well-punted Bees (13/10 into 10/11) ran all over Spurs.
Aston Villa were in the same boat as Spurs, with Unai Emery putting out an experimental side having lost a number of key players. The even-money hosts went one better than Brentford, with Brighton winning 4-0.
Well done if you won on the Championship coupon this weekend, because the obvious-looking ones all came a cropper. Odds-on favourites West Ham, Middlesbrough, Birmingham, QPR and Wrexham all failed to land three points.
Punters fared much better in Europe on Saturday. 2/5 Real Madrid left it very late in Jose Mourinho’s second coming, with Jude Bellingham bagging an 11/1 brace—despite only scoring one. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the bet365 Sub On, Play On offer meant his replacement, Carlos Espi, hit the winner with the clock on 90 minutes.
1/7 Inter coasted home 4-1 in Serie A, 2/5 Lens won 5-2 in Ligue 1 and 8/15 shots Bayern Munich lifted the German Cup on Saturday to make it a nice odds-on favourite 4-fold for punters, with both teams scoring in all matches.
It was all going so well for punters on Sunday as well, with wins for the well-fancied Juventus and Milan in Italy, a five-star performance from Barcelona in La Liga, and wins for Lille and Monaco in France, with the accumulator business running on to 1/2 PSG at Rennes.
And, despite paying out on the hosts when Esteban Lepaul made it 2-0, we were relieved to see PSG fail in their late comeback, with the game finishing 2-2.
Trading Talk
It’s a bit early for some pundits to be labelled fools, but Hull looked anything but relegation certainties after their 2-0 win, with the Tigers out to 2/7 for the drop following the mauling of Manchester United.
Regan Slater was sparkling in midfield, delivering a couple of gems from dead-ball situations, with the Red Devils now out to 12/1 for the title and moving from odds-on to odds-against for a Top 4 finish.
Both Tottenham and Aston Villa were seriously depleted this weekend, and it showed in the match prices, with 10/11 Brentford and Evens Brighton both being well-backed in the lead-up to kick-off.
The buzzing Bees are into 11/2 from 9/1 for a Top 5 finish, with the Seagulls into 4/1. And with all the uncertainty around the new managers at the usual suspects, Brentford are 50/1 from 100/1 to be top at Christmas, with Brighton 50/1 into 25/1 to be top of the pile when Santa arrives.
It was business as usual for Mikel Arteta. A comfortable 3-0 win against new boys Coventry got Arsenal’s season off to a flying start, and they could watch the other results roll in over the weekend.
Manchester United and Liverpool both dropped points, and it looked for a while that Manchester City would fall flat on their faces in Enzo Maresca’s first game. Had City lost, Arsenal would’ve been around 8/11 to retain their crown; as it is, they’re 10/11 to win the title. Arteta won't say it, but he must be delighted about how things have started.
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
