Read what bet365's Steve Freeth has to say as speculation continues to intensify surrounding Pep Guardiola's Manchester City future following Saturday's FA Cup final victory and find out the latest prices for the Europa League final and next season's Scottish Premiership.
Weekend Review
The Premier League coupon kicked off with six goals at Villa Park, followed by five at Old Trafford, providing bet builder joy for punters after a record-equalling assist from Bruno Fernandes, along with goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
We wrestled back the impetus in the 3pm matches with Brighton and Everton losing and Brentford and Fulham both drawing. The Seagulls’ failure to score at Elland Road stopped the 'Both Teams To Score' accumulator.
Newcastle’s 3-1 win over West Ham was a small loser, but a lot bigger for West Ham who find themselves at 1/20 to be tasting Championship football next season.
The FA Cup Final will be remembered for an outstanding winning goal, but little else, although it proved profitable for us at Wembley. A low scoring game with five shots on target, eight corners and four cards, it was, aside from the goal, a forgettable final.
I’m certainly not saying that about the end of the Scottish Premiership, where we suffered losses with Celtic’s title-winning success over Hearts and Rangers hitting five at Falkirk.
The Jambos were 25/1 shots for the title last pre-season and we’re out with our prices for 2026/27 with Celtic at 8/11, Rangers 7/4 and Hearts 5/1.
Harry Kane was at it again in the Bundesliga, scoring his fourth hat-trick of season with 260 pre-game wagers on the Bayern Munich goal-machine at 11/2 and 5/1.
There were a few shocks for us on the final day coupon in Germany, with favourites Leverkusen, Hoffenheim and Heidenheim all failing to win.
Freiburg showed no sign of taking their foot off the gas with a game against Aston Villa looming midweek, they secured European football next season with a 4-1 hammering of RB Leipzig.
Fiorentina rescued us in Serie A as the 7/1 shots ruined a favourites five-fold in the early kick-offs by beating Juventus in Turin. This was after wins for odds-on shots Roma, Como, Milan, and Napoli leaving the Bianconeri in sixth spot having started the day in third.
There was a remarkable match in Ligue 1 as we ended up paying out on both Strasbourg (23/10) and Monaco (19/20) due to our 'Two Goals Ahead Early Payout' offer.
Monaco looked home and hosed after racing into a 4-1 lead on 55 minutes, but an incredible fightback from the hosts saw them win 5-4. However, there were some coupon busters in France with Lille (2/5), Lyon (1/2), Nice (3/10) and PSG (4/9) all failing to record victories.
It was gamble landed in the Eurovision Song Contest with Bulgaria, who were 150/1 just five days prior, scoring a massive 516 points to take the spoils and resulting in our worst ever result in the competition.
Bulgaria had started the night at 10/1, but the money in the lead-up to the Vienna showpiece was spot on with Dara amassing 516 points after topping both the public and jury vote with her ‘Bangaranga’ song aided by brilliant staging.
At the other end of the scale, the United Kingdom finished in last place having been supported from 10/3 into 11/10 on the off.
Trading Talk
Pep Talk, Emery Not Bored & Broken Hearts
Next Manchester City Manager
Pep Guardiola keeps telling us he has one year left of his contract. However, he’s not the favourite in our 'Manchester City Manager' at the start of next season market - that accolade instead belongs to Enzo Maresca.
Why? well, Pep has a glint in his eye when talking about his final year and the reports of him leaving aren’t going away. There has been huge interest in Maresca for months now – always a tell-tale sign.
Unai Emery chasing fifth UEFA Europa League crown
Freiburg have never won a major trophy in their 122-year history, while Aston Villa have won plenty, including a European Cup, albeit with only a handful of teams competing in 1982.
An added advantage for favourites Villa is their manager, Unai Emery, a serial winner aiming for his fifth Europa League trophy, fresh from putting four past Liverpool.
Freiburg also scored four in their last game, and it should be an entertaining match in Istanbul with 'Over 2.5 Goals' a real possibility.
Celtic favourites for 2026/27 league title after breaking Hearts
We’re betting on the 'Player of the Match' and I’m going for Villa’s inspiration leader, John McGinn.
We’re out with the Scottish Premiership Outright betting for next season after a nail-biting title race that deprived Hearts of their first league success since 1960 in agonising fashion.
With the uncertainty over who will be in the Celtic dugout next season, as well as the scrutiny on Danny Rohl’s future at Rangers, Hearts are significantly shorter than the 25/1 they were this time last year, now 5/1.
Celtic lead the way at 8/11 with Rangers at 7/4 - let’s hope it’s as exciting as the one we’ve just witnessed.
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
