Are Man United any better without Ole at the wheel?

Manchester United showed signs of improvement as they secured a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea yesterday. Having been played off the park by both Liverpool and Manchester City, the other two of the three challengers for the Premier League title, and just a week on from the 4-1 thrashing at Watford, United fans were dreading this trip to the leaders. What they got was a more solid defensive effort, despite being without both first choice centre halves, and a younger forward line sent out to press Chelsea, with Ronaldo left on the bench. They also got a bit of luck, with Jorginho fluffing his lines as the last man, allowing Jadon Sancho in for his first Premier League goal, though the Italian made amends when Chelsea were awarded a penalty for Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s foul on Thiago Silva.

Corners x Bookings (settled at 1190)

In an open, competitive game with two goalkeepers in fine form and plenty of battles all over the park, shrewd buyers of Corners v Bookings enjoyed plenty of action, especially as Chelsea fell behind and had to chase the game for much of the 90 minutes. The Blues actually had 15 of the 17 corners as they attacked for much of the game, while United had five of the seven bookings. The spread in this market was set at 445-505 so buyers made 685 times their stake.

How did the other title challengers get on?

Liverpool were in imperious form as they kept up their run of scoring at least two goals in a game with a 4-0 thumping of Southampton at Anfield. Diogo Jota scored twice and could have had a few more as the Reds ended the weekend just two points off the top spot. Thiago and Virgil van Dijk were also on the scoresheet as Jurgen Klopp’s men made it 17 straight games with at least two goals, only the second ever English club to achieve that after Sunderland in 1927. Liverpool have scored 39 goals in their 13 Premier League goals, their highest total at this stage of the season.

Liverpool Leading Minutes (settled at 88)

Even though Liverpool were red hot favourites to win this game, punters still found ways of backing them to make decent profits, including in the Liverpool Leading Minutes market. The spread was set at 44-47 before the game started, so the Jota’s second minute goal, coupled with the expected clean sheet, meant buyers won 41 times their bet.

Are Great Britain still in the Davis Cup?

Great Britain won both their Davis Cup games over the weekend to make it to Tuesday’s quarter-finals. Saturday’s 2-1 defeat of France was done the easy way, with Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans both winning their singles rubbers, and the surprise doubles defeat for Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski counting for nothing. However, when Evans lost the opening singles game against the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac, the stark reality hit that both Norrie and the doubles team must win or Great Britain, from looking like they were coasting, would be out. Norrie scraped past Jiri Lehecka to set up the winner takes all doubles match. Salisbury and Skupski, both ranked inside the world’s top 20, came through with flying colours, beating Machac and Jiri Vesely 6-4 6-2. If Team GB win on Tuesday it’s off to Madrid this weekend for the semis and finals.

Salisbury/Skupski v Machac/Vesely X-Courts (settled at 36)

With nerves jangling as it became evident that the doubles rubber would be a crucial decider, and on the back of Salisbury and Skupski’s defeat in the dead rubber against France, the spread for the X-Courts market was set at 68-73. On paper, this should be an easy win for two experienced doubles campaigners like Salisbury and Skupski, and so it proved. Those who calmly backed an easy win, by selling X-Courts (made up of the game scores in each individual set multiplied together, then all sets aggregated) made 32 times their stake.