After an emotional weekend following the events of the back end of last week, a new week began with the return of more sporting action, albeit there was a fairly limited schedule with football being the key sport of interest and the main source of opportunity for bettors.

There wasn’t a multitude of top-level European matches to choose from (with the Premier League meeting between Leeds and Nottingham Forest postponed), but there were single fixtures from the Serie A, La Liga, and a downright crazy goal-fest in the French second tier – with bookings also playing a huge role in all of the main spread betting make-ups.

As usual, we look at three big winning spread bets bringing savvy punters joy.

Please remember that unlike fixed odds betting, when spread betting losses can exceed deposits.

EMPOLI V ROMA  – GOALS X CORNERS X BOOKINGS (SETTLED AT 2730)

Although Jose Mourinho’s Roma side have generally looked impressive in the early goings of the new season, there have been a couple of worrying results too, and it was important to get back on track with a win on their travels in Tuscany to keep pace at the top of a very competitive-looking Serie A in the early stages of the season.

Summer signing Paulo Dybala opened the scoring for Roma with a goal on 17 minutes, but the home side were not overly perturbed and equalised just before the break. It was then down to Dybala to turn provider for England man Tammy Abraham, who scored what ultimately would be the winner with twenty minutes to play. A later missed penalty by Lorenzo Pellegrini would ultimately not matter in the final reckoning either.

For punters, the best profit was to be found in the Goals x Corners x Bookings market. With three total goals, five total bookings including a red card, and 14 total corners, a large make-up of 2730 would have returned those that decided to buy at the spread of 1,250 – 1,375 a huge 1355x on their opening stake!

ALMERIA V OSASUNA – CROSS-BOOKINGS (SETTLED AT 0)

In La Liga, the early-season surprise packages Osasuna continued their strong form to grab a fourth win from five games, catapulting them to a place within the top four. A strong defence has been the backbone of their success, and they secured another clean sheet in a 1-0 away victory here.

In a match which featured almost no ill-discipline, only two cards were shown. Both went to Osasuna players very early and very late in the match, but Almeria’s clean slate played a huge role in some of our bookings markets, specifically Cross-Bookings.

As both sides’ bookings would be multiplied, the zero coming from Almeria’s side meant that any make-up would also be 0, and that meant that any punters deciding to sell on the opening spread of 765 – 885 would have been celebrating not only the end of a fairly drab encounter, but also a 765x return on their opening wager!

METZ V GUINGAMP  – GOALS CUBED (SETTLED AT 729)  

And finally, undoubtedly the craziest action of the day came from the French Ligue 2, as Metz and Guingamp played out a nine-goal thriller, which included six goals in the first half alone (including two penalties) and a total of three red cards in the match for the home side!

It all seemed to be going swimmingly for Metz after 16 minutes, leading 3-1 and seemingly heading to an easy home win. It all fell apart in spectacular fashion though as Kiki Kouyate saw himself sent off for two quickfire yellow cards on 31 minutes, and after Guingamp halved the deficit on halftime, the home side went down to nine men. It then went from bad to terrible for the hosts as they conceded an equaliser in the seventh minute of first-half injury time.

Going down to nine men didn’t seem enough for Metz though, and although they were holding on to a point as late as the 69^th minute, going down to eight men on 56 minutes was the final nail in the coffin. Guingamp ultimately rubbed salt in the wounds with two quick goals in the final five minutes to add gloss to the win, but an extraordinary match left punters with plenty of opportunities for profit.

Those that decided to buy on the Goals Cubed market for example would not have been disappointed, as the opening spread of 31 – 36 meant that those bettors would have returned themselves 693x their opening wager!

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.