Expert Bet

This Saturday’s Premier League recorded 4 draws out of 7 games, some rare and unexpected results as three members of the Big Four failed to win. Moreover, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester and Arsenal all failed to score.

Arsenal are the big losers of the day as Manchester City sent them to their fifth league defeat this season, a 3-0 defeat. The Gunners now trade at 40.0 to win the Premier League.

Luis Felipe Scolari and Rafa Benitez keep their Premier League leadership. A point for Aston Villa was enough for them to overtake Arsenal and move up to fourth. United stay eight points behind the leaders, with a game in hand.

Chelsea was backed at the low odds of 1.2 about a home win by many punters who were eventually let down while Liverpool were trading at odds of 1.22 to defeat Fulham. Goals were expected in both matches with one goal or more taken at a low of 1.04 for the Chelsea-Newcastle clash and 1.06 for Liverpool-Fulham.

The 0-0 scorelines at Stamford Bridge and Anfield were backed at odds of 24.0 and 17.0 respectively, while a 3-0 Manchester City win was an in-running 75.0 chance.

Portsmouth were held to a draw by the determined newcomers Hull. The draw was backed at oddds of 12.0 while the 2-2 final score touched 29.0.

Middlesbrough seems like an unpredictable team. Therefore, betting on such a team doesn’t look like a very good idea for a regular punter. Playing at home to Bolton, Gareth Southgate’s men were warm favourites, but were eventually beaten 3-1, a final score that was backed at massive odds of 65.0

This Sunday was dominated by the travelling teams in the Premier League as it’s been a day for away wins with Chelsea, Tottenham and Middlesbrough all picking up three points on the road.

Gareth Southgate’s Middlesborough twice took the lead at Aston Villa and managed to hold on to it the second time round to shock the home faithful. Tuncay Sanli was the hero with a double, scoring the winner in the 88th minute, producing a major upset for the backers of the draw at 1.28.

Middlesbrough were backed at an in-running high odds of 17.0 while Villa traded at a low of 1.7.

Thus, the punters who believed in Boro and placed their bets on the away victory won some pretty considerable amounts of money.

Tottenham touched 9.0 after going behind to a Robinho effort. But a double from Darren Bent saw them pull off another come-from-behind victory.

From a high of 42.0, Spurs are now the 6.2 third favourites to win the league in betting without the Big Four.

As most of the punters expected, Chelsea kept it simple at Blackburn, where they obtained a comfortable win. Nicloas Anelka scored once in each half to land a 2-0 away win.

The Blues now trade at 1.9 to win the Premier League title

Andy Murray looks in good shape to claim the biggest title of his career to date at the Masters Cup in Shanghai over the next week. Murray is highly confident due to his performances in the second half of the season. Fixed odds in the market are 10/3 for Andy Murray to win tournament.

There are plenty of reasons to suggest that Murray can end his highly-impressive season with victory at the ATP’s season-ending event.

First, the Scot is in great form. He has won 25 of his last 28 matches, a run which includes the titles in Madrid and St Petersburg. Both were played on a similar indoor hardcourt to this

Secondly, he has little to fear against his rivals who have gathered here.

Also, Murray’s results against his opponents here are very good.

This tournament opens with a round-robin stage, the players being split into two groups of four with the top two progressing to the semi-finals.

In his group, Murray has been pooled with Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Gilles Simon.

Murray holds a winning career record against all three. The statistics to matches played only on indoor hardcourts or those having taken place in 2008 also favour the Scot, who has won more ATP titles in 2008 (five) than anyone else in this field. He has won two of his three matches this year against Federer, the latest coming in Madrid just a few weeks ago. He also beat Simon in the Spanish capital (in the final) and leads him 2-0 this season.

He hasn’t met Roddick this year but does lead him 2-1 on indoor hard. Crucially, the American’s big serve has rarely troubled Murray, one of the best returners in the game.

Murray’s toughest group match seems to come against defending champion and tournament favourite Federer.

But the Swiss is not so invincible any more. He has lost 13 matches this year and the first time since 2003 his ‘lost’ column has made it to double digits.

Murray has a 3-2 winning record against Federer.

The Scot is 10/3 second favourite (behind 13/8 Federer) for the title.

Having all that in mind, betting on the Brittish number one to win the Masters Cup might be a good option for a regular punter.

The action gets under way in Shanghai at 0600 GMT on Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton drifted to odds of 16.0 on Betfair to be Formula One World Champion during the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hamilton seems to have driven better under pressure as he kept his cool on the final few corners when he overtook Timo Glock and grabbed the fifth-place finish he needed to wrap up the title.

The McLaren driver was the 1.32 favourite to be crowned champion at the start of the race and around the 7.0 mark to win in Brazil, with his rival Felipe Massa a 4.0 chance to be crowned champion and just 1.85 to win on his home circuit.

Massa led the race for almost its entirety. Despite that, Hamilton traded at around the 1.08 mark to be champion as he looked certain to get the points he needed.

But the British driver from Stevenage was overtaken on the final lap by Glock. At that particular moment, odds drifted to 16.0 for Hamilton to be World Champion, with Massa trading at a low of 1.1 just before Hamilton overtook Glock to secure the points he was chasing.

The spectacular manner of Hamilton’s win has propelled him to main favourite for the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year award on Betfair where he is now just an 1.71 chance. His most likely rivals, Rebecca Adlington and Chris Hoy are matched at odds of 3.75 and 6.6 respectively.

Here is a betting summary of the juicy prices to be World Champion during the race:

At the off:

Hamilton - 1.32

Massa - 4.0

Midway through the race:

Hamilton - 1.08

Massa - 9.0

Three laps to go (18:43):

Hamilton - 1.28

Massa - 4.0

Final Lap (18:45), Hamilton is overtaken:

Hamilton - 3.0

Massa- 1.5

Midway through final lap, (18:46), Hamilton behind Glock:

Hamilton- 16.0

Massa - 1.1

As Hamilton crosses the line:

Hamilton - 1.32

Massa . 4.0

As a conclusion, live betting on Formula One during the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix could have brought you a considerable amount of money if you had placed a bet on the brave man from Stevenage…