Weekend Review: Brentford beat Blues to give bookies a boost as Eriksen dream continues

Christian Eriksen capped off a magnificent week in his fairy tale return after netting in a 4-1 win for Brentford (15/2) over west London rivals Chelsea (2/5) much to the delight of the bookies.

After collapsing on the pitch at Euro 2020, many thought the Dane would never play football again, let alone return to the top-level.

However, after scoring during the international break with his country, Eriksen rocked up to Stamford Bridge to truly announce his return to the world.

Goals from Vitaly Janelt (2) and Yoane Wissa secured a famous victory for the Bees after Antonio Rudiger’s wonder strike broke the deadlock.

Christian Eriksen in the last four games with Brentford and Denmark: three goals, one assist. He's definitely back, best football story of the year so far. ⭐️🇩🇰 #Eriksen pic.twitter.com/9GkYoZUn6q

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 2, 2022

Manchester United’s (11/20) Champions League charge took a knock after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Leicester (5/1) with Fred cancelling out Kelechi Iheanacho’s opener for the Foxes.

Betway’s Chad Yeomans said: “It goes without saying that Brentford smashing Chelsea on Saturday was not only a big shock, but a great result for the book.

“Plenty of accumulators were down after that result and it got even better when a well-backed Manchester United could only manage a draw at home to Leicester,” he added.

Elsewhere, Liverpool and Manchester City continued to trade blows at the top of the Premier League with both sides securing 2-0 victories over the weekend.

Liverpool (3/20) eased past relegation-threatened Watford (18/1) thanks to goals from Diogo Jota and a penalty from Fabinho while City (4/25) walked away from Burnley (18/1) with three points after Kevin de Bruyne and İlkay Gündoğan found the net.

+3☑️ pic.twitter.com/x9jlhsjXUr

— Kevin De Bruyne (@KevinDeBruyne) April 2, 2022

Bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “We finished Saturday with our noses in front on the Premier League. We’re far happier for Manchester City and Liverpool to win in low scoring games than ones with goals aplenty, so their respective results weren’t too bad, and the highlight was Brentford’s outstanding result at Stamford Bridge.

“The 1-1 draw between Manchester United and Leicester was the icing on the cake.”

Sunday saw the punters claw ground back on the bookies after comfortable wins for West Ham and Tottenham kept dreams of European football alive.

West Ham (3/4) ran out 2-1 winners against Everton (15/4) while Spurs (11/20) demolished Newcastle (5/1) 5-1 to bring Eddie Howe’s men crashing back to reality.

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “Overall, the Premier League went our way over the weekend as, despite a relative lack of shocks, we managed to pull profit out of a number of winning favourites. West Ham’s win over Everton was our worst result of the round, closely followed by Spurs’ dismantling of Newcastle, but outside of that we managed to finish in the black.

“The over 2.5 goals line being missed in both City and Liverpool’s matches against relegation strugglers, as well to some degree the sources of the goals, meant we clawed profit there. Draws for Manchester United, Brighton and Leeds were great results for us, as was the shock of the round as Chelsea threw away a lead to lose 4-1 to Brentford,” he added.

A thing of beauty 😍 pic.twitter.com/xCers9uvFM

— West Ham United (@WestHam) April 3, 2022

Elsewhere, in horseracing, trainer Christian Williams secured a 1-2 in the Scottish Grand National at Ayr.

Win My Wings finished seven lengths ahead of stablemate Kitty’s Light with the pair both starting as 13/2 joint favourites before the showpiece event.

Jockey Rob James led the mare to victory in only his second win after taking Milan Native to glory in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham in 2020.

Williams said: “It was some performance. I feel sorry for Kitty’s but nothing would have beaten her today, that’s how it looked to me. Rob kept her out of trouble on the outside and she jumped great.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “With two of the 13/2 co-favourites finishing first and second in the Scottish National, punters had the upper hand at Ayr on Saturday. Glamorgan-based trainer Christian Williams saddled them both – and Win My Wings absolutely hosed up for the victory, under smart Irish amateur Rob James. The nine-year-old mare is in the form of her life.”

Sensational from the mare! 🐎

Win My Wings storms to victory in the Coral Scottish Grand National Handicap Chase 🏆#ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/QW5FObdjt4

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) April 2, 2022

Janis Strauts, Virgin Bet head of trading, added: “Saturday’s feature race was the Scottish Grand National where the Christian Williams trained Win My Wings win at 13/2 co-favourite was not the best result for us.

“We did however fair better at Leopardstown where Piz Badile was a fair result for us in the Group 3 Ballsax Stakes. Sunday didn’t provide the best set of results at Cork and we had neutral results at the other UK and Irish meetings on Saturday.”

Looking ahead to the Grand National, Firkins highlighted the runners that are attracting the punter’s pounds ahead of the big day.

He added: “Delta Work, Any Second Now, Snow Leopardess, Escaria Ten and Enjoy D’allen in particular attracting plenty of support towards the head of the market.”