The Andy man can, as one punter scoops £800 after backing Carroll to score a hat-trick
Punt of the weekend: Andy Carroll to score a hat-trick (80/1)
Our tip of the hat this week goes to one psychic Paddy Power punter in Cheshire, who picked up £810 off a tenner bet on Andy Carroll to score a hat-trick for West Ham against Arsenal at Upton Park.
It has been more than five-and-a-half years since Carroll last scored a Premier League hat-trick (in Newcastle’s 6-0 win at home to Aston Villa in 2010) but this shrewd punter had enough confidence in the England man against an Arsenal side decidedly dodgy under a high ball. Despite racing into a 2-0 lead, the Gunners’ defensive weaknesses were soon exploited and Carroll notched a nine minute hat-trick as Arsenal self-destructed.
Two headers and an acrobatic volley gave Carroll the match ball and pocketed this punter more than £800. Not a bad way to start the weekend at all!
Banker: Manchester City (1/3)
Manuel Pellegrini’s men were red-hot favourites at 1/3 to beat West Brom in Saturday’s evening game and, despite an early speedbump, City delivered. Stephane Sessegnon threatened to spoil the part with a well struck shot inside six minutes which left Joe Hart rooted to the spot, but a penalty from Sergio Aguero had the teams level inside 20 minutes.
Samir Nasri may have the worst haircut in football, but his strike made it 2-1 with 25 minutes to go and sealed the deal for the short-priced favourites. The three points mean Man City have the edge in the race for fourth, but more importantly ticked the box for anyone with the 1/3 shots in their accumulators.
Blow-out: Chelsea (6/4)
There weren’t actually many contenders for the blow-out this week. Odds-on shots Tottenham, Liverpool, Southampton and Manchester City all delivered, while the well-fancied Bournemouth and Leicester also got the job done. One team who did let punters down however were 6/4 favourites Chelsea.
Guus Hiddink hadn’t tasted defeat in the league since taking over at Stamford Bridge in December – a run of 13 games going into the trip to Swansea. But that sweet run came to an end at the Liberty Stadium courtesy of Gylfi Sigurdsson’s 25th minute strike. Despite being favourties for the clash, Chelsea were completely outplayed for large parts of the game, and managed just two shots on target in a lackluster performance.
The value bet that looks painfully obvious: Leicester to win to nil (13/5)
Leicester had kept seven clean sheets in the 10 games prior to their clash with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. In fact they’d conceded just six goals in 13 league matches since the turn of the year. Heading into Sunday’s clash Kasper Schmeichel hadn’t conceded a goal in six hours and 40 minutes of top flight football.
It’s fair to say there were a lot of fairly obvious pointers…
Jamie Vardy bagged a brace in Sunday’s early kick-off as the Foxes strolled to a 2-0 victory and made us look like fools for not taking the 13/5 on them to win to nil. Sunderland did manage 15 shots in the match, but only one tested Schmeichel between the sticks and this was very comfortable for Claudio Ranieri’s men.
Hindsight is a cruel beast.
The longshot that nobody saw coming: Alberto Moreno to score first and Liverpool to beat Stoke 4-1 (250/1)
Liverpool would have been forgiven for having one eye on Thursday’s Europa League showdown with Borussia Dortmund, but the Reds showed no signs of distraction as they demolished a very un-Stoke-like Stoke side.
Alberto Moreno opened the scoring inside eight minutes at odds of 20/1, before Bojan popped up to level for the visitors. Daniel Sturridge but Jurgen Klopp’s men back in front before the break and half-time substitute Divock Origi helped himself to two goals within 20 minutes of taking to the field. It was the biggest win at Anfield during Klopp’s short reign and was priced up at 25/1 to finish 4-1 by the traders in Power Tower.
That means the scorecast would have paid out at a tasty 250/1 although nobody saw it coming – particularly with Liverpool making seven changes from the side that draw with Dortmund. It was a compete performance from the Reds however and was a bonus for Klopp who also bagged £40 after drawing Vics Canvas in the Grand National sweepstake. A tidy little weekend for the German gaffer.