The first game to kick off the weekend was the clash between Newcastle United and in-form Liverpool. Liverpool were made 5/6 to win this encounter. After last season’s 6-0 thrashing combined with Liverpool’s great form, especially the partnership between Luis Saurez and Daniel Sturridge, it made sense for the bookmaker to price them low for this away encounter. So the bookmakers would have been delighted with the 2-2 final score.

In the 3 o’clock kick offs the home win was heavily favoured in 5 of the 6 games. Arsenal were as short as 2/7 to beat Norwich City with a draw being 5/1. Arsenal were dominant and finished 4-1 victors.
Chelsea also finished their game 4-1 against Cardiff City. Cardiff were 12/1 to win the game but didn’t stand a chance.
Everton faced newly promoted Hull City, who have been enjoying life in the premier league, taking 11 points from 8 games. Still, the bookmakers had their eyes set on an Everton win at 4/9. Everton ended the game with a 2-1 win.
Two teams who haven’t looked their old selves quite yet were Swansea City and Sunderland. Swansea enjoyed a fabulous season last year by winning the Carling Cup and placing well in the table. Sunderland’s season is much worse. Nursing the worst start to a premier league in its 21 year history, they were always going to be underdogs. At 8/15, Swansea eventually beat Sunderland 4-0. 

The last of the home ‘bankers’ was an underperforming Manchester United team. Despite being 4 points below Southampton going into the game at Old Trafford, the bookmakers obviously hadn’t written off United quite yet laying them at 8/15 for the win. A win looked like it was guaranteed until a 90th minute goal from Southampton shared the points. It was probably the result of the weekend for the bookmakers.
The last 3 o’clock game saw an evenly matched game between Stoke City and West Brom. A draw was offered at 9/4 and the game duly ended 0-0.
The late kick off had West Ham United entertain Manchester City for the evening. West Ham were underdogs for this game, and rightly so. Manchester City won the game 3-1 at 4/6 to win. 

Sunday’s only game saw Aston Villa take on Tottenham Hotspur. Aston Villa being only 3 points behind Tottenham and at home, were marginal outsiders to win the game. After last weekend’s miserable defeat to West Ham United, bookmakers predicted a comeback as Tottenham were evens to take all 3 points. They didn’t disappoint and ended the game 2-0.
Although 4 of the heavily favoured teams had won, 3 out of 9 games ended in draws. An above average result for the bookmakers. And with two of the heavily favoured teams ending in a draw – Liverpool and Manchester United – a few accumulators would have been broken as well.
There is a reason why the favourites give such low odds, they are expected to win. The bookmaker places them low as to lower the returns for the punter. However, the amount of draws for the weekend seems like a good result for the bookmakers.