Weekend Talking Points: Tiger roars again, Premier League title race heats up
Recap of the weekend’s sporting action
The say form is temporary and class is eternal, and Tiger Woods was a superb example of that at Augusta this past weekend.
The golf legend has shown signs of getting back to his best in recent outings, building up to his emotional Masters win on Sunday.
We’ve rounded up the weekend’s sporting highlights here, but there’s only one place we could start…
Tiger Woods returns to winning ways
There aren’t many better sights in sport than a good comeback story. And Tiger Woods took centre-stage this weekend with a remarkable triumph at The Masters.
Almost 11 years and four back operations after his last major title win, he produced a sensational display to fend off competition from Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka on the final day.
Having been ranked as low as 1,199 in the world in November 2017, the 43-year-old’s fifth Masters win will see him surge up to sixth. He now has 15 major wins, with Jack Nicklaus’ all-time record of 18 within sight. Our traders have Woods as the 9/1 favourite to win next month’s PGA Championship.
Premier League title race is going down to the wire
Liverpool came through their biggest remaining test of the league season on paper with a 2-0 win over Chelsea. They’re now a point above Manchester City, though the champions have a game in hand.
Jurgen Klopp’s team have Cardiff City, Huddersfield Town, Newcastle United and Wolves left to play. They’ll be confident of getting 12 points from those games.
But they’ll need City to slip up to win the title. The Reds could conceivably finish on 97 points and still finish as runners-up.
City still have to face Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, but we’ve got them as 8/11 favourites to defend their crown. Liverpool are 11/10 to end their long wait for the title.
SPAL delay Juventus’ title celebrations
It’s surely only a matter of time before Juventus are crowned Serie A champions for the eighth year in a row, but SPAL spoiled the party at the weekend.
The Old Lady only needed at the Stadio Paolo Mazza to seal the title, but a weakened side let their lead slip and lost 2-1. It was the Ferrara club’s first win over Juventus since 1957.
Max Allegri’s side will be back to full-strength against Ajax on Tuesday night. After drawing 1-1 in Amsterdam, Juventus are 4/6 to win the second leg.
Lewis Hamilton leaves Ferrari pair in the distance
Lewis Hamilton’s win in Formula One’s 1,000th race was overshadowed by Ferrari’s team orders at the Chinese Grand Prix.
With Hamilton leading and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in second, Charles Leclerc sat third during the early laps in Shanghai.
Leclerc was then asked to let Sebastian Vettel past, as Ferrari believed the German would have a better chance of closing the gap on the Mercedes duo. But Vettel couldn’t get any closer and finished third, with Leclerc dropping to fifth.
The younger driver is clearly too talented to just be a number two driver. And you wonder if Ferrari may have to stop automatically favouring Vettel at some point. After three races, Hamilton is already 8/15 to win the championship again.
Could Dortmund bounce back?
Borussia Dortmund’s 5-0 loss to Bayern Munich means they’re no longer in the Bundesliga driving seat, but they’re still firmly in the title race.
A first-half brace from Jadon Sancho sealed a 2-1 win over Mainz, which ensures they stay within a point of Bayern with five games to go.
The Munich club are 2/7 to hold on to their lead, with Dortmund 5/2 to win the title for the first time since 2012.
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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
