Weekend Talking Points: Tiger Roll wins again and Watford reach FA Cup Final
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Round-up of the weekend’s sporting action
Another fun-packed weekend of sport has come to a close, with the 2019 Grand National at Aintree taking centre stage.
Elsewhere, Liverpool kept pace at the top of the Premier League, Arsenal slipped up in the top four race and Cambridge won the 165th boat race.
It’s all here and more in our Weekend Talking Points…
Tiger Roll becomes back-to-back Grand National winner
Not since Red Rum in the 1973 and 1974 has a horse managed back-to-back wins at the Aintree showpiece, until now.
Step forward, Tiger Roll. After winning by a head in the 2018 race, the nine-year-old 4/1 favourite ran out a more comfortable 2 3/4l winner on Saturday.
Magic of Light came through in second place as a 66/1 long shot, with second-favourite 8/1 shot Rathvinden finishing in third 5l behind Tiger Roll.
After the race, owner Michael O’Leary claimed Tiger Roll was unlikely to be entered to go for an unprecedented third successive Grand National next year, saying “I feel no pressure to go back and try to win for a third time. Tiger Roll isn’t Red Rum – he’s Tiger Roll.”
Cambridge get a boat race double
Cambridge’s dominance in both the male and female boat race was extended this weekend, with the Light Blues claiming victory in both events.
In the men’s race, James Cracknell became the oldest winner at the age of 46 and reignited his passion for the sport, realising he’d missed competing. Cambridge ran out winners by two seconds over Oxford, finishing in 16 minutes and 57 seconds.
Earlier, Cambridge Women dominated the race from start to finish and claimed their third successive victory. They won by five lengths in 18 minutes and 47 seconds, only 15 seconds shy of the women’s record.
Arsenal slip up in race for Champions League
The unrelenting race for Champions League football shows no signs of slowing up, with only three points separating Tottenham in third from Manchester United in sixth.
Arsenal could have seized control of third place with a win over Everton on Sunday, but a lacklustre performance saw the Gunners fall to Phil Jagielka’s 10th-minute strike. Tottenham and Arsenal still remain favourites to claim a top-four spot at 2/7 and 8/11 respectively, but Chelsea could throw a spanner in the works with a win against West Ham United tonight.
Elsewhere, Liverpool beat Southampton 3-1 on Friday to take the title fight to Manchester City, Crystal Palace bagged a late 1-0 win over Newcastle, Burnley came from behind to beat AFC Bournemouth 3-1 and Leicester made it four wins on the spin with a 4-1 win over relegated Huddersfield.
Watford fight-back stuns Wolves to reach FA Cup final
With 62 minutes on the clock, and Wolves 2-0 up, it looked like Watford’s FA Cup run had come to an end at the semi-final stage. Gerard Deulofeu clearly had other ideas.
His 66th-minute introduction changed the game, with the Spaniard scoring a delicious curling effort to drag the Hornets back into the game. Troy Deeney took the game to extra time before Deulofeu won the game in the 104th minute.
Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez scored for Wolves to give them their 2-0 advantage.
On Saturday, Manchester City beat Brighton 1-0 in a drab affair to book their place in the final and keep their quadruple hopes alive. Gabriel Jesus grabbed the only goal of the game in the fourth minute, with right-back Kyle Walker lucky to escape a red card after a VAR review for thrusting his head into the face of Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
Golden State Warriors sign out of Oakland with a win
Stephen Curry and co have taken the Warriors to new heights in recent years, but after 47 years in Oakland at the Oracle Arena, they’re moving back to the Bay Area into the Chase Arena next season.
In their last regular-season game in Oakland, they beat the Los Angeles Clippers 131-104 to secure their status as top seeds in the Western Conference, meaning they’ll enter the play-offs with home advantage.
The win means they’ll sign out from Oakland with an all-time regular-season record at the Oracle of 1,166 wins to 770 losses. Head coach Steve Kerr said after the game “For 47 years, Warriors fans have stuck with us through thick and thin, and let’s be honest, most of those years have been a little thin.”
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
