Boxing Day football betting reaction: Sky Bet Soccer Saturday Price Boost pays out

Sky Bet punters were celebrating after the Soccer Saturday Price Boost landed on Boxing Day.

Soccer Saturday Price Boost

Sky Bet punters were celebrating after the Soccer Saturday Price Boost landed on Boxing Day.

The firm had enhanced the odds on the Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool win treble from 5/2 to 5/1 and were made to pay.

It soon became clear that City and Spurs dismiss the challenge of Sunderland and Norwich - the games were won 4-1 and 3-0 respectively - which left it all down to Liverpool.

Goalless at the break, the Reds bagged a second-half winner via Christian Benteke before holding off the Premier League leaders' attempts at a fightback.

Sky Bet's Sandro Di Michele said: "It's a real feeling of deja vu after the Price Boost landed on Boxing Day last year.

"Man City and Spurs were never in doubt and just like a year ago it was a 1-0 Liverpool win that was the final nail in the coffin. It gets freakishly close as last year (Raheem) Sterling scored for Liverpool in the 62nd minute and this year Christian Benteke scored in the 63rd minute!

"I suppose the only positive we can take is that it's nice for customers to have a few quid in their pocket for the action on the 28th."

There will be two Soccer Special Price Boosts that day - one for the 1500 Premier League games and another for the evening kick-offs.

Premier League

Louis van Gaal is 5/4 with Sky Bet to no longer be in charge of Manchester United by the time the Red Devils face Chelsea on Monday evening after a 2-0 defeat at Stoke saw their winless run stretch to seven matches.

It was another lacklustre display from United and as a result Van Gaal is 4/7 to be at the helm to face fellow Dutchman Guus Hiddink and his Chelsea side on Bank Holiday Monday.

Those odds represent a flip-flop with Van Gaal having been 1/2 to out for the Chelsea game immediately after the final whistle at the Britannia Stadium.

Should LVG receive a stay of execution from the Manchester United board he is 11/10 to be manager at the turn of the year and 4/6 not to be.

"The vultures are circling Louis van Gaal and he has a real fight on his hands to win over the powers that be at Old Trafford," said Sky Bet's Sandro Di Michele.

When asked if he'd be in charge to face Chelsea, Van Gaal said: "You have to wait and see, but I think so."

The former Ajax manager then raised the possibility that he could walk away from the club.

"I can also quit by myself, but that is something that I speak with Ed Woodward by himself, and not with you," van Gaal said in his post-match press conference.

"I have said already in former press conferences that the club has to fire or sack me. Sometimes I do it by myself, but I am the one who wants to speak first with the board of Manchester United and with my members of staff or with my players and not with you."

Jose Mourinho is the 2/5 favourite to be the next Manchester United manager, with current assistant manager Ryan Giggs the 7/2 second favourite and Pep Guardiola third in the betting at 9/1.

Super 6

There was no jackpot winner of the Super 6 game on Boxing Day but one player did get five correct scores for a winning score of 25 points.

Michael Brown, from Copthorne Park, wins £6,000 as the week's best player.

Like more than 99 per cent of players, the winner failed to predict the 0-0 draw between Bournemouth and Crystal Palace but he was one of only 2.6 per cent who nailed Liverpool's 1-0 win over Leicester.

The next Super 6 game will take place on Bank Holiday Monday (December 28).

While Soccer Satruday's Phil Thompson's scoreline picks weren't enough to win the Pick 6, he did bag six correct results - wins for Man City, Spurs and Liverpool and draws at Villa, Bournemouth and Chelsea. The acca - put up as a tip on Sky Bet's site - paid out at handsome odds of 155/1!

Posted at 1705 GMT; updated at 1930 on 26/12/15.