City out to 15-2 for title after defeat at Villa Park

 By James Milton 7:41PM 22 JAN 2011 IT took less than 20 minutes for Darren Bent to start repaying the £18m fee that Aston Villa paid for him with the goal that saw off title hopefuls Manchester City on Saturday.

Bent, who was 7-1 to open the scoring, struck from close range
after just 18 minutes and 11-4 shots Villa held on to win 1-0.

The result took Villa up to 16th in the Premier League but City slip to third after their fifth defeat of the season.

Roberto Mancini’s Citizens have been pushed out to 15-2 to win the league and, while they were toiling at Villa Park, rivals Manchester United kept up their unbeaten start to the season with a 5-0 thrashing of Birmingham at OldTrafford.

United are 4-6 for the Premier League after Dimitar Berbatov took his goal tally for the season to 17 thanks to his third league hat-trick of the campaign.

Robin van Persie scored three goals and missed apenalty as Arsenal beat Wigan 3-0 and the Gunners, who move up to second place, are 15-2 for the title.

Tottenham were held to a 1-1 draw at Newcastle, where Gareth Bale went off injured after just ten minutes, and Liverpool won 3-0 at Wolves, who remain in the relegation zone.

Fulham won 2-0 against Stoke, Sunderland won at Blackpool and West Ham held Everton 2-2.

In the Championship, Cardiff are 6-1 to win the division after a 4-2 victory against Watford, in which Craig Bellamy, Michael Chopra and the returning Jay Bothroyd were all on target.

League One leaders Brighton lost 1-0 at Bournemouth, who move into second place. The Seagulls are 7-4 second-favourites for the league behind 13-8 shots Southampton, who lost 2-0 at struggling Tranmere.

Hearts are as short as 7-1 to win the SPL after beating Rangers
1-0. The Edinburgh club are just two points behind the Gers and seven behind leaders Celtic, who have played a game more.

A gamble on the Barnet-Macclesfield double result in Saturday’s League Two fixture at Moss Rose was foiled when the teams finished level at 1-1.

Most firms took their double-result prices down after an unusually high number of bets. Bet365 kept their market
up offering 7-1 from 22-1 just before kick-off, but the bet was scuppered by half-time, when the teams turned round goalless.

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