Despite the welcome return of fans to stadiums up and down the country, it has still been quite a strange Premier League season. Games were called off at a frustrating rate over the busy festive period due to the Omicron outbreak in the United Kingdom, while many of the matches that did go ahead saw teams seriously deflated and not even able to fulfil a full squad.
Of course, like any English top flight campaign, there have been some crazy results that have made life difficult for those who like to dip their toes in the football betting markets. Especially in the last couple of weeks, with sides fighting back from the brink of defeat to either salvage a point or nick all three when it looked like they had their backs against the wall.
That said, read on as we take a look at four of the best comebacks so far in the 2021-22 Premier League season…
Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United
Not only was this a fantastic comeback for Aston Villa, but with Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho’s allegiances lying with the Reds Devils’ bitter rivals Liverpool, this result would have felt even better for the gaffer and the Villans’ new playmaker. A huge fumble by Emiliano Martínez gifted Bruno Fernandes the opening goal in the Midlands and the Portuguese midfielder doubled Manchester United’s lead in the 67th minute.
However, the introduction of Coutinho from the bench seemed to inspire Gerrard’s men. Some fantastic work from the ‘Little Magician’ resulted in the ball falling to Jacob Ramsay to pull one back with less than 15 minutes to go and the pair linked up again as 20-year-old’s low cross was turned in from close range by the Barcelona loanee just four minutes later. It was certainly a debut to remember for the 30-year-old as ‘who needs Grealish when you’ve got Coutinho’ rang out around Villa Park’s concourses.
Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool
A crucial game in the title race for both sides, it looked like it was going to be a dire evening at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea. The Blues have been out of favour in the football betting tips today for a while now as their form has dipped massively over the last month or so, and when Sadio Mané capitalised on Trevor Chalobah’s mistake to put Liverpool ahead inside 10 minutes before Mohamed Salah made it 2-0, it looked Jürgen Klopp was going to pile more misery on his German counterpart, Thomas Tuchel.
But the hosts didn’t give up that easily. In a crazy couple of minutes to end the first half, Mateo Kovačić scored a stunning volley from the edge of the box before Christian Pulisic finished smartly over the top Alisson to level the score. After a first half that defied all expectations, neither side were able to find a winner in the second 45 minutes.
Liverpool 2-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Former Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray always used to say 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline and the 2-2 draw in west London wasn’t actually the first time Liverpool have blown a two-goal lead this season — as they squandered three points from a comfortable position against Brighton at Anfield back in October.
In similar fashion, Henderson and Mané fired the Reds into a 2-0 lead within the opening 30 minutes on Merseyside, but a brilliant equaliser from Enock Mwepu on the brink of half-time set up a nervy second half. It was another good goal from Leonardo Trossard to pull the game back level in the 65th minute and it ended honours even at Anfield.
Leicester City 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Without a doubt, this is the best comeback of the season thus far. 2-1 up in the fourth of five additional minutes, it is incredibly hard to fathom how Leicester City ended up not only drawing, but losing this game altogether. After goals from Patson Daka and Harry Kane cancelled each other out in the first half, James Maddison looked to have given the Foxes the victory as he found the back of the net in the 76th minute.
However, two goals from Steven Bergwijn inside just 80 seconds flipped the scoreline completely on its head and it’s unlikely you’ll see anything as dramatic in the closing stages of a match for the rest of this season!