YOU know those Hail Mary bets you just get a feeling in your guts about?
Yeah, you know, that time you backed Stephen Bradbury to win a medal on the ice rink when nearly every other contender fell over?
Neither do we.
But sometimes it happens for some people.
And there are apparently quite a few who thought Leicester City was a genuine contender for the English Premier League title before the season even started.
And they put their money where their mouth was, laying out their hard earned on the EPL minnows in speculative bets that are set to yield massive returns if the feel-good story of 2015-16 continues on its merry way at the top of the league.
Yes.
That’s right.
The Foxes are top of the Premier League and are now the $2.80 favourites to take out the title.
But it wasn’t always that way.
At the start of the season, they were $3001 rank outsiders.
Surely no one took that bet?
Wrong.
Sportsbet.com.au’s Ben Bulmer reports there were In a total of 68 customers who backed the rank outsiders at the incredible price of $3,001.
Those savvy punters staked between 10 cents and $50 at that price for a return of between $300 and $156,052, should they hold on to their lead, which is now five points ahead of Tottenham ($5) and Arsenal ($3), who are tied in second.
“Leicester aren’t over the line yet but if they do get there, we’ll be faced with a payout of more than $1 million dollars,” Jantzen said.
And they took a huge step toward winning the title by absolutely smashing fellow contender, Manchester City, 3-1, on the weekend.
City, second before the match, were almost spectators at their own execution as the Foxes did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, with the big defensive beast Robert Huth becoming the unlikely match winner, doing his best Jamie Vardy impersonation with a double, the first set up in the third minute from a Riyad Mahrez free kick.
Two minutes after the half time break Mahrez doubled the advantage, doing what he does best by running at the defence, using his pace and skill to make them look like parking cones, and then firing past a hapless Joe Hart to make it 2-0.
Huth then finished them off with another set piece knock in, heading home a corner from Christian Fuchs.
Sergio Aguero pegged one back late, but this was Leicester’s night and maybe, just maybe, it might be Leicester’s title.
“Scoring so early gave us confidence,” Leicester’s manager, Claudio Ranieri, said.
“That allowed us to close down all the space.
“Of course the bigger clubs are nervous about us winning the title, but it doesn’t matter to me, it’s not my problem.
“For Leicester the pressure was at the beginning of the season when we started out because our goal was to maintain our position in the Premier League but now the pressure is on the other teams who have spent a lot of money to win the Premier League, the Champions League.
“We are enjoying it.
“We have to play like we have this spirit – then the result is not important.
“If our performance is good I am very happy.
“Surviving relegation last season helps because that was a big, big pressure for them.
“Now they can remember the pressure they faced last season, they can smell how it was and stay calm this season.
While they have one hand on the title, they also possess the odds on favourite to win the PFA Player of the Year Award in Vardy, at $1.74 with CrownBet.com.au, who has been one of the biggest finds in Premier League history.
Vardy, who signed from non league club Fleetwood Town as a relative unknown has enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2015/16, breaking Manchester United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy’s consecutive goal scoring streak with 11 in a row.
At the ripe old age of 29, he leads the English Premier League’s golden boot race with 18, after appearing in every game for the Foxes this campaign.
And he’s just signed a new deal, making it even tougher for the big guns to pry him away when they come calling in the off season.
He might be spending next season as the reigning PFA Player of the Year, but he has some stiff competition from his fellow boom teammate Mahrez, who is the $5 third favourite.
Mahrez, 24, has so often been the architect for Vardy’s many goals – including the one against Liverpool that will forever go down in Premier League history as one of the all time greats – with 10 assists to go with 14 goals of his own. He is a force to be reckoned with and if Vardy doesn’t win it, he might just have the strongest claim.
Although the waiter over at Arsenal might also have something to say about that.
The wizard Mesut Ozil, also has a strong claim to the trophy at $3.40.
And he has been bestowed the title of “most creative player in Europe” by the inventor of swag, Italian legend Andrea Pirlo.
“He creates an unbelievable amount of chances for attackers playing ahead of him,” Pirlo said.
“He has vision like nobody else in Europe.”
Ozil has 16 assists to his name this season, needing only five more to pass Arsenal legend Thierry Henry single season record of 20, back in 2002/03 (mind you, the great one did score 24 goals to go with those dimes).
Leicester takes on Arsenal on Sunday in one of the blockbuster’s of the Premier League season that is set to be yet another title shaping match.
English Premier League markets:
EPL winner:
Arsenal ($3)
Manchester City ($4)
Tottenham ($5)
Manchester United ($36)
Odds provided by sportsbet.com.au
To be relegated:
Aston Villa ($1.03)
Sunderland ($1.24)
Norwich ($1.72)
Swansea ($5)
West Brom ($6)
Bournemouth ($13)
PFA Player of the Year winner:
Jamie Vardy ($1.74)
Mezut Ozil ($3.40)
Riyad Mahrez ($5)
Sergio Aguero ($11)
Harry Kane ($13)
Odds provided by CrownBet.com.au
