Results for Mon 24 August 2026

Four picks. Two won, one lost, one pushed, and the day finished 0.71 units up at plus eighteen per cent. A quiet Monday, but two of the four are instructive.

Al Ittihad won and returned nothing. They beat Al Hazm 3-2, a one goal margin against a minus one handicap, so the entire stake came back. Nothing won, nothing lost. That is the push working exactly as intended, and it is the reason a minus one is a different animal from a minus one and a half.

That selection has a history worth telling. It did not exist on the morning card. The Saudi Professional League's new season was not in our database at all, because the competition reference we had stored still pointed at last season. Once the correct season was downloaded that morning the cell ranked and the pick appeared. It then pushed, so all that work changed nothing on the scoreboard. Some days that is how it goes.

Isloch was the biggest winner and I very nearly called it unpriceable. One per cent market coverage, no exchange market, no handicap board quoting the level line. My first read was that no price existed anywhere. A proper sweep found Ladbrokes and Coral both at 2.30 on the Draw No Bet, which is the identical bet. Isloch won 1-0.

Four of the five books on that board were the same company. Ladbrokes, Coral, Bwin and Sportingbet all sit under one owner, and William Hill was the only genuinely independent quote. Five rows, two opinions. Counting the rows rather than the companies is one of the easier ways to fool yourself about how much agreement there is behind a price.

Levante won on a nil-nil draw. A plus one and a quarter on the away side clears both of its legs when the game finishes level. Third draw of the week that was not a loss.

One selection was withdrawn before publication. Deportivo Espanol needed a plus three quarters line, and no bookmaker quotes that rung. The board ran minus a half, level, plus a half, with nothing in between, and a three quarter line cannot be built from two other markets because both of its halves are handicaps. That left one price from one source with nothing to check it against. It stayed off the card.