A SOOCER punter is on course to pulling off Britain's most profitable bet after backing Arsenal to win the Premiership.

Adrian Fitzpatrick will scoop £945,000 if Arsenal, who need only to draw at Manchester United on Wednesday to clinch the title, triumph in the league and 8-1 shots Spain win this summer's World Cup.

Bookmaker William Hill, which accepted Mr Fitzpatrick's £40,000 double, said it now rated Arsenal at 1-125 to win the Premiership.

Mr Fitzpatrick, from Solihull, West Midlands, staked what could become a record bet on the Gunners in March, when the north London club were 13-8 for the title.

If his bet is successful, the flower seller would more than double the £400,000 pay-out he scooped from Hill's during the 1994 World Cup.

He lost his crown as Britain's biggest winner on a single football bet last May when a Lichfield man won £500,000 from a 30p wager.

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said: "He's somebody whose tipping ability we respect.

"It's a substantial bet and certainly in my career in the business, which goes back over 30 years now, I am not aware of any one man landing a million pounds on a football bet.

"This bet would not quite hit the million mark, but if you add on what he has won before it would put him in a league of his own."