The Premiership 2008/2009 Top Goalscorer Betting
It looks as if Cristiano Ronaldo may well still be at Manchester United next season and after his 31 league goals last season he would have been many punters pick to be top goalscorer again next season.
However the news that he is likely to be out for around twelve weeks because of an ankle injury has thrown the betting wide open and although Ronaldo is still only 7/2 (Skybet) his price would have been an awful lot shorter if he weren’t injured and missing so many games. Given how many goals he scored last season it’s possible he could still come out on top again, but it will be a big ask.
Liverpool’s Fernando Torres is 7/2 (Paddypower) and he did remarkably well in his first season in the Premiership scoring 24 goals. It has to be noted that 21 of those goals came at home and if he can get among the goals in away matches he must have every chance of ending up as top scorer. Sometimes players can struggle in their second season but Torres is a proven goalscorer with great ability and we think he will be up there com eth e end of the season.
Like Torres, Arsenal’s Adebayor finished with 24 goals last season, but there is still speculation about him moving abroad and it could pay to hang fire and see where he ends up before backing him. He is currently 9/1 (Paddypower) and looks good value at that price.
Roque Santa Cruz looks to be overpriced at 28/1 (Paddypower) and could be a good each/way bet. Bookmakers are offering 1/ 4 odds to finish as one of the top 4 scorers and as he finished fourth last season we think he may improve on that performance and he looks a great bet. We think Santa Cruz is more than capable of scoring 20+ goals next season and that could be enough to see him come out as top scorer.
Robin Van Persie missed a lot of games last season because of injury but he showed at the Euro 2008 Championships he is still a great finisher and at 16/1 (Skybet) he has to be worth considering.
With the signing of Peter Crouch Portsmouth will have a formidable partnership in Crouch and Defoe and they are both worth looking at in the betting. Crouch didn’t start too often last year for Liverpool and only scored five goals, but he will do a lot better if he plays regularly and at 40/1 (Paddypower) could be worth an interest.
Defoe at 25/1 (Skybet) scored 12 goals at Portsmouth last season and he has consistently reached double figures even when he was only a bit part player at Tottenham. We think linking up with Crouch and a regular place in the starting line-up will see a better return this season and he’s got to be worth backing each/way at least.
Other players to consider are Wayne Rooney at 14/1 Robbie Keane 28/1, Dimitar Berbatov 10/1 and Didier Drogba 8/1 all at Skybet.
Dean Ashton could come into calculations if he stays fit and the 40/1 (Paddypower) looks decent value. Newcastle’s Michael Owen looked to be getting back to something like his best towards the back end of last season and could prove to be value at 28/1 (Skybet) along with team mate Mark Viduka 50/1 (Paddypower). Yakubu at Everton is another player we think could enter into calculations and at 28/1 (Skybet) could be worth backing.
Robin Van Persie and Roque Santa Cruz are our two picks given the prices on offer.