The Goalscorer Gamble: Papiss Cisse to dent Wigan's survival hopes

17Mar 2013

Betfair

Dan Fitch is back to pick out five goalscorer bets for the weekend and fancies Newcastle's Papiss Cisse to add to his recent tally against a porous Wigan defence.

This tipping lark is difficult enough without the referees disallowing perfectly good goals.

That's exactly what happened last week with Hibernian's Leigh Griffiths whacked in a free-kick that hit the Hearts crossbar and landed roughly a metre over the line, only for the referee to deem that it wasn't in.

This silly decision robbed this column of our first goalscorer pick at odds of 4.6. As a consequence, I'll only be tipping players this week who I'm sure will score at least two goals, just to give the referees in question some margin for error.

We start with Sunday's Premier League game between Wigan and Newcastle. Wigan have failed to keep a keep a clean sheet at home all season and have conceded 13 goals in their last four home games.

So it would be a surprise if Newcastle didn't help themselves to a couple of goals against such charitable hosts. The chief goal threat for the Magpies will be Papiss Cisse, who has quietly found some form since the departure of Demba Ba.

Cisse has scored three goals in his last five games, including two 90th minute winners in Newcastle's last two games against Stoke and Anzhi. The odds of 2.9 for the Senegalese striker to score at any time is good value and our first pick for the weekend.

For our first goalscorer tip we head to France and can only hope that the referee doesn't scupper our chances this week. The game in question is Paris St Germain's trip to face a St Etienne side who are currently fourth in Ligue 1.

When it comes to picking a goalscorer for PSG, there is only one man and he goes by the name of Zlatan. The Swedish superstar has scored 24 league goals this season, putting him just one behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the European scoring charts.

Despite such feats, Ibrahimovic remains overpriced compared to Ronaldo, who along with Messi, is always an extremely short price in the goalscorer markets. Back Zlatan to score the first goal, with the striker likely to be available at around 4.5 when the market gains more liquidity.

If not for an injury, which disrupted his season just when he was at his most potent, Radamel Falcao would be up there with Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo in the goalscoring charts.

This week Atletico Madrid travel to face an Osasuna side just four points clear of the relegation zone. Atletico now find themselves behind their city rivals Real, having been second for most of the season.

I fancy Atletico to get back to winning ways this week, after a disappointing home defeat last weekend and a draw the week before that. Falcao is good value at anything over evens, so we'll snap up the 2.05 on offer.

We now return to the Premier League for our last goalscorer bet. After the disappointment of going out of the Champions League in midweek, Arsenal must pick themselves up against Swansea, in an effort to qualify for next season's tournament.

Both Arsenal and Swansea are in poor Premier League form at the moment, but I fancy the Welsh side to up their game, in what should be a fascinating battle of possession-based football.

Michu has been particularly potent against Arsenal this season and looks a decent price at 7.0 to score the last goal.

Last but not least we head to Italy for AC Milan's game against Palermo. Milan suffered a thrashing against Barcelona, in a game where they were missing the ineligible Mario Balotelli and the injured Giampaolo Pazzini.

Pazzini is still likely to be out, so expect Balotelli to be selected in the central striker role. At likely odds of around 2.0 to score at any time, Super Mario is good value against the Sicilian strugglers, who are currently rock bottom of Serie A.

Recommended Bets

Best Bet: Back Cisse to score at 2.9

Back Ibrahimovic to score first at 4.5

Back Falcao to score at 2.05

Back Michu to score last at 7.0

Back Balotelli to score at 2.0