The Great Goalscorer Gamble: Papiss Cisse will hurt Chelsea

2Feb 2013

Betfair

We all love goals, so why not take a look at Dan Fitch's weekend goalscorer tips and make yourself some money from them?

Last week saw this column suffer some bad luck, as Didier Drogba was dropped and Javier Hernandez scored Manchester United's second and third goals, but not their first.

I'm not one to wallow in the past though. Like Peter Odemwingie, when he finally gets back to the West Brom training ground, I've just got to suck it up and get back to work.

Starting in the Premier League, we begin with Newcastle's battle to avoid relegation, or as we should probably refer to it now, 'the French resistance'.

The Senegal striker Papiss Cisse has been back amongst the goals, since Demba Ba joined today's visitors Chelsea and hit the target in the Magpies' 2-1 win over Aston Villa.

Odds of 3.55 for Cisse to score at any-time look pretty juicy to me. Newcastle will be looking to build on their recent revival, while Chelsea's defence is currently as porous as the Titanic post-iceberg.

Next we take the short trip over the border to Scotland and Celtic's Scottish Cup trip to Raith. Gary Hooper is still at the Bhoys after they dismissed Norwich's multiple attempts to sign the prolific English striker.

With the speculation now over until the summer, Hooper will be looking to get back to business. He scored six goals in three games during Celtic's League Cup run and should find things similarly easy against First Division Raith.

Hooper's price to score at any-time against such lowly opposition will not be worth bothering with, so let's back him at 3.4 to score the first goal.

Today's opening match in the African Cup of Nations provides a good opportunity in the To Score market.

The former Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan had been having a quiet tournament, until Ghana's final group game against Niger, when he burst into life - scoring once and setting up two.

Ghana face the rank outsiders Cape Verde and should enjoy an easy win. If Gyan can build on his outstanding performance in the last game, then the 2.38 to score during the match looks pretty good value.

Over in Italy, all eyes will be on Mario Balotelli, who could make his debut for AC Milan in their home game against Udinese.

Yet the Milan forward that I'm interested in is Stephan El Shaaraway, who has scored 15 goals in Serie A this season and is a more reliable proposition than the enigmatic Balotelli.

Curiously, El Shaaraway has scored 12 of those 15 goals in the second-half of games, making him an ideal candidate to be the last goalscorer. When the market reaches full liquidity, expect the Italian international to be priced at around 4.5 to close the scoring.

Finally, we turn our attention to the televised match from the Bundesliga, where Bayer Leverkusen play host to Borussia Dortmund.

The anytime goalscorer markets see Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus as the favourites. The third favourite is Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling, which is somewhat puzzling considering that he's the Bundesliga's top scorer with 13 goals in 18 games.

Kiessling is in the form of his life right now, so the likely price of 2.75 when the market develops, looks like value to me.

Dortmund have a very good defence of course, but with Leverkusen one place ahead of them in the Bundesliga in second, then the home side are likely to be busting a gut to prove that their league position is no fluke.

Recommended Bets

Back Papiss Cisse to score for Newcastle against Chelsea at 3.55

Back Gary Hooper to score first for Celtic against Raith at 3.4

Back Asamoah Gyan to score for Ghana against Cape Verde at 2.38

Back Stephan El Shaaraway to score last for AC Milan against Udinese at 4.5

Back Stefan Kiessling to score for Bayer Leverkusen against Borussia Dortmund at 2.75