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Seeing as we’ve reached the midway point in the season, we thought it would be shrewd to quickly assess who the best punts are in terms of who will finish the Premiership season as the leagues most prolific striker. With 20 matches already played for some teams, we have three frontrunners setting the standards with 14 goals-a-piece; Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Didier Drogba (Chelsea) and Wayne Rooney (Man Utd). Each are plying their trade with a team currently occupying a top four berth, which just goes to show that having quality assistance makes a tremendous difference to a strikers goalscoring return.

 

English Premiership Top Goalscorers (As of 31/12/09):

 

Jermain Defoe 14

Didier Drogba 14

Wayne Rooney 14

Darren Bent 13

Fernando Torres 12

Louis Saha 10

Cesc Fabregas 9

Carlos Tevez 9

Gabriel Agbonlahor 8

Carlton Cole 7

 

 

Jermain Defoe – The former Pompey front man made his return to Tottenham nearly a year ago today and has proved a shrewd acquisition ever since, even if the Spurs fans didn’t know what they already had in front of their own noses. In his second stint at the club, Defoe has bagged 17 goals in just 24 appearances in all competitions. This season, Defoe has been the catalyst for Tottenham’s top four push and has scored exactly a third of their league goals this term.

 

Main Strength: Pace

 

Defoe’s biggest asset is his pace, without a doubt, but his all around striking ability has gradually improved since his spell at Portsmouth under the same manager, Harry Redknapp. His movement, both on and off the ball, has come on leaps and bounds, while his quick ability to read the play has been one of several positive reasons why Defoe has been such a handful for opposing defences during the early parts of the season.

 

Goals: 14

Starts-Sub: 16-2

Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Top Goalscorer Odds: 10/3 Boylesports

 

 

Didier Drogba – The Ivorian has not only been Chelsea’s best player this season but also probably the best performer in the league on current form, possibly even in Europe. When Drogba goes on one of his free-scoring, confidence beaming runs, the 6ft 2in powerhouse is close to unstoppable. After a difficult season last term, Drogba has come on strong in the early part of this season, but now his priority’s turn towards his International duties with the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations. The former Marseille front man will be sorely missed as, like Defoe, Drogba has scored a large part of Chelsea’s goals this season and has been one half of a lethal striking duo involving himself and Nicolas Anelka. A partnership many thought would never work.

 

Main Strength – Strength

 

You don’t appreciate just what an athlete Didier Drogba is until you see him in person, strutting his stuff on that green acre of grass. His 6ft+ height enables him to tower over even the tallest of defenders but it’s his abundance of strength which makes him stand out from the rest and what makes him one of the most feared strikes on the planet. He has the strength to brush even the strongest and bulkiest of defenders aside and yet he still has the composure to finish with aplomb when given a sniff of a chance. Arguably the worlds best striker on present form but his International stint will stop him firmly in his tracks, especially if Ivory Coast do go all the way.

 

Goals: 14

Starts-Sub: 18-0

Club: Chelsea

Top Goalscorer Odds: 5/1 Bet365

 

 

Wayne Rooney – Just the name should be enough for all you Englishman and women out there. He is, quite simply, England’s brightest talent and he’s not only pivotal for his club, Manchester United, but even more so for England’s chances in the forthcoming summer World Cup in South Africa, although the conditions will be far from sun & shades out in Africa come July.

 

Rooney has been embracing our screens with scintillating displays ever since his arrival onto the scene at Everton, with his memorable long range strike against Arsenal catapulting him into the arms of Sir Alex Ferguson. However, his performances in a United shirt have confirmed what we pretty much knew all along, that Rooney is a world-class player. He has been United’s stalwart this season, driving the Red Devils forward whenever they have had their backs to the walls. Rooney never cowers away, he thrives on difficult situations and he’s actually been the only shining light in what has been a pretty poor United outfit this season.

 

Main Strength: Work Rate

 

Wayne Rooney has similar characteristics to Carlos Tevez, a former team-mate of Rooney’s. Whenever United have looked sluggish, which has been a lot this season, Rooney has picked up the pace by closing down every single opponent who dares to come into possession of the ball. Rooney just doesn’t know when to give in and you’ll often see him running right back to defence in order to make a tackle just so United can gain possession and start another offensive push. This sort of attitude infects those around him to do the exact same and try match his high levels. Those at the club strive to match Rooney’s work rate and high footballing standards, while those outside the club just want to be like him. What’s more, he is actually a decent chap off the field, although he’s like a possessed bulldog on it at times.

 

Goals: 14

Starts-Sub: 19-0

Club: Manchester United

Top Goalscorer Odds: 13/5 Boylesports

 

 

Darren Bent – Bent was the loser of the Tottenham camp under Harry Redknapp, and even with some newspaper columnists, but the England hopeful has put them all to shame with a superb start to the season which has seen the former Spurs man score 13 goals in 20 appearances for Sunderland, a club that were struggling to fend off relegation last season. Bent’s goals this term has enabled Sunderland to challenge for a top ten finish, and, outstandingly, claim the scalps of both Arsenal & Liverpool, with Bent scoring the only goal in the two 1-0 victories over both sides. His confidence at Spurs may have taken a battering but his morale will have sky-rocketed through the roof after a superb opening to the campaign with the Black Cats.

 

Main Strength: Awareness

 

Bent has always possessed a fair amount of pace and acceleration, whilst his finishing has generally been OK, but it was his off-the-ball awareness that tended to let him down as he didn’t have that predatory striker instinct which made the likes of Les Ferdinand & Alan Shearer so prolific in front of goal at club level. However, Bent appears to have got the knack of that old adage ‘being in the right place at the right time’ as time and time again this season, Bent ends up with the ball at his feet inside the penalty area. It’s not always about scoring the perfect 20 yard goal but more about sticking the tap-in’s into the goal, as those sort of goals come about more often, which is why Bent has prevailed this season.

 

Goals: 13

Starts-Sub: 20-0

Club: Sunderland

Top Goalscorer Odds: 7/1 SportingBet

 

 

Fernando Torres – Does this lad really need any introduction? The Spaniard stormed onto the scene with an unbelievable début season, scoring 24 in just his first ever season in the Premiership, two season ago, before enduring an injury ravaged season last term. To be fair, he has had his fair amount of injuries this season, with a hernia the latest in a long list of Torres injuries. However, even a cast-iron cast wouldn’t stop this lad scoring as he’s just unstoppable on his day, and he has his day just about every other week, which is why he’s just so deadly. This season, despite starting just 14 times for Liverpool, has notched up 12 goals, just two off the leaders who have played a good handful of games more than him. He narrowly missed out on the Golden Boot in his first season, but will be eager to go one better this season providing he eases off the injuries.

 

Main Strength: Finishing

 

I can’t think of a better finisher of the ball than Fernando Torres in today’s game. Stick the Spaniard in a one-on-one situation, heck even a three-on-one, and, chances are, he will skin both defenders and stick it away with ease. He makes goalscoring look so easy, with some composed finishing and neat ball work in tight spaces. That’s another thing with Torres, he not only has the pace to skin a defender but the skills to do so, as well as the know-how to beat a man to the ball from set-peices. You’d be hard-pressed to find a defender who hasn’t been made to look foolish by the Liverpool No.9, just ask Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd), who was supposedly one of the world’s best defenders last season, and yet Torres tore chunks out of him at Old Trafford, both last season and this season.

 

Goals: 12

Starts-Sub: 14-1

Club: Liverpool

Top Goalscorer Odds: 4/1 Coral

 

 

The four mentioned above are what I consider to be the main contenders for the crown. Carlos Tevez (Man City) could be a possible outsider but I can’t see him scoring enough regular goals to put him in the frame.

 

 

A few factors that could affect the outcome:

 

• Injuries (both to themselves and team-mates, as players like Defoe thrive on a quality supply)

• International Duty

• Discipline (Be careful of fiery characters; such as Wayne Rooney, who can lose his cool when things aren’t going his way which could then lead to a suspension)

• Form (For both the player and the team)

 

There are others, things like off the pitch problems with club debts, transfers, hiring and firing of managers etc. All of which could affect the overall morale of a camp, but they are the main ones that could come up with off the top of my head.

 

 

Our Golden Boot Pick: Fernando Torres

 

If he’s fit; he starts. If he starts; you’d fancy him to score. It’s as simple as that for us. Torres could go games without a goal and yet he would still have it within him to pull a hat-trick out of the blue. He’s immensely talented, one of the very best strikers on the planet when in tip-top shape, and an injury free end to the season would make him a very strong candidate for the crown as the two goal deficit he faces at the moment is nothing for him, especially now Drogba will miss the best part of January’s fixtures.

 

Odds: 4/1 Coral

Birmingham City play hosts to Manchester City on Sunday afternoon’s Premier League kick off, with the Midlands club looking for a win which would push them away from the relegation zone. Sitting 15th out of twenty teams, will be making the Blues supporters a little edgy at the moment, even at this early stage of the season. Last weekend’s 2-1 victory over the rising Sunderland was a huge result for them, and now they need to built upon that success to continue to climb towards the safety of the middle of the table.

Manchester City have a chance to push their way into the top four by chalking one up in the win column. They have gotten into a habit of drawing fixtures in the league though, something which will be frustrating to boss Mark Hughes after all of the summer investments that were made at Eastlands. While definitely looking in better shape than they have done for some seasons, they have fallen short too often in being able to kill of teams. But will Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa all failing to pick up wins on Saturday, it does allow City to close within one point of third placed Arsenal, and still maintain a game in hand over them.

City unleashed their forward power in their midweek Carling Cup victory over Scunthorpe, where they ran out 5-1 winners. After missing through injury for that match, Kolo Toure and Martin Petrov should reclaim their places in the stating eleven, as the blue side of Manchester look for something to cheer. After suffering a run of injuries, City are almost back to full strength, with only Robinho the big name to still be sitting on the sideline through injury. They could certainly use his force and creativity to help turn one point into three, and it will not be long before the Brazilian is fit enough to start roaming the pitch in a City shirt.

Birmingham City have recently been taken over by Carson Yeung, who has promised a lot of investment come the January transfer window. Until that time, Birmingham will need to scrap and fight tooth and nail to get all the points they can. They operate with a back four which is not a cohesive unit at the moment, and that is an area which boss Alex McLeish needs to have been working on, ahead of the visit of Manchester City, who will start with Craig Bellamy, Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Shaun Wright-Phillips. While the back four has looked a little rickety at times, Birmingham are also lacking in goals scored, having only found the back of the net eight times so far this season in the league. Few goals makes victories hard to come by.

Birmingham have enjoyed some recent success in the past seasons, as they have seen off the challenge of Manchester City three times out of the last four attempts. But with the victory over Sunderland being Birmingham’s first home victory of the season, it could be a positive thing to build upon. Form comes in streaks, such as bottom club Portsmouth showed, backing up their Carling Cup win, with a thumping 4-0 league victory over Wigan. The Blues will be looking to the same against City, using the Sunderland victory, which entailed keeping a potent strike force at bay for the large part, as a springboard to leap up the league.

Birmingham to win: 7/2 at SkyBet
Draw: 13/5 at Bet365
Manchester City to win: 17/20 at William Hill

Betting Advice: Despite have a penchant for drawing games lately, Manchester City should have enough in the tank to dominate games like this. The difference in class between them and neighbours Manchester United is still clear, even though it may be closing. If this were United, you would have no trouble backing them for a win, be it a solid one or a hard fought one. City however, still look like an unknown quantity, which their three drawn games in a row have proved. Their romping Carling Cup victory though, should have instilled a little more belief in their game, and they cannot afford to lose more ground by not taking advantage of teams around them failing to win on Saturday. Mark Hughes should be pressing this point home.
Manchester City to win 2-1: 8/1 at SkyBet

Such has been the strides forward City have made from the shadows of their domineering City rivals, that if they were to win their two games in hand over current leaders (after Saturday) Chelsea, then they would be on level points. On paper City boss Mark Hughes has collected together a team full of attacking potential, yet their goals total is a lot less than the four teams above them in the Premier League. They are not as free scoring on the pitch as they are on paper, but they have lost only one match this season and that is where they can draw a lot of strength from. Their defence has been standing up really well.

So that will be bad news for Fulham as they have scored fewer that what the leaders Chelsea have conceded in 10 matches. Fulham are currently in 13th position in the league, but that could be a little flattering as they are only three points ahead of 18th placed Hull. Being involved in the UEFA Super League, they are a couple of games behind other teams around them in the league, but they need to start finding a source of goals from somewhere. They gave a good account of themselves in their midweek European fixture, when they held the illustrious Italian club Roma to a 1-1 draw. Fulham have been doing better in Europe than they have in the league, largely by resting senior players who are shouldering the burden of Premier League survival.

Manchester City blew two points last week when they could only manage a draw at Wigan in the league. Kolo Toure and Craig Bellamy, one of City’s joint top scorers, were missing from that game, but should be back to take their places in the starting eleven on Sunday if late fitness tests go well. There was hope that Robinho would be seeing some action soon, but he has suffered a setback in his injury recovery. The Cottagers have a couple of injury worries, as Simon Davis and striker Andrew Johnson will both be missing from the line up, and top scorer (with two league goals) Danny Murphy is a doubt too.

This is the start of a run of games against teams which City will be expected to win, furthering their charge into the Big Four. One reason why Fulham struggle so much, is that they are not good travellers. In four seasons they have only managed eight wins on the road, but strangely have had the most success at Manchester City. One of those things which may influence a bet, but it is hard to see anything other than a home win on Sunday, as City have won all of their home games this season, and are running on six consecutive home wins from the end of last season.

Manchester City to win: 5/11 at Coral
Draw: 10/3 at Skybet
Fulham to win: 15/2 at Skybet

Betting Advice: The power of Adebayor, Tevez and Bellamy (if he plays) should be more than enough to take down Fulham. City desperately want the win in order to show the Big Four that they really do mean business after all of their summer spending. There is no better way to show it than by putting another three points on the board. Fulham just do not have the scoring power at the moment, and the City defence is well organised. Could be worth doubling up a City win with an Arsenal win on Sunday.
Manchester City to win 3-0: 9/1 at Bet365