Africa Cup Of Nations Top Scorer – Football Betting (21 January – 12 February)

Impressive Ayew can be a star for Ghana

Ayew - Pantsil (Ghana)
Ayew - Pantsil (Ghana) © GEPA pictures

There will be a few Premier League managers anxiously viewing the African Cup Of Nations from afar once it gets under way in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Particular nervous will be Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew, who will be wincing with every challenge on Demba Ba. The Senegal striker has been a revelation since arriving on Tyneside from West Ham and has already found the net 15 times for his club since the start of the campaign. Boylesports have opened up a market on the top goalscorer at the Africa Cup Of Nations and have made Ba their 4/1 joint favourite alongside Chelsea‘s Didier Drogba. The Ivory Coast centre-forward has doesn’t figure anywhere near the top of the Premier League‘s current sharp-shooters but has had an interrupted campaign and is almost guaranteed to start every game for his national side, who have a powerful squad and are likely to go a long way in the competition. Alongside Drogba the Elephants, winners in 1992, can also call upon Premier League stars Yaya and Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou, Cheick Tiote and Gervinho. The Arsenal striker is 18/1 to end up the leading goalscorer in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Gervinho‘s club team-mate Marouane Chamakh has struggled to make his mark at the Emirates but will lead the Morocco line in the Africa Cup Of Nations and is 22/1 with Boylesports, but it appears that Sunderland‘s Asamoah Gyan is facing a race against time to be fit for Ghana‘s opener. Gyan is on a season-long loan at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates and suffered a hamstring injury earlier this month. He is 8/1 with Boylesports and on betfair but just as interesting is compatriot Andre Ayew.

The French-born striker was the BBC‘s African Football of the Year in 2011 and has already impressed for club side Marseille in the Champions’ League this season. Still only 22, he has already played for his country in two Africa Cup Of Nations as well as a World Cup so knows what tournament football is all about. Ayew is a 16/1 chance to be top goalscorer with Boylesports which is almost twice the odds of Senegal‘s veteran striker Mamadou Niang (9/1), who has been playing his club football in Qatar, and a lot bigger than the latter’s fellow countryman Moussa Sow (10/1), who has only ever scored once outside his native country in international football.

2012 Africa Cup of Nations – more Betting Odds, Tips and Preview