With big games coming thick and fast in the next few weeks, we here at Paddy Power Blog are going to do your work for you and scour the odds to the best bets to take for anytime goalscorers, starting with Saturday’s double header of the Championship playoff final between Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday and the Champions League final between the two Madrid clubs Real and Atletico.
Hull vs Sheffield Wednesday
Both Hull and Wednesday scored more goals than second placed Middlesbrough but one of them will have to spend another season languishing in the second tier while the other takes the glory of a Premier League spot. The match is supposedly worth £180,000,000 to the winner but we’ve looked through the stats and facts for both teams to try and help you make a smidgeon of that.
For the Tigers the obvious standout is the Uruguayan Abel Hernandez. 20 goals has him sitting top of Hull’s scoring charts and five in his last seven make his odds of fair but a little bit short for us. He’ll have the backup of Mo Diame and Jake Livermore if needed but we’re looking at the other side for our value.
The Owls flew into the playoffs mainly down to Fernando Forestieri and Gary Hooper who’ve both hit double figures for the campaign. The problem with them is that they haven’t been in the best of form. Not like our choice. Four goals in his last six appearances including in both legs of the semi-final against Brighton? One man
The bet: Ross Wallace to score anytime at.
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
It’s a bit simpler in the Champions League final.
Once again, you have the obvious names of Benzema and Ronaldo for Real and Antoine Griezmann for the red half of Madrid. But we’re looking to a surprising underdog to bring our double up to a nice 19/1 and give you some extra dosh ahead of the Euros.
If we were to tell you that there was a player in this game that’s lifted a trophy in eight of the nine finals he’s played in, scoring in three of them and has seven goals in his last 10 appearances, you’d be shocked to know its Fernando Torres. The clue was kind of in the picture.
But it’s true. El Nino has an astonishing record when it comes to the business ends of tournaments. Goals in the Euro 2008 and 2012 finals as well as the Europa League final for Chelsea in 2013 adds on to the goal which caused Gary Neville to have a goalgasm out in Barcelona and a host of quarter final goals for Liverpool, Chelsea and Atleti. Despite being stuck on 99 La Liga goals for months, once Torres hit 100 he’s been hotter than Gorgeous Giroud in a sauna. Ooh la laaa!
The bet: Fernando Torres to score anytime at
Now far be it from us to preview the matches in this article when we’ve a whole team of computer monkeys that’ve already done it for us.
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
Sit back, relax, put the kids to bed and crack open a cold one Stone Cold style. It’s a flipping fantastic feast of fabulous football. Alliteration is cool…