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

"Michu has been particularly potent against Arsenal this season and looks a decent price at 7.06/1 to score the last goal."

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 4.67/2. 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 2.915/8 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 4.57/2 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 2.05n/a 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 7.06/1 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 2.01/1 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 2.915/8
Back Ibrahimovic to score first at 4.57/2
Back Falcao to score at 2.05n/a
Back Michu to score last at 7.06/1
Back Balotelli to score at 2.01/1

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Premier League Betting: Cisse and Ba let Newcastle aim high

Premier League / Michael Lintorn / 07 February 2012 / 2 Comments

Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse both scored in the win against Aston Villa

"Odds of [2.7] on a top-six finish look increasingly attractive, while the ever ambitious Alan Pardew is keen to fight for fourth [15.0]."

Michael Lintorn reflects on a glorious start for the Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse pairing and other duos who worked together up front for club and country...

After first seeing their exciting new strike force in action during Senegal's awful African Nations Cup campaign, Newcastle fans had any worries that the Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse partnership wouldn't live up to its billing drastically eased against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Given an unexpected 76-minute window to impress together following an early injury to Leon Best, things went better than either could have imagined, both netting in a 2-1 victory.

Ba's goal was his 16th in 18 starts and leaves him second in the scorer standings despite his recent absence, and [13.5] to overtake Robin van Persie before the season is over.

Cisse firing on his debut is arguably even more encouraging for Magpies supporters though, affording the £10 million man an instant and spectacular impact, whereas it took Ba six matches to break his duck, leading some to misguidedly write him off.

And on a weekend where Chelsea and Liverpool were held by top-three opposition, the result is that Newcastle are fifth, a point off the Champions League pace and three clear of Champions League chasing Liverpool.

The idea of European qualification no longer appears fanciful and fears of a complete collapse after their dip in form before Christmas have been soothed, so odds of [2.7] on a top-six finish look increasingly attractive, while the ever ambitious Alan Pardew is keen to fight for fourth at [15.0].

Ba and Cisse are likely to prove pivotal to any success that they enjoy over the next few months, but their unusual situation of linking up in attack both domestically and internationally got this writer thinking of other examples in the Premier League.

It was harder work than anticipated, and required a bit of counting attacking midfielder/winger-forward pairings, however here are six for starters:

Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp - Arsenal and Netherlands
Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka - Leeds and Australia
Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry - Arsenal and France
John Utaka and Nwankwo Kanu - Portsmouth and Nigeria
Elano, Jo and Robinho - Manchester City and Brazil
Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba - Chelsea and Ivory Coast

Feel free to chip in with some of your own in the box below...

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