Tuesday 7th January 2025

In Across the Leagues today:

• Top-rated players…
• EFL Cup tonight…
• FA Cup coming up… 

Premier League Fantasy betting – and a Scorer for tonight…

A couple of weeks back I said that goal-scoring defenders are worth having in your Fantasy team…

And at the top end of the pitch of course, the magic dream-team formula is to find a red-hot striker who is also a bargain/ surprise package…

Here are the players at top of the Points standings in the official Premier League Fantasy game this season:

Those eight men are all on 100+ pts in the game so far in 2024/25. And while there are some familiar and expected names here (Salah, Haaland, Palmer, and the currently-injured Saka). There are also a few that tick the box as pre-season outsiders (Wood, Mbeumo, Cunha)...

Somewhere in the middle of those two categories, sits in-form Newcastle forward, Alexander Isak. We talked about his recent scoring run last Friday. And he bagged another big goal at the weekend, with the Magpies winning 2-1 at Tottenham…

Isak was a best-price 10/11 (1.91) To Score at Spurs. The Swedish striker’s next assignment is another trip to North London, this time away at Arsenal in the EFL/ Carabao Cup semi-final, 1st leg (Arsenal v Newcastle - tonight 8pm, ITV1)...

The last time these sides met, Alexander scored the only goal of the game - helping the Geordies to a 1-0 win over the Gunners in the Premier League on 2nd November. William Hill paid 11/5 (3.2) on Isak to score that day. We can get odds of 2/1+ (3.0+) again this evening, and considering the form the 25-year-old is in, we should take them. He takes penalties, too…

• Isak has landed Anytime Scorer bets in 11 of his last 14 appearances in all competitions, including 7 in a row in the league

Also of note from that list of Premier League Fantasy top points-scorers this season:

• For some reason, the game lists top scorer Mo Salah as a Midfielder. That means you can pick three Forwards for your starting XI, and have Mo scoring from midfield (!). He’s in my team…
• While Erling Haaland went off as short as 7/20 (1.35) in last weekend’s Anytime Scorer betting, Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo paid a much more palatable 2/1 (3.0). And Matheus Cunha’s last successful strike for Wolves paid out at odds of 5/2 (3.5)...

The FA Cup 3rd round is coming up later this week. Ahead of the weekend, we’ll be making our first moves in this season’s competition. Including our annual pursuit of 3rd-round ‘potential banana skins’ for the top-flight clubs, and a look at the outsider prospects and prices for the trophy. See you on Friday…

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TODAY’S PICKS & BEST ODDS

See above for full details

Arsenal v Newcastle

EFL/ Carabao Cup - Semi Final, 1st Leg
8pm - live on ITV1

• Player to Score: Alexander Isak @ 23/10 (3.3) Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, 9/4 (3.25) Bet365, Boylesports, 2/1 (3.0) Skybet

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Enjoy the football…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Across the Leagues