Monster hauls from Romelu Lukaku (21 points), Gabriel Jesus (13), Antonio Valencia (11) and, to a lesser extent, captain Harry Kane (12), helped the Bookies’ Advantage squad to a rather satisfying 78 point gameweek. With our heads held high, read on as we present our usual analysis of clean sheet and anytime goalscorer odds, along with the Bookies’ Advantage squad for Gameweek 25…

Defensive odds

Team Best clean sheet odds Implied chance of a clean sheet Man Utd 1.75 57% Chelsea 1.9 53% Arsenal 2 50% Everton 2.4 42% Man City 2.45 41% Southampton 2.55 39% Stoke 2.62 38% West Ham 2.82 35% Liverpool 3 33% Swansea 3.1 32% Leicester 3.75 27% Middlesbrough 3.75 27% Crystal Palace 4 25% West Brom 4 25% Sunderland 4.2 24% Tottenham 4.3 23% Burnley 7 14% Bournemouth 8.5 12% Watford 9.9 10% Hull 11 9%

With the bookies’ looking favourably upon the traditional big teams this weekend, Antonio Valencia (57% chance of a clean sheet) takes the first spot in our defence as vice captain, following his clean sheet, assist and pair of bonus points last time out, and ahead of a plum home tie against Watford, who have blanked in 3 of their last 5 on the road. The Ecuadorian flyer is joined in defence by Chelsea’s marauding left wingback Marcos Alonso (53%), who netted his fourth of the season last weekend. The Spaniard travels to Burnley on Sunday, looking to help Chelsea add to their 6 away clean sheets already accrued this term – a league high.

Completing our starters in defence are Petr Cech (50%) and Leighton Baines (42%). Arsenal will be looking to get their faltering title challenge back on track when they host Hull on Saturday. A clean sheet would normally be expected here, but with the Tigers rejuvenated under new boss Marco Silva, Cech could actually garner some save points too. Baines, meanwhile, travels to The Riverside, with Middlesbrough scoring just twice in their last 5 games, and has the added bonus of penalty duties in his locker.

To fill the remainder of our defensive slots, we opt for Stoke’s budget friendly Lee Grant (£4.0m – 38%) as our backup keeper, with Southampton’s Jack Stephens (£4.0m – 39%) and Sunderland’s Joleon Lescott (£4.0m – 24%) taking the second and third spots on our bench respectively.

Before moving onto our analysis of the bookmakers attacking odds, a quick look at the bottom rungs of the clean sheet ladder tells us that defensive assets from Bournemouth (12% – home to Man City), Watford (10% – away to Man Utd) and Hull (9% – away to Arsenal) should be avoided this weekend.

Attacking odds

Player Best anytime goalscorer odds Implied chance of scoring Olivier Giroud 1.8 56% Sergio Aguero 1.84 54% Zlatan Ibrahimovic 1.85 54% Alexis Sanchez 1.85 54% Diego Costa 1.95 51% Gabriel Jesus 2 50% Romelu Lukaku 2.3 43% Theo Walcott 2.38 42% Eden Hazard 2.6 38% Harry Kane 2.75 36% Jermain Defoe 2.88 35% Fernando Llorente 2.88 35% Kevin de Bruyne 2.9 34% Henrikh Mkhitaryan 2.9 34% Daniel Sturridge 3 33% Andy Carroll 3 33% Alex Iwobi 3 33% Christian Benteke 3.1 32% Yaya Toure 3.2 31% Pedro 3.2 31% Raheem Sterling 3.25 31% Jamie Vardy 3.25 31% Sadio Mane 3.3 30% Roberto Firmino 3.4 29% Marko Arnautovic 3.4 29% Nathan Redmond 3.5 29% Paul Pogba 3.5 29% Peter Crouch 3.5 29% Alvaro Negredo 3.5 29% Mesut Ozil 3.5 29% Gylfi Sigurdsson 3.5 29% Philippe Coutinho 3.55 28% Leroy Sane 3.6 28% Michail Antonio 3.6 28% Salomon Rondon 3.75 27% Dusan Tadic 3.75 27% Willian 3.75 27% Robert Snodgrass 3.75 27% Kevin Mirallas 4 25% Benik Afobe 4 25% Dele Alli 4.2 24% Shinji Okazaki 4.2 24% Manuel Lanzini 4.33 23% Son Heung-Min 4.5 22% Adam Lallana 4.5 22% Nacer Chadli 4.5 22% Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 4.5 22% Fabio Borini 4.6 22% Cristhian Stuani 4.7 21% Ross Barkley 4.75 21% Cesc Fabregas 4.9 20% Sam Vokes 5.4 19% Christian Eriksen 5.8 17% Matt Phillips 5.8 17% Troy Deeney 6 17% James Milner 6 17% Junior Stanislas 6 17% Yohan Cabaye 6.5 15% Wilfried Zaha 6.5 15% Andros Townsend 6.5 15% Adama Diomande 7 14% Adama Traore 7.5 13% Etienne Capoue 11 9% Scott Arfield 12 8% Tom Carroll 15 7%

With concerns over the starting security of Olivier Giroud (56%) and Sergio Aguero (54%), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (54%) gains top billing in attack and dons our captain’s armband. With 15 goals to his name in the league this season, and facing a Watford defence without an away clean sheet in 7, conceding an average of 2.4 goals per game over that spell, prospects look rosy for the mercurial Swede. He is joined in attack by another 15-goal man, Diego Costa (51%), who travels to Burnley, and City’s new sensation Gabriel Jesus (50%). The young Brazilian has 3 goals in 2 Premier League starts, and faces an obliging Bournemouth defence on Monday night – the Cherries have let in 16 goals in their last 5 games, including 6 last weekend at Everton.

In the middle of the park, we tentatively forgo the services of Alexis Sanchez (54%), only because doing so allows us to have a much healthier midfield. We cover the Arsenal attack ahead of their home game against Hull by selecting both Theo Walcott (42%) and Alex Iwobi (33%). Averaging 2 goals per game at home this term, the double up on Wenger’s attack is appealing. The Gunners duo are joined in our starting XI by Henrikh Mkhitaryan (34%) and Yaya Toure (31%). The Armenian helped himself to a goal and an assist last weekend as part of a 14 point haul, and can continue his fine form at home to Watford on Saturday, whilst Toure is another member of our starting XI on penalty duties ahead of his trip to the South Coast on Monday. Tom Carroll (7%), completes our squad, taking the first spot on our bench.

Like Alexis, the bookies fancy the chances of both Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne, but we have to overlook the Belgian duo as they are too heavy on the budget.