Last week didn’t exactly go to plan, did it? An injury-strewn Norwich put three past the Champions, the Magpies shat all over Liverpool’s clean sheets within the first 10 minutes and Raheem Sterling, backed by the bookies to score over Mohamed Salah, failed once again to return. Even Ashley Barnes failed to score.

In other words: it was a bad day for the accy.

But as D:Ream famously sang in 1993, things can only get better. Let’s see what the bookies are predicting in Gameweek 6.

Gameweek 6 Clean Sheet Odds

Hashtag London Goals

If you’re one of those weird football fans that enjoy the odd goal or two, this might be a weekend to remember. The bookies are predicting plenty of goals this weekend, with 11 teams given over 40% to score two or more goals in Gameweek 6.

Chelsea vs Liverpool looks particularly intriguing. The bookies have given Klopp’s men a 60% chance of netting twice or more at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea themselves have a 42% likelihood of inflicting the same damage on the current league leaders. I’m no mathematician, but that must mean there’s a 102% chance of both Salah and Abraham scoring a brace. The numbers don’t lie.

Arsenal and City (obviously) are also highly expected to bag plenty of goals in home fixtures against Villa and Watford respectively. Someone start running the bloodbath now.

Dirty sheets incoming

Where there are goals, there are soiled sheets. The 2019/20 season has so far been a nightmare for anyone who has invested more than the obligatory £20.0m in their back five, and things aren’t set to improve any time soon.

Only one team (one!) is actually expected to keep a clean sheet in Gameweek 6 according to the bookies. It says a lot about the rest of the league’s defensive woes that Man City, who have just one healthy centre back to their name, are that team. Still, 55% is hardly a put-your-house-on-it certainty.

I’m particularly excited about Newcastle vs Brighton. The bookies have refused to back either team for keeping clean sheets or scoring two or more goals. Strap yourselves in for that one.

Digne to repay the faith?

Having just spent the last three paragraphs talking about the unlikelihood of clean sheets, let’s shift our focus onto Everton’s Lucas Digne. The full-back managed 0 points in Gameweek 5, but with a plum home fixture against a goal-shy Sheffield United to look forward to, that surely has to improve.

The bookies have given Everton a slightly harsh 48% chance of a clean sheet. Nonetheless, it’s the second highest this weekend. Digne is also the second most likely defender to score at anytime during the 90 minutes.

Gameweek 6 Anytime Goalscorers By Position

City slickers

You guessed it: Man City’s most attacking assets are topping the anytime goalscoring odds once again. They must be getting a little sick of it by this point.

Hey – remember that time when Sterling was given 64% to score and everyone captained him? Oh, yeah, that’s right: it was last week. If you’re fed up of Raheem’s streaky form, Sergio Aguero is 3% more likely to score against Watford as far as the bookies are concerned.

(Notice that both Silva and Silva are favoured above Kevin de Bruyne for Gameweek 6. That’s surprising given that the pale Belgian has a higher xG – and a better chance of starting – than both of his creative colleagues.)

Pukki and Abraham are so hot right now

Not literally, I don’t think. A steady 37 degrees centigrade, all being well. But figuratively, the pair of budget strikers couldn’t be hotter. Slightly more tepid, but warming up nonetheless, is West Ham’s Sebastien Haller.

It appears the bookies like all three of these purse-friendly prospects, regardless of their fixtures. All have decent underlying stats (Haller (3.21 xG), Abraham (2.77 xG), Pukki (2.69 xG) and all are in good enough recent form to catch the attention of the savvy punter.

Pukki has been given a very respectable 50% chance of scoring against Burnley at Turf Moor, whilst Abraham’s 47% against Liverpool says a lot about the youngster’s scintillating form. Haller is slightly further back on 42%, but it’s still a generous statement by the bookies given his side host Manchester United.

Schar can go far

Fabian Schar is Newcastle’s joint top-scorer this season. The fact they only have four goalscorers – each of whom has one goal to his name – should be irrelevant. In Schar’s 29 goals for Newcastle, he’s scored an impressive five goals.

As already discussed, his team welcomes Brighton to St James’ on Saturday’s evening kick-off. It’s about as good as a home fixture gets in the Premier League, which means there’s no reason why the Frenchman can’t add to his already lofty tally.

The bookies have recognised this by giving him a 20% chance of scoring. Also up there is the aforementioned Lucas Digne, Matt Doherty, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcus Alonso and David Luiz. For once, I can’t argue with any of those.