Liverpool lone wolf still best top-scorer bet after Suarez exit
Published:Chelsea fans will no doubt be delighted Diego Costa’s arrival ensures the club finally get a striker worthy of Jose Mourinho’s affections, especially after watching former Blue Daniel Sturridge running riot at Anfield last season.
The decision of the London club to let Studger leave for the modest sum of £12m (Benitez still bleeding Red?) was clearly not Mourinho’s.
But watching a former charge racking up 21 Premier League goals during 2013/14, as his own trio of front men floundered, must have tasted particularly bitter for the Chelsea boss.
Costa could well be the man to exorcise those demons at Stamford Bridge in 2014/15, but the 5/1 surrounding England’s number nine topping the Premier League’s scoring charts, looks too tempting to pass up.
For starters, the only man to have surpassed Sturridge’s impressive tally of last season was notorious nibbler Luis Suarez who has just quit the Anfield joint.
Naturally, many will jump to the conclusion that the former Man City youth will suffer without his strike-partner-in-crime from last term.
However, it’s worth remembering at this point that Sturridge scored in all four of his opening league games last season, while a certain Suarez was patiently serving his second bite ban.
Simply put, Sturridge is not the selfless type as last season’s stats between the Reds’ double act suggest.
Suarez provided nigh-on twice as many assists as his partner and contributed 2.6 key passes per game on average to just one from Sturridge, according to WhoScored.com.
Furthermore, the additions of creative talents Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic, to play in those forward roles behind him, should only serve to help Sturridge fill his boots.
It’s also worth noting that the two men ahead of the Reds striker in the betting – Sergio Aguero 4/1 and Robin van Persie at 9/2 – were both afflicted by long-term injuries last season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £50 in free bets.
