Premier League betting : The magic Mexican and Mourinho's Spurs debut

Premier League betting : The magic Mexican and Mourinho's Spurs debut

The Premier League's most under-rated striker and Jose Mourinho's debut at West Ham make Jamie Pacheco's five things to look out for this weekend.

Time for some Troy

When it comes to some players, the stats simply don't do them justice in terms of their importance to the side. One such man is Troy Deeney.

A return of 37 goals and 20 assists over the past four seasons is ok, but nothing spectacular. But that's missing the point.

It's Deeney's physical presence, muscular challenges and leadership that are every bit as important to Watford's cause as his goals. And it's exactly leadership and a few too many powder-puff players in attack that have contributed to the Hornets being in a right mess with just eight points from 12 games.

Well, Deeney is finally back after missing the last 10 games of the campaign with injury and is fit to start against Burnley at home on Saturday afternoon; not a moment too soon.

And having said all that about Deeney's goals not being that important, they'll certainly help. In his absence, only Gerard Deulofeu and Andre Gray have scored more than one goal all season (they each scored two) so you can see why despite such a lengthy absence, the Watford skipper is among the favourites at 6/1 to be first goalscorer.

Will Mourinho win on his debut?

We can't ignore the elephant in the room so we won't. Jose Mourinho will be in charge of Spurs when they travel to West Ham in Saturday's early kick-off after the former Manchester United boss took over at White Hart Lane on Wednesday morning.

Interestingly, they've been cut to 17/20 from evens since Mauricio Pochettino left and Mourinho arrived, the odds-compilers fearing the frequent short-term boost that normally comes when a new manager starts a job.

But it's a price that makes no sense given Spurs have won none of their last five and that even if he is to improve things, Mourinho will surely need more than three days in which to make an impact.

Is it now that Kane starts firing?

Speaking of Spurs, their fans will be feeling some frustration that Harry Kane hasn't been able to replicate his Champions League and England goalscoring form on the domestic front. Had he fired more often in the league and Pochettino may have still been in a job.

Fresh from scoring a hat-trick against Montenegro and a further goal against Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifying over the past week, this may be the time where he starts to score freely in the Premier League again and the change in manager may just help his cause.

It's a prohibitively short 12/5 he opens the scoring at West Ham but of greater interest is the 8.60 that he ends the season as the Premier League's top scorer.

Jamie Vardy (11) and Tammy Abraham (10) lead the way but currently on six goals and with some of the harder fixtures already out of the way, it's not too late for Kane to go on a decent run and challenge. Now is the time to get on.


Put Arsenal in your multiple

If there's one side you want to be including in your big Betfair multiple this weekend, it's Arsenal. Not only are they the football equivalent of a playground bully in that they have an outstanding home record against sides in the relegation zone- they've won their last 32 on home soil against sides in the bottom three- but they also love playing Southampton. They haven't lost to them in their last 24 matches.

It would be a big boost if they were to win because they're in much need of three points themselves. 1/2 isn't a huge price but with those two eye-catching stats going for them, one can't expect miracles in terms of generous odds.

Raul's royal run (of scoring)

What more does Raul Jimenez have to do to get the recognition he deserves? Last season he scored 13 goals and assisted a further 10 in his debut season in the Premier League while this season, only Raheem Sterling (14) has more goals in all competitions than Jimenez (13) from among Premier League players.

And they're hardly insignificant goals. His five goals from his last six appearances have all either been to draw or win the game.

What's he been up to in the last week or so? Oh, not much. He just scored two and assisted the other in a 3-0 away win in Panama on duty for Mexico. Make backing him at 6/4 to score at Bournemouth one of your priorities for the weekend.