Trust eight-time European champs Germany to have a proper Popp at England tonight in what has all the makings of a Wembley thriller.
The Lionesses should go into the Euros Final (5pm, BBC1) on a serious high after a run of goal-packed, gutsy performances.
For armchair fun have ‘anytime scorer’ (90mins) bets on Beth Mead at 3/1 (Paddy) and German ace Alexandra Popp at 5/2 (Skybet).
Go with the Mo you know in the Premier League Golden Boot race.
Liverpool machine Mo Salah got 31 Reds goals all told in a ‘bad’ season for him last time.
We’re left guessing about main rival and 9/4 favourite Erling Haaland.
But the Manchester City man’s raw Bundesliga scoring stats come with a huge punter warning. Your German Boot winner is a 30-goal type these days – relative crowds of players get over 20. Timo Werner banged in 28 once.
Haaland’s got a history of muscle injuries and Pep Guardiola’s squad rota has tended to offer front men two-dozen Prem starts, tops. No City player has ever won the Boot for Pep.
Salah backers can expect their man to get half a dozen more games than Haaland. No World Cup for either looks a bigger plus for the Kop king too – he’s already totally bedded in with his Qatar-bound colleagues.
Run to get on Salah at 5/1 (Unibet). Mo won the Assists crown last time, and is worth an each-way nibble at 20/1 (SkyBet).
I like Leicester ’s Harvey Barnes at 50/1 and Chelsea ’s Mason Mount at 25/1 (Boyle) in the Assists race too. Both had the stats last season to be in the mix and are rising.
‘Leicester to get 54 or more PL goals’ at Evens (Paddy) is a must-bet. They easily outscored that mark last time when hammered by injuries and chained to the Europa hamster wheel.
Punt them for the League Cup too at 25/1 (Betway), and watch the Big Six duck out pronto in this extraordinary year.
It’s the hope that gets you in the end I’m told. That and eating pork pies in the bath. But consider top-flight Sack Race favourite Frank Lampard. Hopes at Everton are so low now that he’s surely safe as long as he turns up and remembers to wear trousers?
We need want-it-spend-it owners whose ambition is miles ahead of squad reality, plus a start full of banana skins. Get on Newcastle ’s Eddie Howe (right) at 20/1 (Hills).
This winter Lazio ace Ciro Immobile won’t be knackering himself in Qatar, and he's a four-time Serie A Golden Boot winner. We’ll get a run for the Italian scoring crown at 5/1 (Hills).
