Week 8 Premiership update

Week 8 of the Premiership is upon us and things are ticking along nicely. Manchester United find themselves back at their familiar top of the table, with Chelsea and Liverpool close behind. Arsenal still have a game in hand and sit down in 6th at the moment. Tottenham have continued their excellent start to the season with only two losses so far to their name. They are only behind Liverpool on goal difference. As expected Manchester City have done well this season. They are also on the same points as Liverpool, but have a game in-hand over them.

At the other end of the table Portsmouth are still without a point. They play Wolves away today who have only lost one home game so far this season. At 2.1 @ Paddy Power for Wolves to win this game, you have a good chance of returns if you bet on this game.

Hull are second from bottom and are not having the same start to their season as they did last year. Phil Brown’s men need to pick themselves up if they are to avoid relegation in their second Premiership season.

The other team to mention are Everton. They have picked themselves up after their dreadful 6-1 loss to Arsenal and 1-0 loss to Burnley in the first and second week’s of the season. They have a game in-hand and currently sit in 9th.

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So far this season has been great for goals. A number of strikers have been on top form and it has been great to bet on the goalscorer in matches. Most notably, several English players are high up on the scoring charts. Bent has 6 goals in 7 games, Rooney has 6 goals, Defoe has 5 and Agbonlahor has 4 goals in 6 games. This is a great prospect for England in the World Cup next year as they have lacked firepower in the last few years.

Rooney is relishing his new central forward role this year and is certainly benefiting from Ronaldo’s exit. After 6 goals so far this season he has already reached half of last years total of 12 in the Premiership. He also doesn’t take penalties for United, so this adds even more value to his total. Defoe is the only English player to have bagged a hatrick so far this season and adds to the 5 england goals he has scored since June. Darren Bent’s kind heart stopped him getting his 7 goals in 7 games as he gave his penalty to Kenwyne Jones, much to the fury of his manager after the match.

Now on to other goalscorers…Fernando Torres got off to a slow start this season or so people said. Was 3 goals in 5 games really that bad?? Well, 5 goals including a hatrick in the last 2 games certainly got people talking about him positively again. Two of his goals in last week’s game against Hull were simply breathtaking as he skipped around 3 defenders and beat the goalkeeper in a similar manner for both the goals. He is certainly the favourite for top goalscorer this season if he doesn’t get injured with 8 goals in 7 games now. His odds have dropped significantly over the last two weeks, with the top backing at BlueSquare who are offering him at 2.875 – 1 at the time of writing.

Another high flyer this season is Didier Drogba, who has scored 6 goals in his 7 games, with an impressive 4 assists to add to this. He will be annoyed that after returning to form after his injury layoff last season, he will miss up to a month in 2010 at the African Cup of Nations. This could Jeopardize any chance he has at winning the golden boot again after his win in the 2006/07 season.

Robbie Keane also deserves a mention. With Jermain Defoe stealing his limelight for much of the season, he managed 4 goals last week against Burnley which brings his tally to 5 so far this season.

Finally, lets not forget 35 year old (going on 36) Ryan Giggs who has shown that he is still one of the most important players at Manchester United. 7 Assists and a goal in his last 4 games for United shows that he has still got what it takes to beat any Premiership youngster.