Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
Last week, the all-time Premier League record for the most goals in a single game week was obliterated, after a net-shredding 44 goals were plundered across the round’s 10 high-octane fixtures.
Six of the 10 white-knuckle games contested across the three-day fixture programme delivered four or more goals, while Aston Villa’s skirmish with Sheffield United on Monday evening was the only match to see the net bulge one or fewer times.
Through a potent combination of factors – that include early-season fitness wobbles and the implementation of new handball and penalty regulations – the potential for goals in the Premier League has never been so high, and another glut of net-rippling action is anticipated in game week three.
With records set to tumble further, bet365 have been quick to add to the excitement, and their market makers have come up with a unique set of cracking looking goal-laden offers ahead of the weekend’s top-tier fixtures.
We’ve combed through the numbers to pick out what look the best prices on offer. Take a look at our research as well as our Premier League tips below!
You can find the rest of our betting tips and match previews over on our Premier League predictions page.
Premier League goal stats – 2019/20 & 2020/21 comparison
A quick-fire comparison between the goals scored in the opening weeks of the 2019/20 season and the new 20202/21 Premier League campaign this time shines a light on the current free-scoring frenzy in the division.
Last year, the first two rounds of top-tier fixtures produced 52 goals, with a further 30 rattled home in game week three. While that final third output delivered a healthy 2.73 goals per 90 minutes average, 2020’s figures have already blown 2019’s out of the water, with 3.72 goals scored per game so far.
This season, Premier League games are producing almost one full goal extra per match, and the scoring rate per contest has improved by a huge 36.2%!
Premier League results – 2019/20 & 2020/21 comparison
To try to get an idea on what we should expect in terms of goals ahead of round three of the 2020/21 season, we took a look at the results from the corresponding fixtures in 2019/20.
Of course, matches and possible scores involving the newly promoted clubs – Leeds, West Brom and Fulham – are a little more difficult to factor in, though with a little forecasting formula we can add them to the mix.
Right off the bat, we can see that last season’s corresponding fixtures, of which there are seven, produced a relatively modest 17 goals – however, our 36.2% across the board goal increase would push our haul up to 23 if they same patterns were to persist.
Factoring the remaining three fixtures is a little tricker- but as luck would have it, games involving Leeds, West Brom and Fulham in 2020/21 currently rank first, second and third in the Premier League for most goals scored this season.
Leeds’ fixtures have averaged a whopping 7.0 goals per 90 minutes so far, while West Brom’s and Fulham’s have averaged 5.0 each thanks largely to their lacklustre defending.
Their opponents this week, Sheffield United, Chelsea and Aston Villa, have been involved in games averaging 1.5, 3.0 and 1.0 goals each, which take the edge off somewhat, though merging the mess of figures together gives us some possible goal outcomes to play with.
Sheffield United vs Leeds – 4.25
West Brom vs Chelsea – 4.0
Fulham vs Aston Villa – 3.0
Taking our 23 goals figure from above, adding in our magical mathematical mash-ups for games involving newly promoted teams (complete with that lovely season on season 36.2% goals increase) pushes us ever higher with a projected goals figure of 37 for game week three – a total, that would coincidentally, fall almost perfectly in line with the Premier League’s 3.72 goals per game average for the campaign so far.
At bet365, you can back over 30.5 goals to hit the net in round three’s fixtures at a pretty generous looking price below.
Braver punters could be tempted to go one step further with bet365’s superb looking offer, that guarantees to pay out at massive 50/1 odds if the Premier League’s record for the most goals scored in a single round of fixtures tumble again.
Another promising statistic from last season suggest that such an event could be possible. In 2019/20, game week three of the Premier League produced 30 goals, which was a 20% jump on the 25 goals plundered the week before.
Applying that same percentage jump to the number of goals scored in game week two of the 2020/21 Premier League would see game week three deliver 52.8 goals, and the early indicators this term hint that a weekend with that much net-busting action could be possible.
You can avail of bet365’s unique offer by clicking the banner below.
Highest scoring team this weekend
bet365 have also put out a compelling looking market in the individual team scoring stakes, where you can back any one of the 20 Premier League clubs to be game week three’s highest scorers.
Manchester City are bet365’s favourites to outscore every one else by thumping Leicester, though we prefer the look of Chelsea’s offering at 6/1 to find plenty of final third joy at the Hawthorns against West Brom on Saturday.
The bottom of the table Baggies conceded a massive eight goals in their first two fixtures back in the big time in heavy defeats to Leicester (0-3) and Everton (2-5), and against high-class attackers like Timo Werner, Tammy Abraham and mid-week hattrick hero Kai Havertz this weekend, Albion’s creaking defence should suffer again.
WBA allowed their opponents to rack up a total of 30 attempts on goal in their fist couple of Premier League outings, and if they offer up a similar number of opportunities to a top-heavy Chelsea team, Slaven Bilic’s side could be on the wrong end of a drubbing.
Best bookmaker for Premier League specials
bet365 consistently bring you the best Premier League special offers around to complement their peerless markets that cover everything from match and team selections to Asian lines and handicaps for the more experienced bettors. We recommend you sign up for a bet365 account if you want to bet on cards and corners, or you can bet on mobile using their iOS app. New customers can claim up to £100 in bet credits.
More FST News:
Premier League stat attack with 27/1 acca
Premier League cards and corners betting tips for Saturday’s action (with 12/1 acca!)
