Both teams have scored in four of the last five meetings and Sunderland’s lack of clean sheets (they have just one shut out in their last seven games) coupled with Fulham netting five across their matches with Chelsea and AFC Wimbledon, suggests that there should be plenty of goalmouth action at both ends.

Both these sides are full of confidence after winning their opening two games and the goals should flow as a result. Brentford have scored nine in their victories against Tottenham and Birmingham off the back of putting seven past Eintracht Frankfurt and four on Rennes in pre-season.

Real Madrid have made a positive start to the new LaLiga campaign and should be able to make it three wins in a row. Malaga have yet to win since earning promotion and the scoreline should get away from them here.

Monaco are three wins from three under new head coach Filipe Luis and have won their last three home meetings with a Marseille side that were poor travellers last season, losing five of their final seven matches on the road in 2025-26.

Both teams have scored in four of Union SG’s five games across all competitions this season. The hosts beat Anderlecht 3-1 in the cup final last season and rounded off the campaign with a 5-1 victory over the visitors at this venue in the league. Anderlecht could be up against it here but they can at least get on the scoresheet, having hit 16 goals in eight games across all comps this term.

Motherwell’s European dreams have just been dashed by Freiburg but they can respond by winning at St Mirren on Sunday. The Buddies have made a strong start to the season but haven’t faced a team as strong as the Well, who have won the last two head-to-head meetings by an aggregate score of 7-0.

Nashville have won all three of their MLS games since their Leagues Cup exit and they can make it four in a row against poor travellers Cincinnati. The Coyotes have been exceptional at home with 31 points from a possible 33 in MLS, while Cincy have just one win in 10 attempts on the road.

Both these sides are full of confidence after winning their opening two games and the goals should flow as a result. Brentford have scored nine in their victories against Tottenham and Birmingham off the back of putting seven past Eintracht Frankfurt and four on Rennes in pre-season.

Both teams have scored in four of the last five meetings and Sunderland’s lack of clean sheets (they have just one shut out in their last seven games) coupled with Fulham netting five across their matches with Chelsea and AFC Wimbledon, suggests that there should be plenty of goalmouth action at both ends.

These two sides boasted the highest open play xG in the Premier League last weekend and recent meetings between the pair have featured plenty of goals, with a minimum of three being scored in each of the last seven head-to-heads.

Manchester United can bounce back from defeat at Hull by getting the better of an Ipswich side they are unbeaten against in their last eight meetings. Ipswich have shown attacking quality in their opening two games so can get on the scoresheet, especially as United failed to keep a clean sheet in their final six home matches of last season despite winning five of those games.

Paris FC were held to a 0-0 draw at Troyes last time out and with home advantage this weekend they can pick up a first win. Paris FC won five of their last six home games last season, beating PSG, Monaco and Nice. The visitors also drew 0-0 last weekend and ended last season with a nine-game winless run in Ligue 1 before beating St Etienne to avoid relegation in the play-offs.

Motherwell’s European dreams have just been dashed by Freiburg but they can respond by winning at St Mirren on Sunday. The Buddies have made a strong start to the season but haven’t faced a team as strong as the Well, who have won the last two head-to-head meetings by an aggregate score of 7-0.

Rennes held PSG to a 2-2 draw last weekend and should have too much quality for promoted Le Mans, who were fortunate to claim a point in their own 2-2 draw with Brest in their opener. Rennes won their final three home games last season and can pick up their first three points of the new campaign on Sunday.

Schalke are back in the Bundesliga after a three year absence but their wait for their first points may stretch beyond the opening weekend. Augsburg had an impressive home record last season, losing just one of their final 12 games at this venue. Augsburg can make home advantage count and claim the win on Sunday.

Sunderland were strong at home last season and Fulham have picked up just seven away points in 2026. In a match that should be closely fought and feature goals at both ends, preference is for the Black Cats to edge to a 2-1 success.

Five of the last seven meetings and each of the last three have ended in draws, including a 2-2 at Elland Road in December 2021. With both sides full of confidence and scoring goals, a repeat of that scoreline has a chance.

Both these sides are full of confidence after winning their opening two games and the goals should flow as a result. Brentford have scored nine in their victories against Tottenham and Birmingham off the back of putting seven past Eintracht Frankfurt and four on Rennes in pre-season.

Striker Kylian Mbappe netted a hat-trick last time out and Malaga will struggle to contain the Frenchman in what should be a high-scoring affair. Including friendlies, Real Madrid have scored four goals in three of their last four at home and they can reach at least four against a side who were playing in the second tier last season.

These two sides boasted the highest open play xG in the Premier League last weekend and recent meetings between the pair have featured plenty of goals, with a minimum of three being scored in each of the last seven head-to-heads.

Both of these sides were involved in entertaining 2-2 draws last weekend and both can play their part and combine for at least three goals on Sunday. There have been at least three scored in eight consecutive competitive games for Rennes, with both teams scoring in seven of those fixtures. Promoted Le Mans scored 50 goals in 34 league games last season but they may struggle defensively at this level, as opponents Brest posted at xG of 2.78 last weekend.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored Leeds’ equaliser in last season’s away clash with Brentford, one of 14 goals he notched in the Premier League during 2025-26, and after firing off three shots against Nottingham Forest last weekend, he looks primed to get his new campaign up and running with a goal.

Gonzalo Garcia has made a strong start to his Fulham career, netting in their opening two games of the season at home to Chelsea and AFC Wimbledon despite only coming off the bench against the latter. The 22-year-old also scored in two of his final three appearances for Real Madrid last term.

Both these sides are full of confidence after winning their opening two games and the goals should flow as a result. Brentford have scored nine in their victories against Tottenham and Birmingham off the back of putting seven past Eintracht Frankfurt and four on Rennes in pre-season.

Jack: Genoa have failed to win their last six meetings with Lazio, most recently losing 3-2 at the Olimpico in January.

Alex: Inter have been the dominant force in this fixture. Inter won 2-0 away and 3-0 at home in their two Serie A meetings with Cagliari last season and, having not conceded in their last three visits to the Unipol Domus, the Nerazzurri are fancied to win to nil again on Sunday.

Dan: Ipswich will have taken great confidence from last Saturday’s well-deserved 2-1 triumph at home to Sunderland and they look overpriced to follow by avoiding defeat at Old Trafford.

James: Luton have made a solid start to the League One season, winning 4-3 at Reading in a thrilling encounter before drawing 2-2 at home to Notts County, and three points can be collected when they head to Mansfield.

Enda: There have been 16 goals in the last four meetings between these sides at the Stade Louis II, including 3-2 wins for each side. Marseille put four past Strasbourg in their season-opener, while Monaco have scored eight times in three games so far.

Deportivo de A Coruna have seen their first two games finish 1-1 and another entertaining game looks likely against Valencia. Los Che have started slowly this season, but have created chances in both of their fixtures so goals at both ends looks likely. 

Inter Milan have enjoyed themselves over the years against Cagliari, with the champions winning nine of the last ten encounters. Inter last lost in March and should have too much quality for their hosts, although one clean sheet in eight suggests Cagliari can get on the scoresheet.

Dundee have scored in their last 11 competitive home games but they may struggle to keep Hibs quiet at the other end. Hibs scored 26 goals in 19 Premiership trips last season and scored five goals in two meetings with the Dee last season.

Both teams have scored in four of Union SG’s five games across all competitions this season. The hosts beat Anderlecht 3-1 in the cup final last season and rounded off the campaign with a 5-1 victory over the visitors at this venue in the league. Anderlecht could be up against it here but they can at least get on the scoresheet, having hit 16 goals in eight games across all comps this term.

Manchester United can bounce back from defeat at Hull by getting the better of an Ipswich side they are unbeaten against in their last eight meetings. Ipswich have shown attacking quality in their opening two games so can get on the scoresheet, especially as United failed to keep a clean sheet in their final six home matches of last season despite winning five of those games. 

Inter Milan have enjoyed themselves over the years against Cagliari, with the champions winning nine of the last ten encounters. Inter last lost in March and should have too much quality for their hosts, although one clean sheet in eight suggests Cagliari can get on the scoresheet.

Rennes have made some decent signings over the summer and held PSG to a 2-2 draw in their opener last weekend. The hosts have enough quality to see off Le Mans but should concede in the process. The visitors also drew 2-2 last weekend, against Brest, and scored 50 goals in 34 league games last season.

Both teams have scored in four of Union SG’s five games across all competitions this season. The hosts beat Anderlecht 3-1 in the cup final last season and rounded off the campaign with a 5-1 victory over the visitors at this venue in the league. Anderlecht could be up against it here but they can at least get on the scoresheet, having hit 16 goals in eight games across all comps this term.

Lazio made a winning start in Serie A under Gennaro Gattuso and they will expect to follow up against a Genoa side they have beaten in each of their last six meetings.

Monaco are three wins from three under new head coach Filipe Luis and have won their last three home meetings with a Marseille side that were poor travellers last season, losing five of their final seven matches on the road in 2025-26.

Both teams have scored in six of the last seven meetings between the two clubs. There have been goals at both ends in four of Celta’s last five competitive home games and in three of Bilbao’s last four overall.

This is a meeting between two vulnerable defences. the Crew have gone 10 games without a clean sheet, but they have scored in nine of those games themselves.  The Revs have just one clean sheet in six and have scored in five of those games, so goals at both ends looks likely.

City aren’t quite right yet under Enzo Maresca. They may well come good but Lens away was arguably the worst road trip from Pot 4 while Napoli and Leipzig represent stern tests from Pot 3. And then there’s PSG and Barcelona. Altogether a tough test.

The home game against Bodo/Glimt and trip to Slavia ought to be the bedrock of a campaign in which Dino Toppmoller’s impressive group – who have already beaten PSG in the French Champions Trophy – can emerge successfully.

Barcelona could easily lose in Paris, legitimately drop points at Galatasaray and at home to Man City. One more slip and the top eight could feasibly elude them.

Arsenal were flawless 12 months ago and should have no difficulty getting to the 16 points which are probably required.

BVB came close to the top eight last season and have a great draw this year with Betis, AEK Athens, Sabah and even Inter Milan at home looks winnable.

PSV’s hammerings of Napoli and Liverpool last term were rare highs in an otherwise disappointing campaign. This season’s draw looks far kindlier for Peter Bosz and his Eredivisie big-hitters.

And finally – and this is trusting PSV to get to the last 16 as a bare minimum – how about the Dutch side’s American frontman Ricardo Pepe.

Eindhoven boss Peter Bosz was delighted to see Pepe stay this summer and the 23-year-old is already among the goals in the Eredivisie.

Pepe scored 19 times for PSV last season and in a side who will score plenty of goals in the mood, especially at home, he again could outrun his odds.

Top goalscorer betting in the Champions League invites each-way bets given the number of potential runners with so many teams looking to get 10, 12 maybe even more games under their belts.

Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy took full advantage of that in the first instalment of the new-look Champions League in 2024/24.

Again, the German powerhouses only reached the quarter-finals but in that time the Guinea international popped in 13 goals, tying top-scorer honours for the competition with Raphinha of Barcelona.

He scored 22 goals for Dortmund last term and is a major threat in this market at a fancy price.

Kylian Mbappe had an explosive World Cup winning the Golden Boot with 10 goals.

That followed a season in which he scored 42 goals for Real Madrid – plus several more for France – and he has started this season with a hat-trick in his second club game, a 4-1 win over Sociedad.

Mbappe fired off 18 shots in his first two games for Real this season and will rack up chances. And if he racks up chances he racks up goals, quite likely enough to win the Golden Boot.

It is desperately hard to make a case for sides outside the top six.

Inter Milan, possibly, at 28-1 or Atletico at 40-1 given Diego Simeone’s men have become such a major player in Europe.

Three-figure runners are clearly easier to ignore but PSV have a puncher’s chance and will be desperate to avenge last season’s flop when they finished 28th in the league phase despite scoring more goals than Man City.

This was a team capable of thrashing Napoli 6-2 and Liverpool (away) 4-1, but a 3-0 loss at Newcastle in between home losses to Atletico and Bayern did for them. This time round, their draw looks far easier and if nine points is the benchmark then it is easy enough to see them getting those from home games against Brugge and Shakhtar with a trip to newcomers Viking a massive plus.

Peter Bosz has held on to last season’s top scorer Ricardo Pepi and added defensive quality in Filip Kostic and Lutsharel Geertruida.

Guus Til, Sergino Dest and Ivan Perisic are big players in a team who should make the top 24 and, with a kindly draw, have a slim chance of outrunning their odds.

The final is in Madrid next spring and a Madrid side may well be there.

Real, 15-time winners, were quarter-finalists last year when they went out in a shooting spree against Bayern Munich and they look better equipped this time.

Jose Mourinho, a two-time winner of the tournament with two different clubs, is back at the helm and whether or not that is a positive will forever be debated.

But just look at the group of players at The Special One’s disposal.

That front three of Jude Bellingham playing in and around Vinicius Junior and the extraordinary Kylian Mbappe, with any of Arda Guler, Endrick, Yan Diomande, Rodrygo and so on and so on, makes mouths water.

Mourinho has also looked to improve them defensively though the likes of full-backs Denzel Dumfries and Marc Cucurella will do far more bombing forward than sitting back in this team.

You’ll never win anything challenging on two fronts, they said. You’ll never win anything playing the way you do, they sniped.

Arsenal proved the doubters wrong with the latter, almost wrong with the former and stronger this season than they were last, expect the Gunners to have a real shot at going one better in Europe.

Mikel Arteta’s men were simply fabulous in the Champions League last year, winning all eight group games – 3-1 wins over Inter Milan and Bayern and a 4-0 drubbing of Atletico the highlights – and gutsily squeezing past Leverkusen, Sporting and Atletico before succumbing to PSG in the final in Budapest.

That game finished 1-1 and went to penalties but we all know it was a mismatch.

Arteta knows, therefore, the gap between his side and PSG needs to close and shrewd summer transfer work might have enabled him to do that.

The arrivals of Ezri Konsa, Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis add quality and, critically, depth and if Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka can stay injury free – something the Norwegian wasn’t often enough – then there is everything to like about this most solid of groups.

You absolutely can challenge on two fronts – Arsenal have proved that and bear a Premier League winner’s rosette as proof.

The next step is conquering Europe and having come so close on May 30 take them to get it right this time.

Nashville have won all three of their MLS games since their Leagues Cup exit and they can make it four in a row against poor travellers Cincinnati. The Coyotes have been exceptional at home with 31 points from a possible 33 in MLS, while Cincy have just one win in 10 attempts on the road.

Colorado are on a four-game winning streak at home and appear well placed to make it five on the spin against Real Salt Lake, who have lost their last three games across all comps.

In-form Toronto may be able to grind out a win over out-of-sorts NYCFC but the better angle could be backing goals at both ends. Both teams have scored in each of Toronto’s last five games and in nine of the visitors’ last 10. Both teams have scored in four of the last five meetings between these sides.

Defending champions Inter Miami are going through a rough patch but they have at least been scoring, and that could lead to a high-scoring game when they host Montreal. Over 3.5 goals has landed in five of the hosts’ last seven games and in two of Montreal’s last four.