Five goalscorers to watch out for this weekend: Back Armstrong to inspire Saints
Recommended bets:
- Back Adam Armstrong to score first against Nottingham Forest
- Back Eberechi Eze to score against West Ham
- Back Jamal Musiala to score against Wolfsburg
- Back Andrej Kramaric to score against Holstein Kiel
- Back Benjamin Bourigeaud to score against Strasbourg
The European club season is up and running and there is a busy schedule of football action across the continent this weekend.
We have picked out five goalscorers to watch out for in Saturday and Sunday's top-flight fixtures from England, Germany and France.
Adam Armstrong scored 14 goals in 22 Championship starts for Southampton at St Mary's last season and he is a tempting first-scorer bet when the Saints host Nottingham Forest.
Armstrong has struggled in his previous Premier League campaigns but his goals fired Saints to promotion, via the play-offs, and he can take confidence from his performance at Newcastle last weekend.
He was unfortunate not to find the net against his former club at St James' Park, where he had five attempts, one of which was cleared off the line by Newcastle defender Lewis Hall.
Like Armstrong, Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze had a frustrating opening game of the Premier League season as his excellent free-kick against Brentford was controversially ruled out for a foul in the penalty area.
Eze had seven shots against the Bees and should be at the heart of Palace's attacking play against West Ham, whose new-look defence may be vulnerable at Selhurst Park.
The England international has scored 21 goals in 54 starts for the Eagles over the past two seasons and he averaged 3.1 shots per game in the Premier League last term.
Germany's dream of winning Euro 2024 on home soil ended at the quarter-final stage but Bayern Munich youngster Jamal Musiala enhanced his reputation with three goals in five games.
Bayern, aiming to reclaim the Bundesliga title, start their campaign away at Wolfsburg and Musiala is an eye-catching price to find the net.
In 2022-23, he scored 12 goals in 26 league starts and last season he struck 10 times in just 20 starts so he rates as one of Bayern's main goal threats.
Hoffenheim's Bundesliga matches last season produced an average of 3.88 goals per game and they are targeting a fast start at home to promoted Holstein Kiel.
Last term's top scorer Maximilian Beier has joined Borussia Dortmund so the experienced Croatia international Andrej Kramaric, who scored 15 goals in 25 starts in 2023-24, is taken to break the deadlock.
Kramaric found the net in seven of his first nine games for club and country last season and signed off the domestic campaign with a hat-trick against Bayern.
Rennes made an impressive start in Ligue 1 last weekend, racking up eight shots on target and hitting the woodwork twice in a 3-0 home win over Lyon.
Their attacking players should be looking forward to Sunday's trip to Strasbourg and midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud, who opened the scoring with a deflected free-kick last weekend, can add to his goal tally.
The long-serving Bourigeaud is a terrific penalty-taker, helping him amass nine goals in 29 Ligue 1 starts as well as a Europa League hat-trick against AC Milan last season.
He has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia before the end of transfer window but, if selected for Sunday's game, he should cause problems for the Strasbourg defence.
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