Benteke beats Lukaku just in Belgian Villa Park scoring battle
Published:Aston Villa’s may have failed to score more than once in six of their eight Premier League games this season, but this should not detract from Christian Benteke being a better bet than fellow Belgian bulldozer Romelu Lukaku when Everton visit Villa Park next.
The clash is being billed in some parts as the Belgian affair, with the star strikers of both teams theoretically battling to lead their nation’s line at the 2014 World Cup.
Despite Villa being at home, it is Everton’s Lukaku that is the shorter prices in the betting markets to find the target. Lukaku is 9/2 to open the scoring and 5/2 to strike at any time in the 90 minutes.
The promising aspect for either of these bets is that the 20-year-old has scored five goals in as many games for club and country, Villa have conceded first in more Premier League fixtures than any other club this season and have not shut out the opposition in 15 successive top-flight outings at home.
However, Benteke has an almost identical Premier League record to his fellow Belgian this season, with both having netted four league goals, while there is only a marginal difference in their shot accuracy.
Meanwhile, he scored two against the Toffees in his only appearance against them last season, whereas Lukaku failed to score in either of his Villa showdowns during his spell on loan at West Brom.
Therefore, taking Benteke’s slightly longer odds of 5/1 to strike first and 6/4 to add his name to the scoresheet at any time in the 90 minutes look the better value calls.
The form of both strikers may alternatively sway punters towards the 3/4 that both teams simply score at Villa Park, regardless of which player it is that does the scoring.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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