Southampton man nets again and looks great value in new market

Six goals in 12 Premier League games make Southampton striker Charlie Austin the joint-second top English goalscorer in the division.

And while it’s a big ask for the 27-year-old to keep up with the likes of Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero at the top of the charts throughout the duration of the season, there’s every chance he could outscore his compatriots come next May.

Remember, we’re talking here about a man who netted a staggering 18 goals in the top-flight for Queens Park Rangers in the 2014-15 campaign, despite the Hoops finishing bottom that year – a figure only one Englishman (Harry Kane) could beat.

But the Tottenham striker hasn’t had the best of starts this time out, scoring just five goals – two of which have come from the penalty spot.

Jermain Defoe looks to be Austin’s only other genuine challenger for top English scorer this season, as the Sunderland man already has seven goals to his name.

But if it’s going to be a straight shootout between Defoe and Austin, our money would be on the Southampton man.

For starters, the service Austin is receiving massively outweighs that of Defoe at Sunderland, and given that both clubs are heavily reliant on this pair, it could simply come down to who takes more of their chances.

It’s neck-and-neck between the two in the shot accuracy department though, with Defoe just ahead (58 per cent) of Austin (57 per cent).

However, perhaps more importantly, it’s the latter who is ahead in the goals-per-minute charts, finding the net on average once every 132 minutes, while it’s taking Defoe 166 minutes to score.

Elsewhere, Theo Walcott and Michail Antonio are both on six goals alongside the Southampton forward.

But both play from a much wider position, meaning that the emphasis isn’t on those two players finding the net as often as it is for Austin.

It’s 25/1 for Austin to finish as top scorer this season, but we think the best value lies in him outscoring every other English player in the division, and 11/2 says he does exactly that.

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