New signing Cornelius best bet in Cardiff top scorer stakes

Cardiff will grace the Premier League for the first time in their existence this season and it appears to be a straight tussle between their two mainline centre forwards as to who claims the club’s top scorer spoils in this historic campaign.

New signing Andreas Cornelius is the pretty clear favourite at 6/4 with one-time England international Frazier Campbell in second at 7/2, but it’s hard to oppose the former given his formidable record in his native Denmark.

A hefty £8.5m was plundered to secure Cornelius’ services from FC Copenhagen and, after he bagged 18 goals in 29 starts to help his side win the race for the Danish Superligaen title, it’ll be he who is expected to fire Malky Mackay’s high-flying Bluebirds to safety.

This appears a daunting task for a player with just 20 years under his belt but, standing at 6’ 4’, Cornelius has the physique to stand up to the strenuousness of the English top flight, while he’s also technically gifted meaning he can offer more than your archetypal target man.

However, if Mackay employs Cornelius primarily in this role, as he was at Copenhagen last term with a second striker playing off him, this could add value to Campbell’s much longer odds to top Cardiff’s scoring charts.

If Cornelius is preoccupied with creating space and playing in his teammates, Campbell could steal a march in this particular race. However, the fact that his best Premier League goal haul is four must be considered a detriment to his chances.

Much will obviously depend on the set up Mackay uses, of course. Whether he will sacrifice a second striker for the sake of beefing up the midfield will have a big say on who scores the most goals, with Cornelius liable to start ahead of Campbell as the solitary frontman almost every day of the week.

If one forward is employed, Craig Bellamy’s 10/1 top scorer price offers some outside appeal.

The fiery Welshman will be one of the two players tasked with providing attacking support from the wings in a lone striker system and his performances will go a long way to determining whether the Bluebirds beat the drop this term.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date