Raheem Sterling & Marcus Rashford’s EPL Golden Boot Odds Shorten to +600 and +1000
- Raheem Sterling (+600) and Marcus Rashford (+1000) saw their EPL Golden Boot odds greatly reduced following strong opening-game performances
- Sterling fired a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 5-0 win over West Ham
- Rashford tallied twice as Manchester United blanked Chelsea 4-0
Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford enjoyed sensational openings to the English Premier League season.
Sterling scored Manchester City’s second, third and fifth goals in their 5-0 whitewash of West Ham. His hat-trick gives him the EPL Golden Boot lead one week into the 2019-20 season.
Rashford netted the first and third goals of Manchester United’s 4-0 shutout of Chelsea. He’s right behind Sterling in the Golden Boot race, tied with Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Ashley Barnes of Burnley FC at two goals apiece.
Both of these young stars also saw their EPL Golden Boot odds take a considerable dip.
2019-20 EPL Golden Boot Odds
| Player (Team) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) | +350 |
| Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) | +500 |
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) | +600 |
| Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) | +600 |
| Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) | +800 |
| Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) | +1000 |
| Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) | +2500 |
| Sadio Mane (Liverpool) | +2500 |
| Jamie Vardy (Leicester) | +2500 |
| Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) | +3300 |
*Odds taken on 08/13/19.
Sterling went from +1400 to +600. His odds to win had been as high as +2500 in July. Rashford sits with odds of +1000, a significant drop from his previous +2500 betting market average across a number of top sportsbooks.
Sterling Silver
Sterling has scored 48 goals over the past two seasons as Manchester City captured back-to-back EPL titles. He’s finished second on the team in goal scoring each season.
This season, he’s displaying remarkable consistency. Since the start of Manchester City’s summer pre-season tour, Sterling is averaging a goal per game. He generally performs on the wing with Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus doing the central striking work.
Raheem Sterling is the first player to score a hat-trick on the opening weekend of the Premier League since Didier Drogba in 2010-11 (vs. West Brom).
He didn't even need that penalty. ? pic.twitter.com/MkwY0kw1HD
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 10, 2019
City manager Pep Guardiola believes Sterling, 24, has what it takes to eventually move into a full-time role as a striker. The move would be similar to the switch five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo made in the midst of his career, a switch that’s enabled Ronaldo to remain one of soccer’s most productive and clinical finishers.
Marcus on the Mark
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is opting to dangle a goal-scoring carrot in front of Rashford this season as an incentive to encourage him to find the back of the net with more frequency.
Solskjaer projects that Rashford, 21, should be good for 20 goals this season. If so, that would double his EPL output from last season, when he scored ten times in league play and 13 times across all competitions.
After shipping Belgian international Romeo Lokaku to Inter Milan in the summer, Man United are counting heavily on Rashford and Anthony Martial to fill the goal-scoring void.
Each of Marcus Rashford's three braces in the Premier League have come against 'Big Six' opposition:
⚽️⚽️ vs. Arsenal (2016)
⚽️⚽️ vs. Liverpool (2018)
⚽️⚽️ vs. Chelsea (2019) ?Big. Game. Player.™ pic.twitter.com/BP1xkRs1B3
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 11, 2019
It should be noted, though, the 20 goals hasn’t proven to be good enough to grab the Golden Boot over the past eight seasons. You have to go all the way back to 2010-11, when Manchester United’s Dimitar Berbatov and Manchester City’s Carlo Tevez tied for the title with 20 goals apiece.
Since then, the average tally for an EPL Golden Boot winner is 27.6 goals.
It’s Early
It’s not wise to base wagering decisions on the outcome of one week’s play. Also interesting to note is that the sportsbooks didn’t jump on the Barnes bandwagon when he scored a brace in Burnley’s 3-0 victory over Southampton. He’s still at +15000 to win the Golden Boot.
Rashford is still probably a year away from contending for the Golden Boot. But Sterling could be ready to surge into the hunt. He’s already earned 51 caps for England and captained the side in June against the Netherlands.
At +2500, Sterling offered great value. Even at +600, he’s not a bad bet.
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
