Anytime Goalscorer Tips: Englishmen bookend 29/1 Saturday shot

The Anytime Goalscorer Tips column returns on Saturday and sees us draw up a 29.17/1 accumulator comprised of five selections ranging from the FA Cup in England to as far as the Saudi Pro League in Saudi Arabia with a pick from Italy's Serie A thrown in there for good measure.

Below you can find my Anytime Goalscorer Tips and the explanation behind each selection.

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Harvey Elliott (Liverpool, H) vs Accrington Stanley (12:15, ITV1) @ 13/10

Kicking off this Anytime Goalscorer Acca is Liverpool playmaker Harvey Elliott, who has endured a frustrating season on a personal note. The 21-year-old struggled with injury in the early parts of the campaign and has failed to establish himself as a regular under Arne Slot, making just one start - in last month's 2-1 Carabao Cup victory over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium.

Encouragingly, he scored in that quarter-final triumph on the South Coast, doubling the Reds' lead in the 32nd minute after Darwin Nunez had opened the scoring nine minutes earlier. He showed no signs of ring rustiness and that makes me confident that he can have a positive impact on proceedings this Saturday afternoon when League Two Accrington Stanley arrive at Anfield looking to cause an upset in the FA Cup third round.

I'm expecting Slot to make wholesale changes to his starting XI following Wednesday night's Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur (1-0) and ahead of Tuesday's Premier League trip to the City Ground to face high-flying Nottingham Forest. The likes of Elliott and Nunez are certain starters and while I think the latter is the most obvious candidate in the anytime goalscorer market on Saturday, the former provides a lot more value at 13/10 and still stands a great chance of getting on the scoresheet against lower-league opposition.

Elliott has a good recent goalscoring record in the FA Cup, netting four times in his last nine appearances across the previous three seasons and Liverpool's last goal in the competition, away to Manchester United (4-3 aet) at Old Trafford in the quarter-finals on March 17, 2024, was scored by Elliott, and I'm backing him to bag another FA Cup goal on Saturday.

Marcos Leonardo (Al-Hilal, A) vs Al Orubah (13:45) @ 9/10

Moving to Saudi Arabia for my second selection, I think Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo, signed by Al-Hilal from Portuguese giants Benfica in the off-season, can take advantage of the injury suffered by talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic in midweek and net in a fourth successive game for the Saudi Pro League giants.

Mitrovic started Al-Hilal's King Cup quarter-final against Al-Ittihad on Tuesday but was forced off in the 13th minute and replaced by Marcos Leonardo, who put his side 2-1 ahead in extra time before Karim Benzema equalised for the visitors and sent the tie to a penalty shootout where Marcos Leonardo, alongside teammates Mohamed Kanno and Malcom, fluffed their lines and handed victory to Laurent Blanc's charges.

Despite the disappointment of missing a penalty and seeing his side crash out of the cup, Marcos Leonardo should take great confidence by his strike on Tuesday which made it three games in a row with a goal and four in his last four appearances.

Mitrovic is expected to sit out Saturday's SPL trip to Al Orubah's Al-Jouf University Stadium in Sakakah, handing a starting spot to Marcos Leonardo, who can grab the opportunity with both hands. The 21-year-old was prolific in his homeland for Santos and his form led to a big-money move to Benfica for whom he struck seven times in 14 Primeira Liga outings last season, despite limited minutes. He wasn't in Portugal for long before the Lisbon giants were tempted by netting a fee nearly double the amount they paid Santos and while Mitrovic is still very much the main man at Al-Hilal, Marcos Leonardo has shown some early promise.

His opponents this weekend, Al Orubah, who were promoted to the SPL last year, have lost five of their last six games, shipping 13 goals in that run, and only Al-Wehda (31) have conceded more times than the Sakakah-based side (25) this season, so I'm confident Marcos Leonardo can strike at least once on Saturday.

Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea, H) vs Morecambe (15:00) @ 8/13

Heading back to England and the FA Cup, Chelsea host League Two Morecambe at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon in a repeat of their third-round meeting in January 2021 which the Blues won 4-0.

Morecambe have endured a tough old time in England's fourth tier this season, losing 14 times already, although they have won two of their last three games. Nevertheless, they sit 23rd in the table, just two points ahead of straddlers Carlisle United, and face a trip to one of the country's best teams, Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca's side are winless in their last four matches but are still fourth in the Premier League and their angst for a victory is only bad news for the Shrimps who could be on the receiving end of a big scoreline on Saturday.

Maresca is expected to make wholesale changes to his starting XI but he can still call upon a whole raft of seasoned internationals including French forward Christopher Nkunku and Portuguese playmaker Joao Felix. Both players are worthy of consideration in the anytime goalscorer market and while they aren't attractive prices on their own, they're a good pick for an accumulator to bump up the odds a little.

I'm taking on Nkunku here as he's been the more prolific goalscorer in his career, has more goals (12) this season than Joao Felix (seven), and has successfully converted 12 of his 13 career penalties including four for the Blues in 2024/25.

Taiwo Awoniyi (Nottingham Forest, H) vs Luton Town (15:00) @ 9/10

The emotion of ending a 10-month+ wait for a goal was palpable on the face of Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi on Monday night as he struck his side's third in a 3-0 win over Wolves at Molineux.

Awoniyi was vital in Forest's first season back in the Premier League under previous head coach Steve Cooper in 2022/23, netting 10 times in 27 appearances to help the East Midlands club secure survival, and he scored a respectable six in 20 outings last term despite playing second fiddle to Chris Wood for much of the campaign.

Wood has carried on his superb form into the current campaign and that has seen Awoniyi starved of opportunities, but Monday night's strike should give the Nigerian striker a great deal of confidence heading into Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie against Championship outfit Luton Town at the City Ground.

With Premier League leaders Liverpool next up for Forest at home on Tuesday night, head coach Nuno Espirito Santo is expected to change most, if not all, of Monday's starting XI, which should see Awoniyi handed an opportunity to impress as the focal point of Forest's attack.

The 27-year-old will be desperate to score for a second time this week and I think there is a great chance for him to do so given the travails this term of the Hatters, who sit just outside the second-tier relegation zone and sacked head coach Rob Edwards earlier this week.

Tammy Abraham (AC Milan, H) vs Cagliari (19:45, TNT Sports 1) @ 5/4

Ending this Anytime Goalscorer Acca is AC Milan's on-loan forward Tammy Abraham, who made himself a Rossoneri hero on Monday by netting the winner in his side's 3-2 Supercoppa Italiana final success over city rivals Inter. The Englishman was introduced in the 77th minute with the score 2-1 in Inter's favour but another ex-Chelsea forward, Christian Pulisic, equalised three minutes later and it was Abraham's time to come up trumps in the third minute of added time as Rafael Leao put it on a plate for the 27-year-old to break Nerazzurri hearts.

Abraham hasn't started for Milan since their 1-0 win at Hellas Verona on December 20 with Alvaro Morata leading the line in Paulo Fonseca's final game in charge against AS Roma (1-1) and Sergio Conceicao's first two as boss, the 2-1 Supercoppa Italiana semi-final victory over Juventus and Monday's final against Inter.

However, Abraham has probably done enough to earn a start in Saturday's night Serie A contest against Cagliari at San Siro where he should receive rapturous support that can spur him on to score a first league goal since November 9 which, ironically, was against Cagliari (3-3) in the reverse fixture at Unipol Domus.

Cagliari have struggled this season and sit 17th heading into the weekend, although they did beat Monza 2-1 last week to end a five-game losing run in all competitions. They shipped three to Inter (0-3) in their final Serie A game of 2024, though, and lost 4-0 to Juventus in the Coppa Italia earlier in the month, so their defence has been run ragged and will be vulnerable up against Leao, Abraham and the rest of Milan's attackers on Saturday.

Offers

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