Our Goalscorer Tips for Around Europe This Weekend - 16/10/21

The top two in the Bundesliga face-off at the BayArena on Sunday when league leaders Bayern Munich travel to their closest challengers Bayer Leverkusen, who trail them only by goal difference.

Leverkusen signed off before the international break with 4-0 wins in both the league and in Europe, so it was not the ideal time for there to be a halt in their momentum, but one man who will have enjoyed the temporary break in club football was Florian Wirtz. The 18-year-old was called up to the German squad for the second time and his form for Leverkusen looks to have nailed down a certain spot in the national setup for the time being.

Leverkusen have scored 29 goals in their 10 competitive matches so far this season, and Wirtz has had a hand in 11 of them, notching up six goals and five assists in just eight matches and they are no strangers to breaching the Bayern Munich backline either.

In their last five meetings at the BayArena, Leverkusen have scored nine times and we're backing Wirtz to net here as he scored in this fixture last season.

After catching the eye in the opening weeks of the season, Fiorentina travel to Venice to face Venezia for the first time in 17 years, since their brief stint in Serie B.

It looked as though their Serbian frontman Dusan Vlahovic was destined to leave over the summer, after a superb individual season was not reciprocated by a good team finish, as Fiorentina finished down in 13th. But with Vincenzo Italiano now at the helm, they have looked a much better team, and despite losing three already, their very tough fixture list has seen them face four of last season’s top seven already.

With the help of Vlahovic’s goals, Fiorentina sit in fifth and now face three of the bottom four before the end of October. Vlahovic has carried his form from last season into the new one, after bagging 21 league goals last season, he has six already in eight games in all competitions. Serbia also reaped the rewards of his excellent form in front of goal, as he scored the winner away to Luxembourg and got two at home to Azerbaijan, firing them to the top of their qualifying group.

Venezia have conceded three penalties in seven league games this season, and with Vlahovic being the designated taker, this increases his chances of scoring even further.

The standout fixture on the continent on Saturday comes from Serie A, as champions Inter Milan and their manager Simone Inzaghi travels to face his former club, Lazio, at the Stadio Olimpico.

After Antonio Conte left in the summer, no manager was a better fit than Inzaghi to take over, given the similarities in their tactics, and the fact they both favour a 3-5-2. This formation has allowed a relationship to blossom between Lautaro Martinez and new signing Edin Dzeko, as the two both compliment each other perfectly on the pitch.
Dzeko sits joint-top of the Serie A goalscoring charts with six goals, while Lautaro is one goal behind in third. A very intriguing stat is that both of them have scored in the same game in three of Inter’s last four league matches. Inzaghi’s very front-foot approach has led to Inter being one of the most pleasing sides on the eye in Europe this season, scoring 22 goals in just seven games so far.

Even though Lazio are strong opponents themselves, Inter’s attackers will expect to get chances here, as Lazio are still yet to keep a clean sheet domestically this season.

The Sunday lunchtime kick-off in France sees struggling Troyes host a confident Nice side who have lost just once all season, and currently vacate the Champions League places in Ligue 1.

Now under the stewardship of Christophe Galtier, who won the title with Lille last season, Nice have started in similar fashion, but catching PSG this season would be a tough ask for almost any club. Only the Parisiens have scored more goals than their 17, and they currently sit third with a game in hand on the rest of the league.

Their main contributor so far this season has been youngster Amine Gouiri, who has continued to impress after his breakout season in the last campaign. Five goals and three assists in eight games this season means he is almost halfway to matching his goal contribution tally from last season and we are only in mid-October. He carried his form into the international break with the France U21 side too, scoring in their 3-0 win away to Serbia’s U21s.

Troyes are not having the best time of it on the return to the top-flight, with just one win and one clean sheet in their opening nine games, as they sit fourth from bottom.

Following a strong start, Rayo Vallecano will hope to get back to winning ways when they welcome Elche to the Spanish capital, after losing away to Osasuna before the international break.

A key factor in Rayo’s strong start is definitely the impact new-man Radamel Falcao has made. After turning out for Porto, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Monaco and recently Galatasaray, the supporters of this tiny club in Madrid could scarcely believe a striker of such pedigree was scoring winning goals for them.

His first three games for the club saw him score in all of them, helping Rayo to three consecutive wins, with a 96th minute winner away at Athletic Bilbao being the most notable. They have made the best start out of all the newly-promoted sides, sitting in a very impressive sixth-place after eight games, and another positive result this weekend could see them jump into the top four.

Despite winning before the international break, inconsistency has been damaging for Elche so far, as their only other victory this season was followed by a run of three without a win. After already scoring in home wins versus Getafe and Cadiz, Falcao will hope to add Elche to that list this weekend.