
Ante Post Tips 2023/24: Best bets from Jimmy The Punt including an 80/1 shout

The new football season is just around the corner and our man Jimmy The Punt is chomping at the bit to get going and has provided us with his best ante-post bets. Read below about his favourite fancies including an 80/1 each-way longshot.
Darwin Nunez Top Goalscorer - Premier League, 1pt E/W at 20/1 with Spreadex
Erling Haaland’s good isn't he, real good at scoring goals. And if you think he’s gonna score another half a century of them this season, then go and back him for them Premier League Golden Boot at 4/5.
The chances are, he will, but it is worth considering that he played a lot of football last campaign and players of his explosive ilk can be delicate commodities.
So, if you fancy taking him on, I think Darwin Nunez is as good a bet as any at 20/1. Much was made of his and Haaland’s moves to the English top flight and Nunez could not get close to his counterpart's maiden campaign.
Good news is the Uruguayan took a season to acclimatise at Benfica. In his first Portuguese campaign, he only found the net six times, his second he bagged 26 with his G+A tally doubling from 15 to 30.
Nunez’ wasteful nature became infamous last season, he only bagged nine times domestically from an xG of 14.37 and missed 20 ‘big chances.’ Any good striker will tell you don’t worry as long as you’re getting chances, it is when you stop getting them you should be concerned. So, all Nunez needs to start doing now is taking them.
He appears to have hit the ground running this campaign, scoring thrice across Liverpool’s two friendly games. Friendlies should be taken with a pinch of salt, yes, but confidence will breed from that form, confidence that Nunez will hopefully take into this campaign.
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Huddersfield to Win the Championship, 0.5pts E/W at 80/1 with William Hill
There is something whimsical about Neil Warnock’s twilight years of management. Age has weathered his hard exterior, his sharp tongue much blunter, evolving from the pantomime villain, to an unfashionable footballing treasure of the north.
Steering Huddersfield to safety is his latest footballing achievement. He took over the Terriers in a precarious position. They sat in 23rd, one point off the foot of the table, amongst a cluster of four teams within a point of each other. And hoisted them up to 18th, nine points clear of the dotted line.
Shocking, but statistically, Warnock actually made the North Yorkshire outfit a worse side. They regressed in every boring underlying metric yet somehow their points per game average increased from 0.93 to 1.56.
From the start of Warnock’s latest Terriers tenure, Huddersfield won the 6th most points in the division (25), that is more than Middlesbrough (24) over that period and only eight less than champions Burnley.
Logic clearly shows that this form is not sustainable but when has Warnock ever paid any notice to that nonsense? If you bet with your head this is not for you but if you fancy following your heart let's have one last hurrah.
Huddersfield to win the league at 80/1 please. Here’s to every son, rant and Sharon. Enjoy the ride, and if by some miracle Huddersfield are in the top three next May, we are in the money
Macaulay Langstaff League Two Top Goalscorer, 2pts E/W at 6/1 with bet365
The standard of the English fifth tier is frightening, escape that quagmire and you could well be in with a chance of back-to-back promotions.
It is a path Stockport almost trod last season, losing to Carlisle via penalties at Wembley. Wrexham and Notts County, the division's newsboys, look primed to take the division by storm, priced as first and third favourites to win League Two respectively.
It is an angle with the latter, County, that interests me here. Their price to win the division certainly appeals, but in a competitive division I am staying clear and opting for their star-striker to take the fourth tier by storm.
Macaulay Langstaff topped the goalscoring charts in the division below last season with 41 goals, staggering considering he was not on penalty duty. With an injury to Paul Mullin keeping Wrexham’s talisman out indefinitely, the original top goalscorer market favourite, Langstaff is now the shortest priced player to finish as League Two’s top bagsman, and rightly so in my opinion.
The Magpies secured the services of David McGoldrick, as the attacker's career came full circle. The former Premier League player has dropped deeper with age, and now in the twilight of his career he appears to be operating as more of a playmaker in pre-season to turn provider.
Operated ahead of such a class operator in McGoldrick, Longstaff looks to be flourishing further. Granted, this must be taken with a pinch of salt, but the frontman has notched up five goals in pre-season, scoring a first half hat trick against Alfreton in his last appearance.