Nick Goff's expert betting predictions and tips for the 2023/24 English football season
Nick Goff is a professional football punter who focuses on the top four leagues in England, having previously been head of football for a leading bookmaker.
Here are Nick's best bets for the upcoming season (you can find a transcribed version of his tips slightly later on in the article, or simply have a look at the replay of our Big Kick-Off season preview here).
We've also collated the best free bet offers for the new season from the biggest names so you can back Nick's suggestions and benefit from some of the best new account bonuses at the same time.
Premier League
Biggest points drop v last season: Newcastle
Championship
League 1
League 2
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Nick Goff's best bets for the Premier League, Championship, League 1 and League 2
We’ve taken snippets of what Nick had to say plus timestamps on where to find these in the Big Kick-Off season preview.
Premier League
Outright winner: Manchester City
Nick finds it hard to believe anyone will steal the title from City this year. Nick's commentary (14:28): "He [Pep] almost said to other teams, 'I dare you to go build a lead on us after Christmas and we'll come and catch you', and only Arsenal were able to do it because everyone else flopped and even then, they went and caught them with relative ease. So if they hit the ground running this year, I just don't think anyone will be able to stay with them. I think City will win it by six [points]."
2nd: Arsenal
3rd: Liverpool
Nick finds it hard to split these two, but believes Arsenal are building their squad under Mikel Arteta in a similar fashion to how Liverpool had at the start of Jurgen Klopp's reign.
Nick's commentary (16:19): "I find Liverpool and Arsenal very hard to split between second and third. I still marginally prefer Arsenal over Liverpool, I just think they're a bit more proven and I don't think anything they did last year was any sort of fluke, they're an excellent side now. I would marginally Arsenal over Liverpool for second."
4th: Brighton
Interestingly, Nick picks Brighton over Chelsea to place in the top four, for a number of reasons.
Nick's commentary (24:36): "I think Chelsea are very interesting. I just think that Brighton are being overlooked, and I don't think that anything they did last year was a one-season wonder in any way at all. Mac Allister is gone, there's a chance Caicedo stays."
Biggest points drop v last season: Newcastle
Nick feels Newcastle overperformed last year and have their work cut out with Champions League football to contend with this season.
Nick's commentary (2:23): "I've got a feeling perhaps Newcastle might take a bit of a dip this year, being in the Champions League. I think they probably overachieved a little bit in part because so many teams underachieved last year."
Relegation: West Ham
Nick touched on a lot of teams including Palace, Forest and Fulham, but the one team he tipped to relegation was West Ham.
Nick's commentary (33:39): "The one team I would bring up value-wise at a price is a team who was in the bottom six for 28 of the 38 gameweeks last season. They had a manager who was there was talk about being sacked until three games to go. They've sold their best player [Declan Rice] by an absolute mile and they're playing in Europe again."
Top goalscorer: Kai Havertz
While Nick favoured Erling Haaland, he also said Kai Havertz would be a good each-way pick.
Nick's commentary (42:00): "I think Havertz will be given an opportunity to play up front in Arsenal and play to his strengths. If you look at his record in Germany before he came in, he got 17 in his final non-Covid year."
Championship
Outright winner: Ipswich
Nick says he wouldn't be surprised if one of the relegated EPL teams win it, but he heaped praise on Ipswich.
Nick's commentary (1:01:08): "I do think when excellent teams come up from League 1, they can challenge straight away. This Ipswich team is one of the best League 1 teams of all time."
Top goalscorer: Jerry Yates
Nick believes that at Swansea Jerry Yates will prevail as Championship top scorer.
Nick's commentary (01:07:18): "Michael Duff, who's a really good manager, has gone to Swansea and the first thing he did was go to Blackpool and take their striker Jerry Yates."
League 1
Outright winner: Blackpool
Nick said he doesn't have a strong view in this league, but favours three teams.
Nick's commentary (1:10:13): "Unlike the other two leagues, I don't have a strong view in this league, but there are three teams in Blackpool, Wycombe and Oxford who are on my radar. Neil Critchley won this league with Blackpool before."
League 2
Outright winner: Notts County
Nick's commentary (1:15:30): "We talked about League 1 being a weaker league this year, it could be the best League 2 ever. Honestly, if you took your Wrexham and your Notts County plus your Stockport and put them in League 1, you could probably challenge for top six straight away. Notts County were rated slightly better than Wrexham last season despite finishing second."
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