Why Always Him?

Mario Balotelli lit the blue touchpaper for his side’s demoltion derby on Sunday with two sparkling efforts; the ‘enfant terrible’ of Manchester City is now 25/1 (Ladbrokes) to end the season as the Premier League’s top scorer.

The former Inter striker only really made headlines for all the wrong reasons in his first 12 months in English football - he was 125/1 to be leading marksman at the start of this month. But a run of six goals in his last five matches has given Roberto Mancini the sort of selection headache that all managers dream of. The 21-year-old has notched five league goals, but two of his team-mates are still well out in front.

Sergio Aguero (3/1 SkyBet) is joint top of the charts with nine, while Edin Dzeko (6/1 PaddyPower) has eight to his name. A truly remarkable stat is that the Bosnian has scored six goals in 113 minutes on the pitches of White Hart Lane and Old Trafford this season. The main problem the City triumvirate will have is getting enough individual playing time while all of them are on fire. Thank goodness Carlos Tevez is persona not grata!

Wayne Rooney has the advantage of being undisputed top dog at United, and that explains why his nine goals still make him outright favourite in the betting at 13/5 (Bet365). Robin Van Persie provides an intriguing option (10/1 StanJames) as he continues to score in a less successful Arsenal side. The Dutch star bagged a brace off the bench on Sunday to take his season’s tally to seven, and 25 in 26 league appearances in 2011.