Patrick Mahomes has taken the Kansas City Chiefs to NFL heaven by winning the Super Bowl twice in the last in the last four years.
Now American football’s pre-eminent quarterback is on a crusade to take his team to Paradise and become the first franchise in nearly two decades to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy in successive seasons.
Mahomes went close to doing just that after winning his first Super Bowl three years ago when leading Kansas to a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
The Chiefs returned to the Greatest Show on Turf 12 months later but were destined to fail in their bid to follow the 2004 and 2005 New England Patriots into American Football immortality.
Their opponents were also seeking a fairytale finish to a long campaign and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, playing in their confines of their Raymond James Stadium home and with former Patriots passer Tom Brady chasing his seventh Super Bowl ring in his first year away from New England, ran out easy 31-9 victors.
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That defeat stung but Mahomes and the Chiefs regrouped and clawed their way back to the Big Show last February where they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a 38-35 barnstormer.
Kansas are masters at retaining key players while upgrading those who are getting long in the tooth and Mahomes still has trusted touchdown target Travis Kelce to aim for in the end zone while young wide receiver Skyy Moore will be another productive outlet with elite coach Andy Reid calling the shots.
Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada – just outside Las Vegas – is the Chiefs destination and they are worthy 6/1 favourites with big three bookmakers William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral while Mahomes is 7/1 with Unibet and BetUK to rack up the stats required to land a third regular season MVP award.
The 49ers should once again be the Chiefs’ Super Bowl opponents and are each-way value at 10/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral.
Minnesota Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson is 14/1 with Unibet and BetUK to catch the most receiving touchdowns while exciting Atlanta Falcons rookie running back Bijan Robinson is 14/1 with Sky Bet and StarSports to post the most rushing TDs.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals are 13/5 with Betfair to own the worst record when the regular season is done and dusted.
• Coco Gauff’s eyes must have widened when she saw defending champion Iga Swiatek, the big roadblock on her path to a maiden grand slam title, had been eliminated from the US Open by Jelena Ostapenko. Gauff now meets Ostapenko for a place in the semi-finals and is 3/1 with SpreadEx to win by two sets to one.
• Novak Djokovic has won all seven of his previous meetings with Taylor Fritz and has only dropped one set to the American. The Serbian brushed aside Fritz 6-0, 6-4 in Cincinnati in preparation for the US Open and can be backed with confidence to win their quarter-final at Flushing Meadows 3-0 at 11/10 with StarSports. Djokovic is also 7/4 with William Hill to win by over 7.5 games.
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