With the Premier League kicking off next weekend, an ultra-competitive and wide open race for the Golden Boot Award will commence.
Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy claimed the award for the first time in his career last season, but he’s not considered to be among the front-runners this time around. With the Foxes declining in form after the restart, and the club losing talent this summer transfer window, it looks like he’ll most likely be supplanted.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, who finished fourth in the scoring race last season, and has two Golden Boots to his credit already, is favored according to Spreadex. The data analysis and projections website forecasts the Egyptian magician’s goal tally to be between 20-22 this upcoming season.
Right behind Salah they have Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with a scoring spread of 18.5-20, and Tottenham talisman Harry Kane, at 18-19.5. Sharing the 2018-19 Golden Boot with two Liverpool attacking players, Salah and Sadio Mane, Aubameyang came close very close to repeating in 2019/20, scoring 22 goals for a 2nd consecutive season.
It was good enough for second place, as he ended up just one scoring strike behind Vardy.
However, given the purple patch he was on in the restarted period, most especially in the closing stages of the FA Cup tournament, he’s got momentum on his side. He seems to be peaking right now, and he might be the smart choice, if you had to make a pick today.
Salah has seen his goals scored total decrease season over season since he left AS Roma to join the Premier League. Additionally, the vaunted front three of Roberto Firmino, Mane and Salah had their lowest goal production in their three years together last season, but still combined to score 46 goals. The triad will score, no doubt, but when you have three main scorers on a single team instead of a singular primary scoring threat, individual numbers can decrease.
Mane is listed seventh on the Spreadex rankings, Firmino 15th.
As for Kane, the latest savior of English football, in a long line of English football saviors, he’s had trouble staying healthy lately. After back-to-back Golden Boots in 2015/16 and 2016/17, and a 30 goal haul in 2017/18, his haul dropped significantly due to injury, with 17 and 18 goals respectively.
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Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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