Harry Diamond
The race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot is heating up as we head towards the final stages of the season, with a couple of familiar names leading the way ahead of some surprise contenders.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has finished as the division’s top scorer in each of the last two seasons, sharing the award jointly last season alongside teammate Sadio Mane and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the first three-way tie for two decades.
Those names are once again in contention his time around, but who do the bookmakers view as the favourites to finish as the Premier League’s top scorer?
So for those of you interested in the best online betting sites like Sportsbet, here are the five favourites to win the 2019/20 Premier League Golden Boot…
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 14/1
Last season’s joint winner of the award with 22 goals, Aubameyang remains Arsenal’s main man when it comes to goalscoring and one of the finest finishers in the Premier League.
No player has scored more goals in England’s top-flight than the 30-year-old since his move to the Emirates from Borussia Dortmund two years ago, Aubameyang having scored 46 goals in just 71 league appearances in an Arsenal shirt.
Of that tally, 14 of those goals have come this season, the Gabon international firmly in the mix to make it successive Golden Boot awards. Sitting just three goals behind the current leader, Aubameyang’s odds are generous given his record as one of the most consistent and prolific goalscorers in the division.
Danny Ings – 12/1
What a season it is turning out to be for Danny Ings.
The Southampton forward has endured a nightmare spell with injuries in recent years, but having regained his form during a loan spell at the club last season would make a permanent move to the Saints from Liverpool last summer.
That £20m investment has proven money well spent for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, Ings enjoying the best form of his career with 14 Premier League goals so far, his prolific record lifting Southampton away from relegation worries and into the top half.
Such has been his form, England recognition has been muted ahead of March’s international break, whilst the bookmakers have placed the 27-year-old as the fourth favourite to win a shock Golden Boot this season.
No player has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League this season than Danny Ings.
⬢ 25 games
⬢ 19 starts
⬢ 14 goalsAnd he's won possession in the final third more times than any other striker. 😇 pic.twitter.com/LkRfEzu22B
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 25, 2020
Mohamed Salah – 8/1
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah may not have quite hit the dizzying goalscoring heights of previous seasons this time around, but having won back-to-back Golden Boots is rightly amongst the favourites to make it a hat-trick of crowns.
The Egyptian winger has played an influential role in the Reds’ record-breaking start to the season, scoring 11 league goals as Jurgen Klopp’s side have amassed a seemingly unassailable lead at the top of the Premier League.
Having scored 54 league goals over the past two league seasons, few would bet against the 27-year-old reaching 20+ for a third successive year, a feat only previously managed by Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero and a tally that will likely put him in contention for his third Golden Boot.
Jamie Vardy – 11/4
The highest scoring player in the Premier League so far this season, Vardy has enjoyed a blistering start to the campaign to fire Leicester into contention for a top four finish and Champions League qualification.
The 33-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down as he enters the final years of his career, playing arguably the best football of his career since Brendan Rodgers arrival as Foxes manager in February of last year.
Vardy’s 17 goals currently put him on course to reach 20 Premier League goals in a single season for the third time in his career, a remarkable achievement for a player famously playing non-league football just eight years ago.
Quickly closing in on 100 top-flight goals, a maiden Golden Boot would be a fitting end to a memorable season thus far.
Sergio Aguero – 6/4
Arguably the form man in the division at present, Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero has begun to his top gear over the last few weeks, scoring six times in his past three league appearances to move him firmly in to contention for the Golden Boot.
Currently just one goal behind leader Jamie Vardy, Aguero is on course to become the first player in history to score 20+ goals in six consecutive seasons, whilst his exploits this season have seen him eclipse Thierry Henry as the greatest foreign goalscorer in the division’s history and set the record for most hat-tricks.
Remarkably for a player with 180 Premier League goals – the fourth highest overall in history – Aguero has just one Golden Boot to his name, and a second this season would be a just reward for one of the finest forwards the English game has seen.
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