We seem to be in for another exciting season as the race for the 2022–23 Premier League Golden Boot has begun. Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min split the Premier League Golden Boot award in 2017 with a combined total of 23 goals. In winning this award three times, Liverpool star Salah matched the career total of Tottenham striker and regular front-runner Harry Kane. After a brilliant year in which his beautiful link-up play with Kane at Spurs once again sparkled, it was Son’s first triumph. Despite not knowing what his future at Manchester United would be in 2022–2023, Cristiano Ronaldo finished third last season. If he continues at Old Trafford, the iconic Portuguese striker will probably put up a tough battle to earn the division’s most goals.
Despite being a new player in the Premier League, Erling Haaland of Manchester City began the year as the favourite to top the English scoring rankings. After making a significant transfer, the former Dortmund star joined a Man City team that had won four titles in five years, and it was expected that, provided he remained healthy, he would produce a magnificent total that would be impossible to top in the fight for the Golden Boot. Another contender at the beginning of the season was Gabriel Jesus, who joined Arsenal after leaving Manchester City. Gabriel Jesus aimed to take on a more constant lead role to expand his opportunities. Darwin Nunez, a new striker who signed from Benfica as a substantial transfer signing with enormous hopes, became the Reds’ backup option behind Salah when Sadio Mane left Liverpool.
Raheem Sterling was another player who departed Man City and began the new season as Chelsea’s top challenger, despite Kai Havertz also hoping to establish a claim. Former Golden Boot winner Jamie Vardy was one of the players outside of the Big Six teams looking to make a mark, along with Callum Wilson and Ollie Watkins.
Premier League scoring leaders for 2022–23
This past weekend, Erling Haaland quickly took the lead in the Premier League Golden Boot competition, as Harry Kane distanced himself from the reigning champion Mohamed Salah. Haaland, a star for Manchester City, scored a devastating hat-trick as his team rallied from a goal behind to upset Crystal Palace 4-2 on Saturday in the Premier League. He now has six goals in four Premier League games since joining from Borussia Dortmund, a spectacular start to life at his new club.
Haaland, who started the season as the favourite to win the golden boot, currently stands an incredible four goals ahead of Liverpool striker Salah and has a two-goal advantage over his closest rivals. Salah had earlier in the week kept pace with the leaders when his late header in the 2-1 loss to Manchester United gave the three-time champion of the golden boot two goals in his opening three Premier League contests. However, Salah was unable to add to Liverpool’s nine goals against Bournemouth, which tied the Premier League record for the largest win. Luis Diaz currently leads Liverpool in goals scored with three after scoring twice in that match, while Roberto Firmino, who added a second goal as part of an impressive individual effort, is now tied with Mohamed Salah on two.
Kane, who scored twice and could afford to miss a penalty as Tottenham fought to a 2-0 victory against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, looks to be Haaland’s biggest competition at this point. Kane now has four league goals, which puts him in the second position in England’s scoring statistics. Although he did not score when his team fell 1-0 at Brighton this past weekend, Kane is equal with Leeds attacker Rodrigo, who scored twice in his team’s thrilling 2-2 draw at Southampton on matchday two. Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored four goals as well, continuing his impressive performance from the Championship season prior.
There are a total of 12 players with two goals, including Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling and Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus, who both scored twice against Leicester on matchday four. Two well-known players have yet to score in the Premier League. Amid intense transfer rumors regarding his future, Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to open an account and Spurs attacker Son Heung-min, who shared last year’s championship with Salah, has yet to score. The Fulham striker, who was on target despite his team’s recent 2-1 loss against Arsenal, is certain to score a high goal total in the 2022–23 season.
