Challengers for this season’s Premier League Golden Boot

One of the most exciting and fierce debates in the lead-up to every Premier League season is surrounding who will win the Golden Boot. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min shared the spoils last season with 23 goals apiece – and with the 2022/23 campaign now six weeks old, there’s a fresh crop of contenders who are vying for the coveted prize.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the players who are making an early push to take out this season’s Premier League Golden Boot.

Erling Haaland (11)

This young phenom needs no introduction. While everyone could see Erling Haaland’s brilliance when he played with his former club Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga – there were still many who were eager to see if his goal-scoring feats would translate to the more competitive English Premier League.

While the hype was palpable when Haaland joined Manchester City, he has arguably exceeded expectations since suiting up for the reigning champions – finding the back of the net on 11 occasions in just seven appearances (at the time of writing). After securing a double on his City debut against West Ham, Haaland has continued that rich vein of goal-scoring form against Newcastle United, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton. His performances upfront against Newcastle and Palace were particularly impressive – bagging consecutive hattricks in those respective fixtures.

It's not just the regularity of his scoring – it’s also the manner in which he is doing so that has fans of the sport watching on in awe. His speed, power and anticipation has seen past players and pundits make comparisons between he and a number of all-time greats such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Aguero, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robin Van Persie to name a few.

For those who enjoy a football bet – as a result of Haaland’s incredible success through six games – he is an extremely short favourite at odds of 1/4 to take home the Golden Boot.

Harry Kane (6)

While he sits five goals behind Haaland in joint second, Tottenham Hotspurs striker Harry Kane has had yet another splendid start to the season. Kane is a model of consistency, and his performances upfront have helped guide the north London outfit to third-place in the table after seven games.

Kane has managed to find the back of the net in five fixtures this season, with goals against Chelsea, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Leicester City. While Haaland will prove hard to catch in the Golden Boot standings – if there is one player you don’t want to bet against – it’s Kane. The 29-year-old has won the prestigious award on three previous occasions, doing so in 2015/16, 2016/17 and most recently in 2020/21.

Kane’s three Golden Boot honours place him in esteemed company, as the only other players to share that feat include Alan Shearer (3) and all-time leader Thierry Henry (4).

Aleksandar Mitrovic (6)

Fulham have been somewhat of a surprise packet this season – in large part thanks to their striker Aleksandar Mitrovic. Scoring six goals in seven appearances, the 28-year-old appears to be thriving under the stewardship of Marco Silva. Managing just three goals in his last Premier League campaign, you could be forgiven for thinking the end of his time in the English top-flight was imminent earlier this year.

However, the Serbian’s form this season has Fulham firing and sitting in the top six in the league table. With goals against strong teams such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Brentford, Brighton and Hove Albion and Tottenham – this Fulham outfit could be a dark horse for a Europa League spot if Mitrovic can maintain his elite level of goal-scoring form.