As the run-in to the Premier League season sees the focus largely on the thrilling title race, with three teams all within a game at the top of the table, there’s an individual battle taking place as well.
With just six games remaining in the campaign, there are two players tied at the top of the Golden Boot standings, with one more a goal back and three others three goals shy of the top.
Last year’s record-setting winner Erling Haaland has understandably seen a regression at the head of the Manchester City attack, and while he’s led the list for much of the campaign, a mid-season injury plus a late-season slump has seen him caught at the top.
Emerging Chelsea star Cole Palmer is level with Haaland on 20 goals with six matches to go in the season, while Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa is one behind on 19 goals. Still very much in the chase are Mohamed Salah of Liverpool, Alexander Isak of Newcastle, and Dominic Solanke of a surging Bournemouth side.
As Palmer displayed brilliantly against Everton on April 15, it only takes one match for a player in the hunt to surge forward, as the Chelsea forward bagged an incredible four goals to pull even with Haaland at the top. Will the Man City star retain his Premier League title at the individual level as the first sole back-to-back winner since Harry Kane in 2017, or will there be a new champion crowned?
MORE: An up-to-date list of Premier League top goal scorers for 2023/24 season
All stats updated as of full-time in matches on Monday, April 15, 2024. Odds via DraftKings (USA) and updated as of Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
While Erling Haaland’s top goal scorer defence has seen him lead the list essentially wire-to-wire, he suddenly has company at the summit with six games to go.
There are six players who could realistically finish at the top, as those within three goals across the final six games all have a legitimate chance.
Erling Haaland is in a slump — yes, it’s a slump, by his standards. The man who set a modern record last season with 35 goals, and who had 14 goals by the time December started, is not scoring at his usual pace. He missed over a month through the festive period with a foot injury, and since returning just hasn’t been the same.
Haaland has just two goals from open play since the start of March, plus another from the penalty spot. Goal scoring form comes and goes, and down the stretch of the season, he’s not in his best form.
The man on fire is Cole Palmer of Chelsea, whose four-spot against Everton last time out pulled him level at the top. That game moved Palmer to 10 goals just in his last five Premier League games, the same span in which Haaland has scored a total of three. Palmer is a perfect nine-of-nine from the penalty spot this season, including seven in Premier League play. Chelsea create loads of chances up front, but finishing has been their team-wide issue — while nobody else in the Blues squad can hit the target regularly, Palmer is their only reliable finisher at the moment.
The biggest obstacle to Palmer’s Golden Boot candidacy is the Chelsea run-in, which sees them play a number of top sides, but most of them are defensively porous, including Aston Villa, Tottenham, and West Ham, who look to keep up in a track meet on their best days.
Dominic Solanke also has an outside shot at making a late charge, having scored three goals in his last five games. Adding to his chances are that Bournemouth have remaining fixtures against Aston Villa, Brighton, Brentford, and Chelsea to enjoy.
Phil Foden looked a viable option for a while, scoring in bunches as Haaland slumped, but Pep Guardiola has decided that Foden’s biggest use will come in the Champions League games. Foden has been rested in a number of recent Premier League matchups against inferior opponents, and thus his candidacy seems to have evaporated.
Prediction: Cole Palmer (+310 on DraftKings)
Dark horse: Dominic Solanke (+2200 on DraftKings)
Predictions made prior to matches on Saturday, April 20.
