Predicting the Premier League: Who’ll win the 16-17 Golden Boot?
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The Premier League plays host to some of the best strikers in world football this season, and while many will be expecting Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero to finish as top scorer, there’s plenty of reason to suggest punters will be better off looking elsewhere.
The Argentine striker is fancied as favourite at around 3/1 every season, but he’s only proved value for money once in five years of English football – that was back in the 2014-15 season.
When looking at the market, there’s no better place to start than last season’s Golden Boot winner and England striker Harry Kane.
Last year was a big one for Tottenham’s main man up-front as Kane was on a mission to prove he wasn’t just a one season wonder following the 21 league goals he bagged in the 2014-15 campaign.
And he didn’t disappoint, netting 25 goals in a season where Spurs were close to winning the title.
Boss Mauricio Pochettino has kept faith in last season’s players, adding just Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen to his side, and while Janssen has been brought in to take some pressure off Kane’s shoulders up-front, England’s number nine is 6/1 to win the Golden Boot and will fancy his chances of topping the goalscoring charts again.
We can’t ignore new Manchester United striker and Sweden legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic when choosing our picks for top scorer, though, and he’s 8/1 to win the award.
Signing on a free from PSG in the summer, Ibrahimovic has finished as top goalscorer in France and Italy on no less than five occasions, and he’ll be keen to add the Premier League Golden Boot award to his list of personal accolades.
He’s already shown United fans what he can do in the famous number nine shirt, scoring the winner in last week’s Community Shield against Leicester City – and Jose Mourinho’s new target man will be looking to replicate last season’s deadly goal ratio which saw him net 38 goals in 31 league games.
And finally, considered by our traders as having a 20/1 chance of taking the Golden Boot award this season, Arsenal’s lack of experienced forwards means Alexis Sanchez could be their star man up top.
It’s safe to say the Chilean has settled in to Premier League life after two years, with the Gunners forward netting 29 times from a wide position.
But following several failed attempts by manager Arsene Wenger to sign an out-and-out goalscorer this summer, as well as the enormous depth of quality the Frenchman boasts in midfield, it’s thought Sanchez is going to play a more central role this season.
In the last three seasons, the North London outfit have finished fourth, third and second. If they’re to go one better this time out with Sanchez up top, that 20/1 will seem like a steal for punters.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
