The Premiership’s deadliest strikers came face to face when Tottenham hosted Everton at White Hart Lane recently, and Harry Kane came out on top. Everton’s Romelu Lukaku has been in fine goal scoring form and he scored for the Toffees, but two well-taken goals from Kane put Everton to the sword as Spurs ran out 3-2 winners.
That sent Kane out on his own as the Premiership’s leading scorer, with 19 goals. Lukaku lags behind him on 18, followed by Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa on 17, Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 15 and Jermain Defoe on 14. Kane is now the clear favourite to win the Golden Boot this season: he is even money, with Lukaku out at 7/2. A lot of it is down to playing for a better team. That win moved Tottenham 12 points clear of Everton, and they have scored nine more goals this season. Bookmaker sportsbook offers odds on the remaining games this season, and Tottenham are frequently favourites to win their games, but the same cannot be said for Everton.
It therefore seems highly likely that Kane will get more chances than Lukaku between now and the end of the season and finish ahead of him in the scoring charts. Betting on who will win the Golden Boot is always a risky bet as an injury could totally derail your selection’s chances, but what is remarkable about Kane’s rise to the top of the charts is that he has done it in far fewer minutes on the pitch than his rivals. Kane has scored a goal every 100 minutes, compared to 127 for Lukaku, 129 for Sanchez, 130 for Costa, 150 for Ibrahimovic and 173 for Defoe. Kane missed a large chunk of the season due to injury, and was well behind Costa and Sanchez in the running, but returned to the team and has been on fire, and has banged in 15 goals in his last 13 games.
It looks like nobody can stop him right now. Ibrahimovic was a real threat, but a three-game ban for elbowing Tyrone Mings will make it extremely difficult to make up the gap on Kane. Sanchez was dropped for Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat against Liverpool and the situation at The Emirates looks messy, with reports emerging of a training ground row involving Sanchez, who could well demand a move away from north London due to Arsenal’s dreadful form. He would be a risky bet at 8/1, although Arsenal do create lots of chances, so if the find their form again he could be in with a shot. Defoe does not get anywhere near enough chances at Sunderland. It is remarkable that he is in the leading pack, despite playing for the team that are rock bottom of the league. If he was at Tottenham he would likely be well out in front, but at Sunderland he has no chance.
Chelsea are coasting towards the title and Costa is likely to get plenty of chances between now and the end of the season. Manager Antonio Conte does not seem to trust his other forwards, even playing Costa instead of Michy Batshuayi in an FA Cup game against Wolves, so he will certainly get plenty of game time and is a genuine threat at 4/1. The only risk is that Chelsea win the league with four or five games to go and Conte puts in a young prospect instead. Right now, it is hard to look past Kane, and the chance to double your money at evens looks very attractive.
