Haaland faces stiff test for EPL Golden Boot defence

The 32nd edition of the Premier League, widely regarded as the strongest league in world football, got underway yesterday as Manchester United battled against Fulham at Old Trafford.

Strikers will tell you that goals win you games, and whether you are battling for the title, vying for a top-four finish, or fighting for your life at the wrong end of the table, every team needs a goal-scorer who can put the ball into the back of the net on a consistent basis.

One of the best around in the modern era at exactly that is Manchester City’s leading marksman Erling Haaland, who won his second successive Golden Boot award last season after scoring 27 goals in 31 Premier League appearances – at least five more than his nearest challengers.

After netting a record-breaking 36 times in his debut campaign at Man City, Haaland’s goals in 2023-24 proved crucial once again for a Citizens side who pipped rivals Arsenal to win an unprecedented fourth Premier League title in a row.

So can anyone stop Haaland from winning yet another Premier League Golden Boot award? Well, history suggest that the Norwegian goal machine could be dethroned from the summit of the goal scoring charts in the English top flight.

Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, only two players have ever won the Golden Boot award in three consecutive seasons. The first was Alan Shearer between 1994-94 and 1996-97 (representing both Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United), before Arsenal icon Thierry Henry claimed three awards in a row in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06.

The fact that only two players – one of whom (Shearer) is the Premier League’s all-time record goal scorer and the other (Henry) is regarded by many as the best-ever player to grace the Premier League – have ever achieved three in a row shows not only how difficult this is to accomplish, but also demonstrates the calibre of player who is capable of achieving such an impressive feat.

In addition, only Henry and ex-Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has ever retained the Golden Boot by scoring more goals than a previous season, again proving how challenging it has been for players to build on their success and elevate their game to a new level, considering the fierce competition they are up against year-on-year.

Many will say that Haaland certainly has the potential to join the elite; the 24-year-old has already ripped up the record books wherever he has been in his relatively fledgling career, and he is deservedly ranked as the bookmakers’ favourites to win the 2024-25 Premier League Golden Boot.

Indeed, it is difficult to back against a prolific striker, playing for the reigning champions, who has netted a staggering 63 goals in 66 Premier League games, but if there is one thing that will give Haaland’s rivals hope in the race for the Golden Boot, it is his injury record.

Haaland suffered with some niggling injuries in the early years of his career at Molde and Red Bull Salzburg, and across his two seasons at previous club Borussia Dortmund, the Scandinavian missed a total of 26 games due to injury.

The striker missed only six matches through injury in his record-breaking debut campaign at Man City, but he was sidelined for almost two months last season with a bone stress reaction in his foot, while he has also suffered with a niggling muscle issue this summer in pre-season.

Haaland missed seven Premier League games last season and proved that he does not need to play every minute of the campaign to come out on top in the Golden Boot race, but retaining the individual prize may be a tall order for the striker this term if he endures another lengthy spell in the treatment room, especially in a league that is arguably getting stronger with more teams and players scoring goals in attack-minded systems.

In 2022, Haaland said injuries “only make me more hungry for success” and he will undoubtedly back himself to thrive in front of goal once again this term, but there are a number of other talented attackers in the Premier League who will fancy their chances of claiming the Golden Boot.