As an attacking player, there’s only one thought in your mind: to score goals. To score bag loads of goals and help your club win games. And since it’s a simple equation – goals win you games and eventually titles – it’s no surprise that attackers are on a goal-scoring frenzy; to be the best goalscorer there is.
More so in the Premier League, the battle to be the highest goalscorer in a season is one that swings in favor of multiple players; hailing from different clubs. And in seasons past, the race to win the Premier League Golden Boot has seen some marvelous finishes (both in the race and for the goals scored). Won the most number of times (4) by Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, the latest holder of the award is Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
Salah had earned a reputation for being a pacey, deadly winger for Basel, Fiorentina and Roma. While his first stint in England with Chelsea didn’t impress, his second time round in the PL has been mesmerizing.
Signed by Liverpool in the summer of 2017, Salah took the league by storm, scoring 32 goals in his first season, whilst recording the highest ever tally in a single season by any previous player.
Although his second season isn’t as explosive as his first, Salah still is joint top-scorer along side City’s Aguero and Arsenal’s Aubameyang, with 19 goals.
So, when Liverpool won a penalty late on in their game against Cardiff, Salah had an opportunity to pull ahead of the pack. Having won the penalty, Salah was stepping forward to take it. Substitute James Milner then intervened, grabbing the ball from Salah, who looked away in disgust and disappointment on being denied his opportunity to grab his 20th in the league and seal the deal.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp has made it public that while Milner is on the pitch, he would be Liverpool’s spot-kick taker. So there was nothing much Salah could do against Klopp’s instructions, as Milner pulled rank and thumped home the penalty; but the Egyptian’s disappointment was still palpable.
It was evident that even after the conversion, Salah was still pondering on what would’ve been his 20th of the league campaign. One can only imagine that Salah’s emotions at the time would’ve died down after the game, given that the Reds are top of the table.
With Liverpool having 3 rounds to play while City and Arsenal have 4, who will be this season’s PL Golden Boot winner?
