Haaland's main rivals for the Premier League Golden Boot

ByEmlyn Begley

BBC Sport journalist

Erling Haaland will be hoping for a record-equalling fourth Premier League Golden Boot this season.

With four-time winner Mohamed Salah no longer at Liverpool, the route might appear even more open for him - so who stands in Haaland's way?

BBC Sport looks at the contenders to be the league's top scorer - and what is usually needed to win it.

The Manchester City striker has won the Premier League's Golden Boot in three of his four seasons in English football.

The Norwegian scored a record 36 goals in 2022-23 and won it in the next campaign - and again last season - with 27 each time.

With 112 goals in 132 English top-flight games, he will take some stopping again - even if he is now under a new manager in Enzo Maresca.

The 26-year-old comes into this campaign after a seven-goal World Cup for Norway - a total which would have won the Golden Boot in more than half of the previous tournaments.

It is almost easy to forget about the British record signing in this discussion, after the Swede spent so much of last season injured.

The 26-year-old finished second in the Golden Boot race in 2024-25 with 23 goals, outscoring Haaland and only finishing behind Salah.

But he only managed four goals in 22 games in all competitions for Liverpool last season after his £125m move from Newcastle.

If he can stay fit and new Reds manager Andoni Iraola can provide him with the service he was sorely lacking last season, he will hope to show why Liverpool paid £125m for him.

Thiago will hope to avoid being a one-season wonder for Brentford - assuming he stays with the Bees.

The 25-year-old scored 22 Premier League goals in his first proper season playing in England - having missed most of the previous season through injury.

He finished second only to Haaland in the Golden Boot race.

That form led to him playing for Brazil at the World Cup, having never been capped before this year.

Manchester United are among the clubs reportedly interested in him.

Joao Pedro will be hoping to build on his 15 Premier League goals last campaign for Chelsea following his move from Brighton.

However he now has more rivals for the striker role than last season - including ex-Albion team-mate Danny Welbeck.

How he fits in under new manager Xabi Alonso will also be a factor.

Alonso's German double-winning Bayer Leverkusen team of 2023-24 shared out the goals - with nobody netting more than 14 in the Bundesliga.

The Sweden striker had a steady but unspectacular debut season at Arsenal, with 14 league goals - and 21 in all competitions.

However the 28-year-old played his part in Arsenal winning their first title in 22 years.

And 14 of those 21 goals came after the turn of the year, suggesting he had adapted to the new league.

If he can match that form across the 2026-27 season - and if Arsenal can take the shackles off with the tension gone after ending their title drought - he may be a contender.

Watkins is the third top-scorer in the Premier League since stepping up to the top flight by joining Aston Villa in September 2020 - behind only Haaland and Salah.

His 91 league goals in that time mean he averages just over 15 a season - with 16 in the league last term.

However the 30-year-old would probably have to at least match his final goalscoring season for Brentford in the Championship - 25 league goals - to be a contender for the Golden Boot.

Sesko scored 11 goals in his maiden Premier League season following a move from RB Leipzig last summer.

But nine of those came after Manchester United sacked Ruben Amorim on 5 January and ditched his preferred back three and wing-backs formation.

In fact in that time only one player - Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White - scored more Premier League goals.

With Sesko still only 23, he will hope he can maintain that form over a whole season under Michael Carrick and be a Golden Boot contender.

There have been 34 Premier League seasons - and 42 Golden Boots handed out because of joint top-scorers.

Surprisingly, only 12 of those have won the Premier League in those seasons - so that gives hope to those players whose teams are unlikely to challenge for the title this season.

Haaland has played a part in driving the amount of goals needed to win the Golden Boot up in recent years.

Nobody scored more than 23 goals in the four seasons between 2018-19 and 2021-22, but the past four Golden Boots have all entailed between 27 and 36 goals.

Most winners have been strikers - or at least centre-forwards - but as you would expect in recent years it has become more frequent for other positions to win it.

Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007-08 was the first winger - back when he largely played in that position - to win the Golden Boot, with Salah winning it a joint-record four times. The former Liverpool forward shares the record with Thierry Henry that Haaland will attempt to match this season.

Wide forwards Sadio Mane and Son Heung-min have also claimed a share of the Golden Boot in the past eight years.