Premier League 12/13 Golden Boot Winner?

Premier League 12/13 kicked off last weekend. It promises to be an enthralling season considering the goal scoring talent on show. RVP was the leading scorer last term, Rooney came second, Sergio Aguero was third on his first season at the English campaign. Carlos Tevez is back from exile, Fernando Torres is approaching something like his best form in recent years and Luis Suarez is looking to moving on from last season's problems. But just who will end the season with the coveted Golden Boot?

Book makers take a lot of action on the golden boot market for the Premier League every season. This is a list of the top ten players being favorites to win the Golden Boot award in random order.

• Sergio Aguero
• Wayne Rooney
• Fernando Torres
• Robin Van Persie
• Mario Balotelli
• Luiz Suarez
• Carlos Tevez
• Darren Bent
• Nikica Jelavic
• Papiss Cisse

A quick look at the top three scorers last season:

• Robin Van Persie - Last Season Scored 30 Goals
Van Persie won the golden boot last season with 30 goals due to an uncanny ability to generate chances. He also converted a lot of his chances, but I think he’s likely to regress this season after his move to United.

• Wayne Rooney - Last Season Scored 27 Goals
Rooney almost beat Van Persie for the golden boot last season and I think he may this season. He will most likely be at the top of the scorers table again. With the addition of Kagawa, both Rooney and RVP should have more scoring chances to convert.

• Sergio Aguero - Last Season Scored 23 Goals
Aguero converted his chances a lot more than most other players last season and if he keeps that up he’ll be in the top 5 again. However, Man City has so many scoring options that it’s doubtful Aguero will get enough scoring opportunities.

What is your prediction? Who is going to win the EPL 12/13 Golden Boot?
Feel free to vote on our Facebook poll as well.

Sergio Aguero: With Sergio Aguero injured in City's very first match, I don't expect him to regain his place in the first team and be in-form immediately after he returns. For a 30-goal season, you should be scoring regularly and avoid injuries. For a team with 4 strikers and two clear starters, it would've been fine, but at Manchester City, there is too much competition within for Aguero to win the Golden Boot.

Wayne Rooney: Last season, he was the one-man machine that Manchester United could rely on, and it almost worked, if it wasn't for QPR's collapse in the final minutes of last season. This season, however, I don't see Rooney being as productive. With Robin Van Persie's arrival, Rooney has a partner with as good, if not better clinical finishing and he can easily pass in a tough scoring position, rather than attempt a shot at goal. Even though, as of right now, United have 5 recognized first-team strikers and another 2-3 waiting in the wings, Rooney will be partnered with all of them, and be the first name of the team sheet.

Fernando Torres: My choice for the Golden Boot this season. With those trolls and memes about his lack of goal-scoring now a distant memory, Torres can concentrate on what's important - hitting the back of the net. Chelsea didn't have a bad playmaker to begin with, but with the arrival of Marin, Hazard and Oscar, Torres gets a better quality to rely on for through balls and pin-point crosses. With the lack of another clear 1st choice striker, it is the perfect season for Torres to be leading the Chelsea charge.

Robin Van Persie: Manchester United's new and controversial signing. I honestly cannot see Van Persie topple Rooney from Sir Alex's preference of being #1 striker. So, Robin has to keep performing and scoring if he needs to keep the likes of Welbeck and Hernandez out of the team (not even mentioning Berbatov). So, either van Persie wins the golden boot, scoring 35-40 goals, or ends up as the next Torres - fans more interested in making fun of him than watching the game.

Mario Balotelli: I'm surprised he was even on the list. Too temperamental and too much of a fringe player to have a chance at winning the Golden Boot. Yes, Aguero's injury will get him higher on the pecking order, but with Tevez now on good terms with Mancini and Dzeko looking good, Super Mario won't be feeling too super. Besides, the pattern suggests City will be looking at more strikers before the transfer window ends.

Luis Suarez: Luis Suarez might be capable of scoring 30 goals in one season against Premier League defences, but Liverpool don't have the quality to provide for him. Against the big teams, a moment of brilliance will help Suarez add to his tally, but the smaller teams will squash any attempt to run past them. Another eight match ban is just right around the corner, maybe?

Carlos Tevez: Another contender for the prize, for sure, but like Suarez, he also won't win it because of his team's quality - although, unlike Suarez, Tevez's reason for not winning is his team is too good. With Silva, Toure and co. too eager to run through defences or score from distance. I'm not saying his midfielders won't assist, just that he won't get to play his natural game, his main job now being drawing defenders towards him, to provide space for the midfielders to run into.

Darren Bent: Darren Bent will always be there and there-about when it comes to bookies, and I don't know why. He just doesn't have the quality to be considered with the likes of Aguero, Torres and Rooney. A goal-tally of 20 goals would be a good enough season for him.

Nikica Jelavic: A dark-horse in this competition, someone that impressed last season as David Moyes continues his tradition of getting great bargain buys. A couple of good games would easily put Jelavic in a spot to trouble the bookmakers, who are surely offering high odds.

Papiss Cisse: A one-hit wonder or a brilliant buy? We don't know yet, and I'm guessing Alan Pardew doesn't either. I don't see Cisse winning the competition, but if Newcastle are to do well, he and Ba need to connect like last season.


OFFICIAL CHOICE: 1. Fernando Torres, 2. Sergio Aguero, 3. Wayne Rooney (or Robin Van Persie)

Difficult to predict, but here are my thoughts:

Sergio Aguero - One of the more obvious choices, and probably a favourite amongst the bookies? He's a ruthless finisher and he's got the skill to create chances. But Aguero's probably not so much and out and out striker, especially if he's paired with Dzeko or Balotelli. Also, though Tevez has a tendency to run around and come deep like Rooney, he also has a tendency to try and take as many shots himself. So, all in all, Aguero, though probably the best striker in Man City, his goalscoring exploits could be overshadowed or curtailed by the others in his team. If Aguero was in a team like Chelsea, where he would have been the main man, he would have been my favourite.

Wayne Rooney - The thing with Rooney is that he's difficult to predict. One season, he'll do wonders, winning the golden boot, and the next season, he'll score 60% of that number. He comes and goes in patches, and though he may be the heartbeat of the United team, he doesn't score as much as he should (though he did last year). Also, whenever there's someone else in the team who's a proven finisher (Ronaldo), Rooney likes to play the supporting role. He likes to drop deep and provide for the team. This season, I fully expect RVP to lead the line for United and Rooney to play more of a supporting role. If this happens, probably more assists for Rooney and fewer goals.

Fernando Torres - He is ideally placed. Chelsea's main man, plus they've got a bunch of playmakers to play through-balls for him to run on to and score. The only problem is ... THAT Torres has gone and probably may never return. Torres will definitely be better than he was last season (SHOCK!), and will probably bag a lot of goals, but is he good enough to get golden boot? Well, he's got the right opportunity, let's see if he takes it.

Robin Van Persie -- If he stays injury-free, van Persie has a good chance of taking the golden boot. He's a better finisher than anyone in United (except maybe Hernandez). If Fergie decides to use him as the main striker, and if van Persie can replicate last year's form, he ought to run away with the golden boot again this year.

Mario Balotelli - In my opinion, he is probably a little underrated. Balotelli can be quite good if he puts his mind to it. But that's a huge *if*. He's still a kid, someone needs to drive him towards football and away from everything else. If he focuses, I'd say Balotelli can be one of the most dangerous strikers in England. But the lack of focus would be his undoing. I just don't think he can keep his drive and determination through the 38 game season. It comes and goes.

Luiz Suarez - He will wriggle and squirm and twist and turn past defenders and do a lot of jazzy stuff. But he just can't finish. I think Suarez gets so involved in trying to get past the defenders that at the last minute, he just tries too hard. He is not as composed a finisher as a truly great striker should be. Suarez should be a support striker who can feed the ball to a poacher. Liverpool have a comparatively weaker squad than others, but I wouldn't hold that as a major disadvantage to Suarez. He creates his own chances most of the time.

Carlos Tevez - Hmm...I really don't know what to make of him. On his day, he will score goals purely because of his extreme determination and relentless work ethic. But again, he's driven by a desire to be the main man, and I expect some kind of spat or hissy fit to be his undoing again this season.


Darren Bent - Like Torres, Bent is the main man for Villa. At 28, he's at the prime of his life too. But the question is ... have Villa got enough quality in the squad to create chances for him? Remember that this is a squad that played dull, lifeless football last year. Things are going to take some time to change under Lambert.

Nikica Jelavic - Took some time to adapt to the English game, but he's become pretty consistent since then, hasn't he? But meh ... Everton don't like the kind of squad that would be scoring too many goals.

Papiss Cisse - Meh, too quick to include him in here on the basis of half a season of excellent performances. He will not replicate the same form because of second season syndrome. Teams will be more vary of him now. He will get marked out of the game and Pardew will probably have to change tactics again sometime over the course of the season to try to get him into better goal-scoring positions.

My pick/predictions
Without meaning to jinx it, I'd say my top picks (not in order) would be: Robin van Persie and Sergio Aguero. Outside chance for Rooney and Torres.

Akash always has got a great way to answer questions...

Sergio Aguero: A classic beast. If it wasn't for the injury he suffered, I think he'll definitely be among the top three for the Golden Boot like last season, but his injury has hit. In a ruthless place like City, getting injuries and losing form could lead to your starting spot being stolen by a fellow striker, and we all know City has an amazing strike-force, one to die for. I can see his starting spot being briefly taken by Dzeko/Super Mario during the course of his injury, as well as the four-five matches that is played after his injury, and then he'll retain his starting spot. But by then I feel it'll be too late to contest for the Golden Boot. An outside chance.

Wayne Rooney: Another classic beast who can score goals like the Argentinian star above. He seems to be able to find the net with every shot, but with that nasty injury suffered not too long ago, as well as the purchase of Robin van Persie, United has a star-studded strike force like City and it can be hard for him to score as many goals as last season. An outside chance.

Fernando Torres: Hahahahahaha

Robin van Persie: Definitely a favorite to retain the Golden Boot but I kind of have doubts over whether he'll be able to settle. However the season is long and I believe he can do it again, but probably lesser goals this time, like about 20-25.

Mario Balotelli: Super Mario is super, but I can't see him scoring 20 goals this season unless Dzeko is moved on and no replacement comes in, or either Aguero or Tevez gets ruled out for the season. He definitely has the ability to score goals but I see him more as a bench player for City this season.

Luis Suarez: He definitely has the class, but he doesn't have the ability to finish. You can see what he does with the ball, I'm a Liverpool fan, and if I was an opposing team fan, I would shudder everytime Luis comes into contact with the ball. He can wriggle his way through the defense and has all sorts of tricky stunts, but the problem with him is he just can't finish. Also, Luis' attitude needs to be kept in control - he has quite a short temper and that kind of temper will get you nowhere if you want to score.

Carlos Tevez: Definitely one of the contenders for the Golden Boot if you ask me. Tevez has such a great goal-scoring ability, as you can see with how he scored more goals than Andy Carroll and Downing combined last season, even though he played in only 1/4 of City's games. I think if you give him at least 30 starts a season he has got the ability to score the same amount of goals for you. But of course, if his "I want to leave Manchester" attitude comes back, it'll leave him in limbo again... Limbo meaning the golf course.

Darren Bent: Hahahahahahahahaha

Nikica Jelavic: I don't see why the bookies would put him among the contenders for the Golden Boot; sure, I think he can definitely be amongst the top 10 highest scorers in the league but definitely not in the top three. There is Aguero, Rooney, RVP, Tevez, even Balotelli, and they will all probably get more goals than him. At best I can only see him scoring 10+ goals this season.

Papiss Cisse: I have no idea what to say about him because he only came in January. I am not sure if he is just a six-month wonder or a fabulous signing for the long term.

My Predictions for Golden Boot
1st: Tevez
2nd: RVP
3rd: Aguero/Rooney

Why, Steven Fletcher of course!

I bring up the joke mostly because in a long-ish FM11 game, this did occur, to my great surprise, a year in which Wolves finished 8th (!!??!!??).

So without the long detailed analysis that others have given, it's RVP if he stays healthy, because of the way he scores - quick strikes, goals off oppoent mistakes, poacher's goals like when he followed Ferdinand's header off the post this weekend: good for a good team that don't seem to have a killer playmaker to put the strikers in perfect positions, but are always around the box pressing. Rooney maybe, if RVP inspires him to greater heights and RVP himself returns to injury plagued luck of years past.

Torres depends on the type of team Chelsea evolve into - someone mentioned "ball to run onto" and in the Chelsea system of last year, there was never space for him to receive the way he's most effective, if it's not on a counterattack. And Chelsea have just added more attack-minded players.

The Aguero/Tevez/Balotelli/Dzeko question doesn't seem likely to sort itself into one golden boot winner, but I'll freely admit it could: if someone stakes a claim *early* to having that kind of season, and stays healthy, they'll have to get the minutes, otherwise it won't happen.

I don't see any other club scoring enough to support a golden boot type season from an individual.

And yes, Suarez needs to be a supporting striker in a pairing like we saw Italy use in Euro 2012, and Liverpool don't look like they're planning to play that way (they have nobody for him to support - seriously, Borini??? - and the window is closed.

• Sergio Aguero: He is a great player but ı don't think he is good enough to score 30 goals. I think he can score maximum 25 goals
• Wayne Rooney: Wayne is a great player he can score at least 25 goals he can win golden boot.
• Fernando Torres: Fernando is also a great player but he isn't good enough to score 30 he can score at most 25.
• Robin Van Persie: RVP is my favourite ı think he can score more than 30 goals
• Mario Balotelli:He is just a sly boy he is great but he is unaccountable.
• Luiz Suarez: Suarez is great but liverpool is not so he can't score that much
• Carlos Tevez: He is really good but he is in Man. City. i think he'll in bench.
• Darren Bent: hahahahahahaha
• Nikica Jelavic: hhahahahahahahaha
• Papiss Cisse: hahahahahahahhahah

WİNNER: Robin Van Persie
RUNNER-UP: Wayne Rooney
3RD:Fernando Torres or Sergio Agüero

So with 27/38 rounds complete, we're looking at:

1 Robin Van Persie Manchester United 19
2 Luis Suárez Liverpool 18
3 Gareth Bale Tottenham Hotspur 15
Michu Swansea City 15
5 Demba Ba Chelsea 14


I bet nobody was looking at Michu for this!!! (indeed, he's not on the list above). And for that matter, Bale and Ba were not on the original list either, though they were certainly more likely to score a few goals. Demba, of course, is out of the running, he transferred to Chelsea Anyway, that's what makes all this fun, eh?