The Premier League Golden Boot race is down to two players, as Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min, battle the final weekend of the season for the most goals in 2021-22.
Salah has scored 22 goals for Liverpool to lead the goal race. The Egyptian has not scored in his last four Liverpool league games. He does have two more games to play as Liverpool play a game in hand on Tuesday night versus Southampton.
Only Mohamed Salah has scored more goals than Son Heung-min in the Premier League this season 👀How did Son become a Golden Boot contender? 🏆✍️ @alexkeble— GOAL News (@GoalNews) May 12, 2022
Only Mohamed Salah has scored more goals than Son Heung-min in the Premier League this season 👀How did Son become a Golden Boot contender? 🏆✍️ @alexkeble
Son has scored 21 goals thanks to a fantastic second half of the season with 11 goals in his last 13 games. The South Korean is already an icon of his native country. Winning the Premier League Golden Boot would put Son at ‘God’ status in Korea.
Son has had three multi-goal games in his last 13 matches. His play hasn’t just led to him fighting for the Golden Boot, but it has also sparked Spurs into life to finish in the top four.
While Son has inspired Spurs into a top-four fight, Salah’s lack of goals has not prevented Liverpool from battling for the Premier League title.
Of the two goalscorers, Son has the inside track to the Golden Boot award. Salah is a major doubt to play in Liverpool’s final two matches. The Egyptian went off with a groin injury on Saturday in the FA Cup Final versus Chelsea.
Liverpool once again showed that they can win important matches without Salah, which is why the Reds could sell the Egyptian in the offseason. But that is a topic for another time.
Salah’s current goal rate in the league is one goal every 124 minutes of football. It is a great figure, but once more, Salah’s goalscoring has dropped off massively since the turn of the year.
Son’s goal rate in the Premier League stands at a goal every 140 minutes of football. While Salah was hot out of the games, Son has picked up the goalscoring pace in the second half of the season.
Cast your mind back to the massive six-point match at Anfield between Liverpool and Spurs on May 7? Which player came up with the big goal to lead his team to a point? It was Son and not Salah.
Had Liverpool won the game and Salah performed to the levels he did early in the season, Liverpool would be two points behind Manchester City in the table with a game in hand.
Based on form, Son can certainly win the Golden Boot. Right now, the Korean needs two goals on the final day of the season as Salah looks increasingly unlikely to play a major role down the stretch for the Reds in the league.