Today, Boxing Day, sees the 19^th Matchday of the Premier League season, the point at which every team in the Premier League has, barring postponed matches, played every other team in the division once. While for the majority of the season we have been paying attention to who will come out on top of the table in May, with Manchester City and Liverpool the two favourites to do precisely that, we’re going to turn our focus away from that race for the time being and instead take a look at a more individual race. The race to be the Premier League top goalscorer 2018-2019. Before we come up with our list of contenders for this award based on their performances in the first half of the season, let’s remind ourselves that if you fancy a flutter on who will be the Top Goalscorer this season, then bet365 Sport is the place to head. Join today using the latest bet365 Sport New Player Bonus and you can receive up to £100 in bet credits when you start betting on site. Let’s begin by taking a look at the history of top goalscorers in the Premier League since the competition began back in 1992

Premier League Leading Goalscorers

• 1992-93 – Teddy Sheringham (Nottm Forest/Tottenham) – 22
• 1993-94 – Andy Cole (Newcastle Utd) – 34
• 1994-95 – Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) – 34
• 1995-96 – Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) – 31
• 1996-97 – Alan Shearer (Newcastle Utd) – 25
• 1997-98 – Dion Dublin (Coventry), Michael Owen (Liverpool), Chris Sutton (Norwich) – 18
• 1998-99 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea), Michael Owen (Liverpool), Dwight Yorke (Manchester United) – 18
• 1999-2000 – Kevin Phillips (Sunderland) – 30
• 2000-01 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea) – 23
• 2001-02 – Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 24
• 2002-03 – Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) – 25
• 2003-04 – Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 30
• 2004-05 – Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 25
• 2005-06 – Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 27
• 2006-07 – Didier Drogba (Chelsea) – 20
• 2007-08 – Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) – 31
• 2008-09 – Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) – 19
• 2009-10 – Didier Drogba (Chelsea) – 29
• 2010-11 – Dimitar Berbatov (Man Utd), Carlos Tevez (Man City) – 20
• 2011-12 – Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) – 30
• 2012-13 – Robin Van Persie (Man Utd) – 26
• 2013-14 – Luis Suarez (Liverpool) – 31
• 2014-15 – Sergio Aguero (Man City) – 22
• 2015-16 – Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 25
• 2016-17 – Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 29
• 2017-18 – Mohammed Salah (Liverpool) – 32
• 2018-19 – ?

There are some fascinating facts surrounding the Premier League top goalscorer. Alan Shearer and Andy Cole hold the record of the most goals in a season to win the award with both scoring 34 apiece early on in the competitions history. Since the turn of the century, the leading goalscorer each season has been a player at one of six clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, Manchester City or Liverpool. The last team to have a player outside of this group to be named top goalscorer was Sunderland when Kevin Phillips won the award in the 1999-2000 season. The lowest number of goals to win the award has been 18, which was achieved in successive seasons 97-98 and 98-99. On both occasions three players shared the honour, Dion Dublin, Chris Sutton and Michael Owen in 97-98 and then Michael Owen again plus Dwight Yorke and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink a year later. Thierry Henry has finished top goalscorer in the Premier League on most occasions with four, one ahead of Alan Shearer who himself is one ahead of a number of two-time winners including Didier Drogba, Robin Van Persie, Harry Kane, Michael Owen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (although the last two both shared at least one of their wins with other players). The list of players never to win the Leading Goalscorer title in the Premier League includes many top strikers such as: Ian Wright, Matt Le Tissier, Robbie Fowler, Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres, Andrii Shevchenko, Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez, Les Ferdinand and Duncan Ferguson.

Who are the Contenders for Top Premier League Goalscorer this season?

Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 5/2 favourite The England man finished top scorer at the World Cup in the summer and it would be fitting if he ended this year as the leading scorer in the Premier League. He is Spurs main attacking threat and has a knack of scoring crucial goals as well as numerous goals during the season. He is the bookies favourite to win the award for the third time and for me, along with Mo Salah and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, he is the stand out choice. Mohammed Salah (Liverpool) – 11/4 Last season’s winner may have started the season seemingly a little slowly but he has hit top form in recent weeks and he looks to be one of the likely contenders to take the title once again. He may need a few more goals than he landed in the first half of the season to do that, but if Liverpool are starting to hit the same form that they showed this time of the year last season, he has every possibility of doing precisely that. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) – 9/2 With his low centre of gravity and fabulous control, I am surprised that Aguero has not scored more goals in a season than he has. However, the Argentinean striker does seem to be hampered by niggling injuries more than other players in this list and rarely sees the full 90 minutes of action when he does start. That’s a shame as if he played more often, he’d have every chance of topping this chart come May. Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang (Arsenal) – 5/1 After not being a regular feature in the Arsenal team at the start of the season, Aubameyang’s form in front of goal recently has made him a must-start for Unai Emery. His pace and directness, plus his ability to be a threat whether he starts in the first team or from the bench makes him a real challenger for this title. Don’t be too surprised if the Arsenal man, who has topped the Bundesliga goalscorer charts, goes very close this season. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) – 20/1 Although Aguero may be the defacto top striker at Manchester City, Raheem Sterling’s improved goalscoring form of the last two seasons cannot be ignored. He has already scored plenty of goals this season and seems to be a key figure in this Manchester City team. If he stays fit and in form, he could surprise many people and run the eventual winner very close, if he doesn’t claim the title outright. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) – 25/1 After a storming start to the season, where was top of the Premier League goalscorer charts, Hazard hit a more mundane run of goalscoring form throughout November and into December and has fallen a little off the pace set by those at the top of the table. However if Hazard can rekindle his best form once again, then there is every chance he could make an impact in the Top Goalscorer race over the remainder of the season.  Personally, with Each Way paying out on the top three, I’d be backing Hazard each way if I was going to back him in this market.