{"id":21654,"date":"2026-01-26T17:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/why-big-money-strikers-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-erling-haaland-in-the-golden-boot-race-but-man-united-and-arsenals-fees-could-work-out\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:36:28","slug":"why-big-money-strikers-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-erling-haaland-in-the-golden-boot-race-but-man-united-and-arsenals-fees-could-work-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/why-big-money-strikers-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-erling-haaland-in-the-golden-boot-race-but-man-united-and-arsenals-fees-could-work-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Why big-money strikers are struggling to keep pace with Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race &#8211; but Man United and Arsenal&#8217;s fees could work out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"body\">\n<div class=\"wrap-anywhere typo-tk-rs-body-md text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-paragraph\">This season, the race for the Premier League Golden Boot has become a procession.<\/div>\n<div class=\"wrap-anywhere typo-tk-rs-body-md text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-paragraph\">Erling Haaland is in typical ruthless form, playing 23 games and scoring 20 goals, leading the league in scoring.<\/div>\n<p>His closest challenger is perhaps the unlikely name of Brentford&#8217;s Igor Thiago. He has four goals on a 16-goal differential.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wrap-anywhere typo-tk-rs-body-md text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-paragraph\">And Haaland&#8217;s new City team-mate Antoine Semenyo will appear on the 11th. He will pick up where he left off at Bournemouth after joining from the Cherries in January.<\/div>\n<p>As we approach the final third of the campaign, more than three players have yet to reach double digits.<\/p>\n<p>This is perhaps an unusual statistic, given the huge amounts of money spent last summer, especially on first-team attacking players.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col text-left focus:outline-none gap-tk-fx-between-elements-md\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail\">\n<div class=\"group relative w-full\" aria-label=\"Play video\" aria-pressed=\"false\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-picture\" class=\"wrapper-16-9 rounded-tk-radius-rs-sm relative\">\n<figure class=\"card-hover-zoom absolute h-full w-full\">\n<div class=\"h-full w-full object-cover\" data-testid=\"blurry-image-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-transparent h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/imgresizer.tntsports.io\/unsafe\/1200x0\/filters:format(jpeg)\/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io\/2026\/01\/25\/image-f8487015-c755-4ff9-bd02-d55c91abbdad-85-2560-1440.jpeg\" alt=\"photograph\" data-testid=\"image-high-res\"\/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"body-thumbnail-caption text-content-block-default-text-fill-03\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-caption\">\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">&#8220;He&#8217;s a player with special abilities&#8221; &#8211; Rosenior praises Estevao after impressing against Palace<\/p>\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">Video credit: SNTV<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Reigning champions Liverpool have strengthened their front line with the signing of Alexander Isak for a record \u00a3125m, Hugo Ekitike for \u00a379m and Florian Wirtz for \u00a3100m.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, rivals Manchester United spent big on Benjamin Sesco for \u00a374m, Brian Mbeumo for \u00a371m and Matheus Cunha for \u00a362.5m.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Arsenal made a big splash by spending \u00a363m to sign Victor Gokeres, while Newcastle United broke a transfer record by signing Nick Waltemaid for \u00a369m to replace Isak.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea spent a total of around \u00a390 million to sign Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.<\/p>\n<p>With such extensive investment in attacking personnel, one would have expected the player in question to potentially provide some challenge to Haaland for goalscoring, but that hasn&#8217;t happened yet.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Crouch, who scored 108 Premier League goals during his career, said in an interview with TNT Sports that he believes the growth of teams outside of the traditional powerhouses is making it generally harder for strikers to stand out.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a big improvement in the middle group of the team as well,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Brighton and Bournemouth have had great seasons and Aston Villa are improving all the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it seems like there are inconsistencies across the Premier League and perhaps a decline in quality across the league.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col text-left focus:outline-none gap-tk-fx-between-elements-md\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail\">\n<div class=\"group relative w-full\" aria-label=\"Play video\" aria-pressed=\"false\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-picture\" class=\"wrapper-16-9 rounded-tk-radius-rs-sm relative\">\n<figure class=\"card-hover-zoom absolute h-full w-full\">\n<div class=\"h-full w-full object-cover\" data-testid=\"blurry-image-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-transparent h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/imgresizer.tntsports.io\/unsafe\/1200x0\/filters:format(jpeg)\/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io\/2026\/01\/25\/image-4d4bc7c3-1224-4ffe-abb1-a2d8d9ce1ff5-85-2560-1440.jpeg\" alt=\"photograph\" data-testid=\"image-high-res\"\/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"body-thumbnail-caption text-content-block-default-text-fill-03\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-caption\">\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">&#8216;The players were fantastic&#8217; &#8211; Carrick admits he&#8217;s proud of United&#8217;s stars after win at Arsenal<\/p>\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">Video credit: SNTV<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI think the middle half of the league is improving and the top half of the league is a bit sluggish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it&#8217;s probably going to be an even game most weeks and if that&#8217;s the case, the players aren&#8217;t getting hat-tricks, they&#8217;re not getting three or four goals in some games.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"typo-tk-rs-title-lg text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-subtitle\">Premier League top scorer 2025\/26<\/h2>\n<p>As of January 26th:<\/p>\n<p>Players Games played Goals per 90 minutes John Philippe Mateta 2380.560.38 Ollie Watkins 2380.470.41 Harry Wilson 2280.210.43 Jo\u00e3o Pedro 2380.390.43 Bruno Guimar\u00e3es 2180.200.39 Danny Welbeck 2280.550.56 Hugo Equitique 2080.460.57<\/p>\n<p>Judging by the current number of goals per 90 minutes this season, only Haaland and Thiago will end the season with more than 20 goals, making it the first time since the 2021\/22 season that they are the only two to have achieved this goal.<\/p>\n<p>Haaland&#8217;s current strike rate would theoretically mean he would end the season with 14 more goals to his name, meaning he would end the season with 34 goals, two goals shy of his 2022-23 record of 36.<\/p>\n<p>But even the Manchester City striker himself has struggled in front of goal, scoring just once in his last six league games, and it&#8217;s not just new players who are struggling.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col text-left focus:outline-none gap-tk-fx-between-elements-md\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail\">\n<div class=\"group relative w-full\" aria-label=\"Play video\" aria-pressed=\"false\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-picture\" class=\"wrapper-16-9 rounded-tk-radius-rs-sm relative\">\n<figure class=\"card-hover-zoom absolute h-full w-full\">\n<div class=\"h-full w-full object-cover\" data-testid=\"blurry-image-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-transparent h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/imgresizer.tntsports.io\/unsafe\/1200x0\/filters:format(jpeg)\/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io\/2026\/01\/20\/image-aa707707-c9a8-4d00-a940-6aea8a214268-85-2560-1440.jpeg\" alt=\"photograph\" data-testid=\"image-high-res\"\/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"body-thumbnail-caption text-content-block-default-text-fill-03\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-caption\">\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">Haaland: Man City need to take &#8216;further responsibility&#8217; after &#8217;embarrassing&#8217; defeat<\/p>\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I think this year has been inconsistent for a lot of teams,&#8221; Crouch added. &#8220;City is not the City it used to be.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the same with Liverpool and the same with Arsenal to some extent. They&#8217;re not invincible, but I think they&#8217;re the most consistent and I think that&#8217;s across the board.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"typo-tk-rs-title-lg text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-subtitle\">&#8220;G\u00f6keres and Sesco are good players&#8230; it&#8217;s just a sign of confidence.&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Despite being top of the league at Arsenal, Gokeres, signed in the summer, has only scored five league goals so far and hasn&#8217;t scored since scoring the winning goal from a penalty against Everton in December.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wrap-anywhere typo-tk-rs-body-md text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-paragraph\">The Swede came off the bench again after coming on as a substitute in Arsenal&#8217;s most recent game against Manchester United, with Sesco only receiving time on the opposition bench for the final 10 minutes, where he made little impact.<\/div>\n<p>Crouch believes both players will eventually settle at their respective clubs, but it could take time for them and others to fully adapt to their new surroundings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s tough,&#8221; he said. &#8220;A lot of players want to come to the Premier League. It&#8217;s a tough league.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jokeres has been scoring goals every week in Portugal, but now he&#8217;s here he&#8217;s finding it tough. He&#8217;s still scoring goals. I think he&#8217;ll need some time to settle down. Same goes for Sesco.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Isaac&#8217;s case, it was the lack of pre-season that killed him. Woltemade came in and did well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s taking time to settle down, but it hasn&#8217;t reached the heights we expected.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Former England striker Crouch recalled when he moved to Liverpool in 2005, failing to find a target in his first 19 games for the Reds.<\/p>\n<p>He claims that the support of his fans was the key to his eventual goal and ultimately allowing his country to finish the season leading the way to qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col text-left focus:outline-none gap-tk-fx-between-elements-md\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail\">\n<div class=\"group relative w-full\" aria-label=\"Play video\" aria-pressed=\"false\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-picture\" class=\"wrapper-16-9 rounded-tk-radius-rs-sm relative\">\n<figure class=\"card-hover-zoom absolute h-full w-full\">\n<div class=\"h-full w-full object-cover\" data-testid=\"blurry-image-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-transparent h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/imgresizer.tntsports.io\/unsafe\/1200x0\/filters:format(jpeg)\/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io\/2026\/01\/11\/image-7bf79f6e-d53c-4716-a685-4234106bc16e-85-2560-1440.jpeg\" alt=\"photograph\" data-testid=\"image-high-res\"\/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"body-thumbnail-caption text-content-block-default-text-fill-03\" data-testid=\"body-thumbnail-caption\">\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">Sesco scores &#8216;FA Cup lifeline&#8217;, gives Manchester United hope late against Brighton<\/p>\n<p class=\"typo-tk-rs-caption-xs\">Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;At Liverpool I had some problems at the beginning but I was playing well, that was the problem. And the fans were with me and I think that helped.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want my fans to be against me. It&#8217;s definitely my fans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal there is pressure for Sesco and Jorkeles, but it&#8217;s obviously an incredible feeling to perform for a big club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(But) once you start scoring, you start winning and playing well, there\u2019s no better feeling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have also seen Gokeres and Sesco enough to know that they are not bad players, they are good players. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was watching Sesco recently and he scored really well (against Burnley) and it just shows his confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Obviously it&#8217;s difficult to bring in a new player when a team is struggling, as Manchester United have been this season, but I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll do well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wrap-anywhere typo-tk-rs-body-md text-content-block-default-text-fill-01\" data-testid=\"body-paragraph\">Stream the Premier League, Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s FA Cups, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more on TNT Sports and Discovery+<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tntsports.co.uk\/football\/premier-league\/2025-2026\/arsenal-manchester-united-strikers-tough-league-erling-haaland-golden-boot-race-peter-crouch_sto23263385\/story.shtml\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This season, the race for the Premier League Golden Boot has become a procession. Erling Haaland is in typical ruthless form, playing 23 games and scoring 20 goals, leading the league in scoring. His closest challenger is perhaps the unlikely name of Brentford&#8217;s Igor Thiago. He has four goals on a 16-goal differential. And Haaland&#8217;s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-english-premier-league"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why big-money strikers are struggling to keep pace with Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race - but Man United and Arsenal&#039;s fees could work out - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/why-big-money-strikers-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-erling-haaland-in-the-golden-boot-race-but-man-united-and-arsenals-fees-could-work-out\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why big-money strikers are struggling to keep pace with Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race - but Man United and Arsenal&#039;s fees could work out - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This season, the race for the Premier League Golden Boot has become a procession. 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