Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane have enjoyed blistering starts to the season and will be vying once again to win the Premier League Golden Boot.
Lukaku leads the way at the moment, having scored seven league goals, compared to Kane’s six. The Belgian striker has scored in all but one games he’s played this season in all competitions. While after a rough start to the season, Harry Kane has started banging goals for fun once again.
Both players are top class strikers and have the potential to become two of the world’s best forwards in the years to come. They have been scoring goals for fun this season and they will be raring to go once again when the Premier League returns next week.
Of course, other strikers including Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Morata and Alexandre Lacazette will also be aiming to be in the conversation for the Golden Boot race. But Lukaku and Kane will stand out, just like they did last season.
Both players are different types of strikers. While Lukaku uses his pace and physical strength to get in front of defenders, Kane uses his creativity and intelligence to create chances for himself. Both players have also shown their ability to link up with their teammates this season.
So who will come out on top in the end? Let’s take a look at why Romelu Lukaku will win the Golden Boot this season ahead of Harry Kane.
1. Lukaku is a better all-round forward
Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane are both two of the best strikers in the Premier League, if not in Europe. The duo are proven goal-scorers and game changers as we have seen over the last couple of years.
But the thing that separates them is their pace and physicality. Lukaku is a power horse. The Belgian has the pace which he needs to get past defenders. He also has the power to out-muscle almost every defender in the league as we have seen so far this season.
While Kane is a natural finisher and has been scoring goals at will, his pace often let’s him down. Lukaku’s build up play and holding of the ball has also been exceptional. His positioning off the ball makes him an easy target to find in the box for his teammates.
And while Kane is arguably more creative and more intelligent on the ball, Lukaku’s all-round abilities make him a bigger threat to the opposition’s goal.
His abilities are far more suited to the demands of the English Premier League and make him very hard to stop when he is on song.
2. Lukaku is more consistent than Kane
As we have seen so far this season, as well as for the majority of last season, Lukaku is far more consistent than Harry Kane. The latter scores plenty of goals but he can often go missing for periods.
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His woeful record in August, when he has yet to score is a prime example of that. Kane is unstoppable when he starts scoring, but there are times when he isn’t on song.
While Lukaku has shown his consistency throughout his time in the Premier League. This season he has scored in all but one of the games he has played. And even in that game, he had a penalty saved (there’s a strong case that the penalty should have been retaken).
Kane’s ability to score in bursts makes him a very dangerous striker when he is in form. But it’s Lukaku’s consistency that makes him my favorite for the Golden Boot.
3. Lukaku has a better supporting cast
Let’s be honest, a striker can only score lots of goals if he gets good service from those playing behind him. Lukaku and Kane both have quality players playing in the attacking positions behind them.
The Englishman’s Tottenham Hotspur have the likes of Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-Min and Moussa Sissoko to provide the goals. While Lukaku and Manchester United have the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba, all of whom have been in superb form so far this season.
Clearly the latter has the superior supporting cast and they can play a crucial role in helping the United front man win the Golden Boot. Once again the Belgian international’s capabilities as a target man and a natural goal-scorers help his teammates find him and feed him goalscoring opportunities.
And his ability to run behind the defense means he can get on the end of through balls, making him a lethal goal-scorer.
4. Lukaku will want it more
Having lost the Golden Boot to Harry Kane last year, Romelu Lukaku will be determined to win it back this time around. After coming so close last season, he will be well motivated on beating Kane this time around. Perhaps one of the reasons he left Everton was to make sure he was well equipped to take on Kane this season. And at Manchester United, he certainly has that.
Kane has been the league’s highest goal-scorer for the last two years now. And with the World Cup coming up at the end of the season, he might not be as determined to win the Golden Boot this time around. Kane is set to lead England in Russia and with Tottenham unlikely to contend for the title this season, he might slow down a bit to save his best for the biggest tournament in the world.
While Lukaku will be leading Belgium in Russia as well, his priorities till the end of the season will be to win as many individual and team trophies he can. With the title race likely to go down the wire between the Manchester clubs and Chelsea, Lukaku will have to be at his best right till the end.
5. Lukaku is lethal against lesser teams
Just like league titles, Golden Boots are decided by how a striker does against the so-called lesser teams. And Lukaku has a fantastic record against almost all the lesser teams in the Premier League.
His ruthless streak against teams in the bottom 10 or 12 have earned him the tag of flat track bully.
And being a flat track bully will help him win the Golden Boot this season. He has scored against 6 of the bottom teams already. While Kane struggled against the likes of Newcastle, Swansea and Burnley.
This is not to say that Kane doesn’t score against opposition of lesser quality. He has shown that in Spurs’ last three games. Lukaku’s record is exceptional, and his ruthless streak can help him win the Golden Boot this season.
Teams in the bottom half tend to play a more physical, defensive game. A style which suits the raw pace and power of the Belgian, as he has shown so far. And Kane might struggle against those teams every once in a while.
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Both Lukaku and Kane are top quality strikers and are set to battle for the Golden Boot right till the end of the season. It will be very interesting to see who comes out on top in the end.