Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

The Premier League restarts this weekend with fans of last season’s top six dreaming of lifting the trophy in May, but how important is a 20-goal-a-season striker for a title-chasing team?

The pick of the opening round of fixtures sees Arsenal host champions Manchester City on Super Sunday, with the Gunners hoping to challenge for their first Premier League title since 2003/04 – when Thierry Henry top scored with 30 goals.

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Arsenal vs Man City

August 12, 2018, 3:30pm

Live on

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass

Since then, they have only had five players who have scored 20 or more goals in a single Premier League season, with Alexis Sanchez and Robin van Persie the only players to have achieved the feat in the last 10 campaigns.

Arsenal’s Premier League top scorers

Season Player Goals
2017/18 Alexandre Lacazette 14
2016/17 Alexis Sanchez 24
2015/16 Olivier Giroud 16
2014/15 Alexis Sanchez 16
2013/14 Olivier Giroud 16
2012/13 Theo Walcott 14
2011/12 Robin van Persie 30
2010/11 Robin van Persie 18
2009/10 Cesc Fabregas 15
2008/09 Robin van Persie 11

Unai Emery will be hoping club-record signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can join Arsenal’s exclusive 20-goal-a-season club in 2018/19.

Arsenal players to score 20+ Premier League goals in a season

  • Thierry Henry
  • Ian Wright
  • Emmanuel Adebayor
  • Alexis Sanchez
  • Robin Van Persie

The Gabon international scored 10 goals in 13 Premier League appearances last season following his January move from Borussia Dortmund, finishing the campaign with nine goals in his last nine Premier League starts.

Over the course of the whole campaign, Aubameyang scored 23 goals in 29 Premier League and Bundesliga appearances, making it the third consecutive season in which he has scored more than 20 league goals.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s league scoring record

Season Team Apps Goals
2017/18 Dortmund/Arsenal 29 23
2016/17 Dortmund 32 31
2015/16 Dortmund 31 25

Arsenal will certainly need him at his best against City. They failed to score in four of their last 10 meetings against the other top six-teams last season, with only Chelsea (nine) scoring fewer than their 10 goals.

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

They only won one of those games, picking up just six points from a possible 30, but history suggests a full season with a free-scoring striker like Aubameyang will give them a far better chance of rivalling the rest of the top six and climbing back into the top four – or even higher.

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Man Utd vs Leicester

August 10, 2018, 7:00pm

Live on

Premier League title winners depend on 20-goal strikers

Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass

In each of the last nine seasons, the top scorer for the Premier League’s title-winning team has scored a minimum of 20 goals. Those top scorers have been forwards in eight seasons out of nine, with the only exception being Yaya Toure, who scored 20 goals from midfield for City in 2013/14.

Premier League title-winning top scorers

Season Title winner Top scorer Goals
2017/18 Man City Sergio Aguero 21
2016/17 Chelsea Diego Costa 20
2015/16 Leicester Jamie Vardy 24
2014/15 Chelsea Diego Costa 20
2013/14 Man City Yaya Toure 20
2012/13 Man Utd Robin van Persie 26
2011/12 Man City Sergio Aguero 23
2010/11 Man Utd Dimitar Berbatov 20
2009/10 Chelsea Didier Drogba 29

It has not always been so common, however. In the first 12 seasons of the 20-team Premier League, the top scorer of the title-winning team only scored 20 or more goals on four occasions.

It proves there is more than one way to win the title – in Chelsea’s triumphant 2004/05 season, Frank Lampard top-scored with just 13 goals – but the trend of recent years suggests a 20-goal-a-season striker is more important than ever.

Upgrade to Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football now for just £18 a month. Cancel any time.

Comment below to get involved in the debate, but please adhere to our House Rules. If you wish to report any comment, simply click on the down arrow next to the offending comment and click ‘Report’.

Sourse: skysports.com

No votes yet.
Please wait...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *