sport news Cole Palmer and Erling Haaland lead the way, but Ollie Watkins is vastly ... trends now
As the Premier League enters its final stage, we are all set for a dramatic end to the season.
The 2023-24 campaign has treated us to a three-way title race, an enthralling battle to avoid the drop and a see-saw struggle between Aston Villa and Tottenham to qualify for the Champions League.
We're also approaching the time for individual accolades, with the likes of Rodri, Phil Foden, Declan Rice and Cole Palmer among those in the running for the esteemed PFA Player of the Year award.
Another much-coveted honour is the Golden Boot, with Palmer and his former Man City team-mate Erling Haaland leading the way on 20 goals, but the likes of Ollie Watkins, Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke and Alexander Isak remain in the running.
In light of the competition - which sees six English stars in the top 10 goalscorers list - Mail Sport takes a look at the major runners and riders in the battle to win the Golden Boot.
Cole Palmer's four goals against Everton sent him top of the Premier League's scoring charts
Palmer is level on 20 goals with Erling Haaland, who won the Golden Boot last season
You would have got good odds on Cole Palmer being in the running for the Golden Boot back in the summer when the 21-year-old was merely a promising youngster and bench player at Man City.
But ever since his £42.5million move to Chelsea, Palmer has been sensational and thoroughly deserves to be in the conversation for the Premier League's Player of the Season.
His 20 goals and nine assists have carried an otherwise uninspiring and grim campaign for Mauricio Pochettino's side and Palmer has rightfully been rewarded with England honours.
His four goals against Everton on Monday shot the attacking midfielder to the top of the scoring charts, and although he has netted nine penalties, this shouldn't take anything away from the Chelsea star.
In fact, Palmer is vastly outperforming his stats, with his 20 strikes coming from an xG of 14.95.
On paper, Chelsea's fixtures do look tricky, which could impact Palmer's hopes of winning the Golden Boot, but as he's shown with goals against City, Man United, Tottenham and Arsenal, the 21-year is somewhat fixture resistant.
Remaining fixtures - Arsenal (A), Aston Villa (A), Tottenham (H), West Ham (H), Nottingham Forest (A), Brighton (A), Bournemouth (H)
Palmer is well in the running after carrying an otherwise grim and uninspiring Chelsea season
Chelsea's fixtures are tricky, but Palmer has scored in several big games over the campaign
Erling Haaland was always going to find it hard to live up to the near-impossible standards he set last season with a record 36 league goals.
It's still been an impressive campaign by the Norwegian, who has netted 20 times in just 26 games, but Haaland has received his fair share of criticism, with Roy Keane most notably labelling the 23-year-old a 'League Two striker' last month.
Given his record, you can never put it past Haaland suddenly clicking into gear and adding to his astonishing knack of scoring hat-tricks.
However, Haaland has lacked a clinical touch at points this season, with the City star underperforming his xG by 3.69, while his 3.92 shots per game are the most of any of his fellow contenders.
City do possibly face the easiest run-in of the three title hopefuls, so you would expect Haaland to add to his tally, although Pep Guardiola's side take on bogey team Tottenham during the final week of the season.
With six goals in his past 13 matches in the top flight, Haaland will need to up his game, but there is a reason why he is still the bookies' favourite to win the Golden Boot for a second successive season.
Remaining fixtures - Brighton (A), Nottingham Forest (A), Wolves (H), Fulham (A), Tottenham (A), West Ham (H)
Haaland has struggled to hit the heights of his record-breaking campaign from 2022-23
But the Norwegian has still scored 20 goals and remains the favourite to win the Golden Boot
Palmer, Haaland and Watkins remain the frontrunners in the battle to win the Golden Boot
Ollie Watkins is symptomatic of Aston Villa's improvements under Unai Emery, with the 28-year-old developing
