Mohamed Salah took the Premier League by storm last season with his goalscoring form, fending off the challenge from Harry Kane to claim the Golden Boot.
Salah and Kane head the market to battle it out this year but the fact that Salah was hugely unfancied before the start of the last campaign should not be ignored.
There could be a new Salah in the making just waiting for the season to begin or perhaps it will be one of the nearly men from last season who finds an extra gear.
Previous Golden Boot winners are players of tremendous goalscoring calibre so, whoever wins the accolade this year, will be joining esteemed company.
Searching For The Next Salah
Not even Liverpool could have anticipated that Salah would enjoy such a fruitful season in front of goal but it did serve to make them look like transfer geniuses.
Perhaps the next Salah is already among us, one of the plethora of new signings that was totally overlooked because we were all focused on the World Cup.
Or perhaps it is Alireza Jahanbakhsh, otherwise known as Paul Merson's worst nightmare. The Iranian attacker has rocked up at Brighton for a club record fee, fresh from finishing as top scorer in the Eredivisie last season.
21 goals in 33 league matches for AZ Alkmaar last year makes Jahanbakhsh a coup for Brighton. It is a well-known footballing fact that every prolific Eredivisie forward who makes the jump to the Premier League is an unmitigated success.
Afonso Alves scored a hat-trick in an 8-1 win for Middlesbrough over Manchester City; Luis Suarez won the Golden Boot in 2013/14 and Vincent Janssen scored twice in the Premier League for Spurs.
However, Jahanbakhsh may find his work cut out in a Brighton side with odds of 5/1 to finish in the top ten. Newly-promoted Wolves are more fancied to trouble the Premier League top half.
Diogo Jota scored 17 goals in their promotion season and is 100/1 to adapt to the Premier League quickly, while Raul Jimenez is 150/1.
Jimenez is a slightly controversial signing for Wolves in that he isn't Portuguese but he is on loan from Benfica so he will be able to converse with his new team-mates with ease.
Jimenez doesn't exactly have a glowing scoring record in recent years, in that he hasn't managed more than 7 in his three league seasons at Benfica, but he was prolific in his native Mexico and could thrive in a Wolves side that is expected to go strongly this season.
If forwards for newly-promoted Wolves aren't your thing, how about forwards for newly-promoted Fulham; Andre Schurrle has never been a hugely consistent goalscorer but he has dynamic attacking ability and is available at odds of 250/1 to become the next player to show Chelsea that they let him go too soon.
The Usual Suspects
Of course, there is the very real possibility that the new Salah will be the same as the old Salah. There is precedent for a player to retain the Golden Boot.
In fact, there are multiple precedents; Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry bagged a hat-trick of consecutive Golden Boots, while Robin van Persie and Harry Kane have notched two in a row in more recent seasons.
Kane definitely has a taste for boots of gold, having claimed the accolade at the World Cup. Alas, there are no Panamas in the Premier League; there's not even a Sunderland any more for strikers to feast upon.
That is why Kane was so selfish and stubborn when he insisted that he brushed in an Eriksen cross with the tiniest sliver of his shoulder, a move that ultimately proved futile in the chase for Salah.
Kane is the best centre-forward in the Premier League and a double Golden Boot winner, so it is unsurprising that he is the favourite in the market with odds of 9/4.
Salah is behind Kane for the first time in a while at a price of 5/1, with the Egyptian facing the same question marks over longevity as when Kane first burst on to the scene.
Kane has since proven that his lust for goals is insatiable, so it would take a brave commentator to call Salah's season a flash in the pan.
Salah was unstoppable at times, resembling a man ready for the transition to greatness rather than a streaky striker walloping the ball as hard as he could and hoping for the best.
It's not all about Salah and Kane though. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang follows closely behind Salah in the betting at 7/1. The Arsenal attacker is not only the quickest 29 year-old in world football (presumably), but he also has strong goalscoring pedigree validated by finishing as the Bundesliga's top scorer in 2016/17.
Who knows how Unai Emery's Wengerless wonders will adapt this season, so it may be wise to hold off on getting behind Aubameyang. Similarly, Sergio Aguero at Manchester City continues to be blighted by concerns over just how much Pep Guardiola likes him.
Every other Premier League manager would love to have the 2014/15 Golden Boot winner on board, but Aguero may struggle to get the game time to mount a serious challenge.
City rival Romelu Lukaku is available at the same price of 9/1, but the Belgian only bagged half the goals of Salah last season, despite looking very impressive at times.
The Outsiders
That all suggests that it is going to be Kane and Salah once again tussling for the Golden Boot, with the closest contenders all beset by uncertainty. Of course, uncertainty is easier to stomach when the odds are that bit juicier.
For example, a price of 25/1 for Alexandre Lacazette may be enough to disregard the concerns about Arsenal laid out in the previous paragraph.
Lacazette is too good to live in Aubameyang's shadow, with the Frenchman having finished as top scorer in his domestic league and notching a respectable 14 goals in his debut Premier League season.
Lacazette
— Emery's new era ?? (@tomgunner14) August 26, 2018
“I like to be with Aubameyang. He's a good guy. I'm not asking the coach or telling him, 'I want to play with Auba' or something like that. He knows we can play well together and then afterwards, he makes his decision." pic.twitter.com/q2GTpvPOV8
That's only two fewer than Lukaku and one more than Gabriel Jesus so, if Lacazette adapts to life under Emery quickly, then he has the clinical finishing to make serious waves.
While Kane and Salah are expected to repeat their feats, others are not given such trust. The fourth and fifth top scorer in the Premier League last season are available at odds of 33/1 and 40/1 respectively.
Vardy hit the magic figure of 20 goals last season and was pipped for the Golden Boot by one Kane goal in 2015/16. Raheem Sterling's stunning season yielded 18 goals, making him the fifth highest scorer. Cynics will suggest that Sterling is too erratic to surpass that total and that he won't get so lucky again but those arguments don't hold weight.
Sterling thrives under Guardiola and is the perfect player for his system. The arrival of Riyad Mahrez at City may reduce the chances of both Vardy and Sterling getting off to a good start, with the Algerian so often the provider for Vardy and a player who would occupy similar spaces to Sterling in the Manchester City side.
But Vardy and Sterling have both defied expectations before, and those prices make it tempting to believe that they could do so again.
Alexis Sanchez is also at 40/1, a price that would have seemed ridiculous a couple of years ago but reflects how the Chilean attacker took to life at Old Trafford like a duck to lava. Sanchez has bagged 24 goals in a Premier League season before and has the ability to not only play in the same side as Lukaku but outscore him if he finds his form.
Nine players have won the Golden Boot alongside the Premier League title, while the list of winners largely reads like a list of global superstars.
However, Dion Dublin shared the Golden Boot in 1997/98 by bagging 18 goals for a Coventry City that finished 11th, giving hope to strikers of mid-table sides. Master poachers Jermain Defoe, Charlie Austin and Javier Hernandez are all available at 100/1, and they all certainly know where the goal is.
The only problem is that the likes of Kane and Salah are also very familiar with the location of said goal. While it is boring to suggest that the favourites will win, it is hard to look beyond that duo.
Lacazette at 25/1 and Sanchez at 40/1 are clinical finishers with prices that will shorten dramatically if either player hits the ground running, but Kane's unerring consistency may prove decisive.
If he can find a way to score in August, then it may even be wrapped up within the first month.
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
