Cole picks out the two frontrunners to win the PL Golden Boot

Lewis Oldham
Ex-Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole

Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole has suggested that Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo are the two frontrunners to win the Premier League Golden Boot.

Both forwards returned to the Premier League this summer from Inter Milan and Juventus respectively.

Chelsea paid £97m to re-sign Lukaku while Ronaldo returned to Man United after initially being linked with a move to Man City.


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Lukaku and Ronaldo both have three goals in the league after eight games. They are currently four behind Mohamed Salah and Jamie Vardy who are the top scorers in the division.

As reported by the Mirror, Cole has claimed that injuries will decide who wins the Golden Boot out of Lukaku and Ronaldo:

“I think it could be either of them. I think they will be the number one and number two,” Cole said.

“Out of them two, I think it’ll be the one who doesn’t pick up an injury. I think they will consistently score goals throughout, and they’ll be neck and neck.”

Elsewhere, Paul Merson has suggested that Man Utd’s players are “petrified” of Ronaldo:

“Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t do anything up front, he just stands still because he cannot go past people anymore. United’s forward players are petrified, they just give Ronaldo the ball in hope more than expectation.

“To get the best out of Ronaldo he’s got to be given a completely free role, in the hole and then have the likes of Marcus Rashford or Mason Greenwood opening up the game ahead of him to give him the space he needs on the ball. But if you play him up front you have to accept that he is not going to run beyond.

“I wouldn’t blame Ronaldo, it’s the manager’s responsibility to adopt a system that gets him into the game. Ronaldo is the best in the business over five yards, he makes great runs, he’s just not getting the service.

“Jadon Sancho doesn’t cross the ball, Greenwood wants to come inside and shoot, Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba want to spray it around in the middle. Ronaldo just isn’t getting the ball in the areas where he can hurt teams.”