Premier League top scorers 2025/26: Mbeumo and Watkins rise after Sunday's games

Carlo Garganese

• 25 Jan 2026 20:11 GMT
• 18 min read

Feature

Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah are going head-to-head once again in the 2025/26 Premier League Golden Boot race, with the Manchester City star currently having the upper hand.

Liverpool forward Salah stormed to victory last season, claiming this award by netting 29 goals and helping the Reds to Premier League title glory, ending Man City’s run of success.

Salah has now been the top Premier League scorer on four occasions, meaning he shares the competition record with Arsenal great Thierry Henry.

Haaland, meanwhile, had triumphed in the previous two campaigns but in 2024/25 he was ultimately unable to match the feats achieved by Henry and Alan Shearer, who are two of the greatest strikers to have ever played in England’s top division, by winning a third consecutive scoring crown.

Man City striker Haaland raced out of the blocks and still made the podium after netting 22 league goals, but injuries restricted him to 31 top-flight appearances last season and Salah’s relentless form ultimately proved too hot to handle.

The stakes are high in the battle to be top scorer this season because Salah will become the first-ever EPL player to win the Golden Boot five times if he prevails.

However, if Haaland scores the most goals in the 2025/26 season, he will match Shearer and Harry Kane as a three-time winner and confirm his status as the competition’s leading number nine by making it three wins in four years.

Alexander Isak also began the year with high hopes of topping the goalscoring charts in England, although he missed the first four games of the top-flight campaign and did not register his first goal until Matchday 13. Speculation over his future dominated the pre-season period, with links to Liverpool finally resulting in a massive move to Anfield on deadline day.

READ MORE: European Golden Shoe 2025/26 Standings

Isak scored 23 times last season to ultimately finish above Haaland and take second place. He topped the 20-goal mark in two straight campaigns for Newcastle United prior to his Liverpool transfer, but a combination of his transfer saga, poor form and injuries resulted in a slow start this season that has significantly hindered his chances of success.

Arsenal brought in Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP in a major transfer, with the Golden Shoe contender expected to challenge for the top scorer title in his debut campaign in England, with Bukayo Saka also hoping to impress for the Gunners.

Chelsea also started the season with some notable candidates after winning the Club World Cup. Cole Palmer consistently performs well in the Premier League scoring standings, while forwards Joao Pedro and Liam Delap were brought in by the Blues in significant moves.

READ MORE: Manchester United 2025/26 Top Scorers

Some exciting transfer signings made by Manchester United included Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, who were both among the Premier League’s top performers last season.

The Red Devils were desperate to reinvigorate their attack, and also struck a deal for Benjamin Sesko, who might end up as their leading Golden Boot contender after incumbent striker Rasmus Hojlund came into the campaign under significant pressure to deliver, before ultimately leaving Old Trafford for Napoli.

While he was not among the top favourites in the pre-season betting odds, Tottenham forward Richarlison may be a name to watch, but former Golden Boot winner Heung-min Son is not a candidate this season after he left Spurs to join LAFC in MLS, while Dominic Solanke's hopes have been ended by injury.

READ MORE: Champions League 2025/26 Top Scorers

Igor Thiago, Antoine Semenyo, Phil Foden, Ollie Watkins, Nick Woltemade, Hugo Ekitike and Jean-Philippe Mateta are other attacking players to watch out for in what looks likely to be a competitive top scorer contest.

However, some of the other pre-season contenders - including Chris Wood, Cody Gakpo, Yoane Wissa and Omar Marmoush - are yet to make a significant impact.

The Premier League top scorers will be displayed on this page throughout the season. We will take an in-depth look at the latest standings for the players with the most EPL goals, with updates after every matchday.

2025/26 Premier League top scorers

Erling Haaland is first in the list of Premier League top scorers for the 2025/26 season.

Haaland already has 20 goals and has built an impressive advantage over his nearest challengers.

His closest rival as things stand is Brentford striker Igor Thiago, with last season's Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah enduring a difficult campaign.

Haaland’s most recent strikes mean his advantage at the top is four goals to Thiago, who heads the chasing pack, and an enormous 16 on Salah, the man who was expected to be his biggest competitor when the campaign began.

Salah has been playing at the Africa Cup of Nations, so that gap has been increasing further, with Haaland comfortably holding on to top spot as we moved past a busy period of Christmas and New Year fixtures despite a recent dip in form.

There has been plenty of recent movement in the scoring standings below Haaland over recent weeks, but the Manchester City star currently remains in control of the Golden Boot race.

Haaland made a big early Golden Boot statement on the opening weekend of the season, scoring twice as Manchester City thrashed Wolves, a team he often fares well against, 4-0 at Molineux.

Man City v Tottenham was a huge fixture on MD2, with Haaland hoping to build on his fast start and increase his early lead in the goal rankings. However, the striker was kept out as Spurs recorded a surprise 2-0 win.

Haaland and Man City were looking to bounce back when they travelled to play Brighton. While the striker score his third goal of the season, his side fell to a dramatic 2-1 defeat as Brighton launched a second-half comeback.

City then took on Manchester United in a huge derby clash at the Etihad Stadium.

The Golden Boot leader came into the match on a high after his heroics for Norway during the international break.

In his last Norway outing he had incredibly scored five goals as his team thrashed Moldova 11-1, having also struck against Finland in World Cup qualifying.

And Haaland's fine form continued in the derby, as he netted twice in a 3-0 home win for Man City, extending his advantage at the top of the scoring standings.

Haaland went head-to-head with Arsenal star Viktor Gyokeres on September 21 in a huge clash that also had Golden Boot implications, as the Gunners hosted title rivals Man City at the Emirates Stadium.

Haaland scored an impressive early goal but Gyokeres was unable to net, even if Arsenal did manage to grab a last-gasp 1-1 draw.

Then, against Burnley in MD6, Haaland netted a late double to put the icing on the cake for Man City, as they cruised to a 5-1 victory.

When Man City played away to Brentford, he netted the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory, meaning he had already raced on to eight goals in just seven games.

Haaland then became the first player to reach double figures this season, passing that milestone after just eight matches by netting twice in Man City's 2-0 home win over Everton on October 18.

Such was his dominance in the early stages of this season, Haaland often had more than double the goal tally of any other EPL player.

While Haaland’s electric run of form came to an end when Man City were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa in MD9, he then produced more heroics to build an even stronger advantage at the top of the scoring standings.

After his rare outing without a goal, Haaland was back to his ruthless best on November 2 with another double as Man City eased to a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth, further extending his advantage.

Despite having a penalty saved early in the huge clash against champions Liverpool on November 9, Haaland bounced back by scoring a header to set up an impressive 3-0 victory for Man City.

Haaland had, at least by his extremely high standards, a brief lull from late November to early December, scoring just once in four games, failing to score in matches against Newcastle, Leeds and Sunderland.

But Haaland’s cause was boosted on December 2 when he scored his 100th Premier League goal as part of Manchester City's unbelievable 5-4 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage, where he also notched two assists.

Haaland hit the century milestone in just 111 appearances in England's top-flight, crushing the previous record for the fastest player to reach three figures which had been held by Alan Shearer (124 appearances).

Just as it looked like some of Haaland's rivals might edge slightly closer to him in the scoring standings, he then struck key doubles in recent league matches against Crystal Palace and West Ham, ensuring he emphatically secured the Christmas number one spot.

Haaland then went two games without a goal, having not netted against Nottingham Forest before suffering frustration in a home match with Chelsea as he hit the post in a 1-1 home draw and saw the Blues score a last-gasp equaliser.

He got back on track with a penalty in another 1-1 draw, this time against Brighton on January 7, a strike which saw him become the first EPL player to reach 20 goals this season, and it was also his 150th overall for Man City.

But derby disappointment against Man Utd saw Haaland go without a goal in a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford, the seventh straight game across all competitions where the striker has not scored an open-play goal.

He was left on the bench against Wolves last time out, but retained his lead at the top as Thiago did not score when Brentford played Nottingham Forest.

Haaland made an extremely fast start in the Golden Boot race, as he so often does when it comes to the Premier League scoring standings, and recently he has impressively built on that to put himself in an incredibly strong position as we move past the midway point of the campaign.

One feat still to elude Haaland this season is scoring a Premier League hat-trick. There have been just four so far, the first of which was scored by Jean-Philippe Mateta in October, as Palace and Bournemouth played out a thrilling 3-3 draw.

Arsenal star Eberechi Eze then netted a memorable treble in November as his side defeated rivals Tottenham, a side he had previously been close to joining, 4-1 at home.

The third hat-trick of the season was also the second to be scored against Bournemouth, with Kevin Schade scoring three times for Brentford in their emphatic 4-1 home win over the Cherries towards the end of December.

And it did not take long for a January hat-trick to be scored, with Thiago netting a treble in Brentford's impressive 4-2 away win over Everton in their first road game of 2026.

Thiago is the only real challenger to Haaland as things stand. Earlier in the 2025/26 campaign he became the second player to reach double figures by netting a late double in his side's 3-1 win over Burnley on November 29.

He had not scored in six straight Brentford appearances prior to his Everton hat-trick, a dry run which looked to have hindered his hopes of glory, but he is back on form in style after following up his treble with another two goals in Brentford's impressive 3-0 home win over Sunderland.

It's been a turbulent campaign for Salah, but it did not look like that was set to be the case when the new Premier League season got up and running on the evening of Friday August 15 when champions Liverpool recorded a dramatic 4-2 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield in the opening game.

Salah made a strong start to his Golden Boot defence with a last-gasp goal in stoppage time, while Hugo Ekitike made his intentions clear by scoring the opening goal and adding an assist for Cody Gakpo.

One of the early co-leaders after MD1 was forward Antoine Semenyo, who scored both goals in that game for Bournemouth as part of a fine individual performance. His second goal was a stunning solo effort, as he fired in a finish after carrying the ball from well inside his own half.

Salah and Liverpool had to wait until Monday night before they played in MD2, but it was a highly attractive fixture at Newcastle, with the speculation around a potential move to Anfield for Alexander Isak continuing to dominate the headlines going into the clash at St James' Park at that stage.

Liverpool ultimately won a thriller 3-2 with a winning goal deep into stoppage time. While Salah did not score, he set up his side’s dramatic winner. Earlier in the second half, Ekitike had scored again to continue his fast start.

Matchday Three was headlined by Liverpool taking on Arsenal at Anfield in the flagship Sunday fixture, a match that saw Golden Boot contenders Salah and Gyokeres go head to head.

However, neither player was able to score as Liverpool won 1-0 courtesy of a superb Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick.

Salah did score a stoppage-time winner from the penalty spot as the champions played away to newly promoted Burnley on MD4, with Isak not featuring in the squad, meaning the former Newcastle star had to wait a bit longer before making his league debut.

Liverpool were then the first team to play in MD5, with Isak making his league debut in the 2-1 home win over rivals Everton in the Merseyside derby. In-form Ekitike scored his third EPL goal of the season to help the Reds to victory at Anfield.

But things started to go wrong for Liverpool after those opening five wins, with losses suffered against Palace, Chelsea, Man Utd.

Salah got a much-needed goal at Brentford on October 25, even though it could not save Liverpool from going down to a fourth consecutive defeat.

Helped by a howler by Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, Salah got his fourth goal of the season as Liverpool ended a poor run of form by beating Unai Emery's side at Anfield. It was Salah's 250th goal for the Reds.

But Salah’s woe after a difficult start to the campaign was compounded by seeing Haaland and City run riot against his Reds in the last game before November's international break, after which Liverpool lost again versus Nottingham Forest.

Isak finally scored his first league goal for Liverpool on November 30 in the much-needed 2-0 away win over West Ham after Salah had been left on the bench following a poor run of form.

Liverpool were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Sunderland in their next match, while it was Ekitike who netted twice in their dramatic 3-3 draw away to Leeds, with the France star having more of an impact on the Golden Boot race than Isak and Salah.

Isak finally got his first league goal of the season in the 2-0 win over West Ham on MD13, with Gakpo also on target as Salah was left on the bench, while Ekitike scored twice more in the home victory over Brighton.

With Salah away playing at the Africa Cup of Nations, Ekitike continued his impressive form in Liverpool's 2-1 win over nine-man Tottenham on December 20. Isak also netted his second goal of the season, but suffered a serious fractured leg injury in the act of scoring.

As for Semenyo, he was just two goals behind Haaland at the summit when he struck a late double in Bournemouth's comeback 3-1 home win over Fulham to start MD7.

He had six goals in his first seven games, but then went seven Premier League matches without scoring before ending that wait against Man Utd in the enthralling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford on December 15, and then added another goal in his next game against Burnley.

He struck again in his side's heavy defeat at Brentford to reach nine goals for the season at a time when there was fevered transfer speculation over his future, with reports emerging that Man City had won a competitive race to sign him.

In his last Bournemouth appearance, Semenyo scored a last-gasp winner in the 3-2 home win over Spurs to become the third player this season, after Haaland and Thiago, to reach 10 goals.

After completing his move to Man City, he had already scored twice for his new club in cup competitions before getting his first league strike for the club against Wolves on January 24 in the game where Haaland was rested.

Some of the other players featuring prominently in the list of top scorers so far are Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Haaland’s team-mate Phil Foden, Brighton veteran Danny Welbeck, Aston Villa attacker Ollie Watkins and Crystal Palace attacker Mateta.

Bryan Mbeumo is Man Utd's leading league scorer. He scored in the Red Devils' clash with champions Liverpool at Anfield on October 19, with United going on to record a dramatic 2-1 win courtesy of a late header from Harry Maguire.

Mbeumo continued his fine spell of form with a double as United defeated Brighton 4-2 on Matchday Nine, helping him to the Premier League Player of the Month award in October.

He then did not strike against Nottingham Forest, but was back among the goals with a headed effort in the dramatic 2-2 draw with Tottenham, with his most recent strikes coming in the big away win over Wolves and massive derby victory over Man City either side of his departure to play for Cameroon in the AFCON.

Mbeumo struck again as Man Utd recorded a shock 3-2 away win at leaders Arsenal on January 25, making it eight league goals for the campaign.

Richarlison made a big impact in the early standings on the Saturday of MD1 by netting two goals, including a spectacular scissor kick, in Spurs' 3-0 home win over Burnley.

He later added to his season total with a goal against Brighton on MD5, before striking again in the matches with Man Utd, Arsenal, Brentford and Liverpool, with the derby goal against the Gunners being a spectacular lob.

In Sunday's action on the opening weekend, Chris Wood got up and running. Fresh from scoring 20 times last season, he netted a lethal double as Nottingham Forest saw off Brentford in a 3-1 win. However, a slow start to the campaign and a lengthy injury absence has ended his hopes of contending.

Injuries have hindered Cole Palmer this season. On MD2 Chelsea were looking to earn their first win of the campaign when they played away to West Ham in a Friday fixture.

But Palmer was withdrawn from the starting line-up due to feeling an injury in the warm-up. That did not stop the Blues from recording a rampant 5-1 victory over West Ham, with Joao Pedro impressing by scoring a headed goal and adding two assists.

Multiple injuries from there heavily disrupted the first half of his campaign for Palmer. He is now back playing regularly and is up to four goals, but faces an uphill battle to reach podium contention.

Gyokeres is yet to fully settle in the Premier League and has five goals to his name, putting him joint-top of the Gunners' scoring charts with Leandro Trossard.

After being criticised for his debut performance against Man Utd, Gyokeres did net a much-needed double as Arsenal thrashed Leeds United 5-0.

Perhaps more surprising was right-back Jurrien Timber netting twice for the Gunners in a man-of-the-match display. He also provided the assist when Bukayo Saka was on target for the other Arsenal goal.

The Gunners are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table despite not having an individual prolific goalscorer so far.

Premier League Golden Boot: Previous Winners

Thierry Henry shares the record for the most Premier League Golden Boot wins, having been named the top scorer in the competition on four occasions for Arsenal.

Following his success last season, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is now level with Henry on four Golden Boot wins.

Two of Salah's top scorer awards were shared, while his triumphs in 2017/18 and 2024/25 (his first and most recent respectively) were outright successes.

READ MORE: Premier League Assists Standings

The France and Egypt greats are two of only four players who have scored the most goals in the EPL across three or more seasons.

Alan Shearer won the Golden Boot three times, once with Newcastle and twice with Blackburn Rovers, while Harry Kane’s win in 2020/21 was also his third, all of them coming with Tottenham.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez are two of the biggest names to have won the award, scoring 31 goals in 2007/08 and 2013/14 respectively.

READ MORE: Most Assists In Europe 2025/26

It is Liverpool who have had the most Premier League Golden Boot winners as a team with eight, with Salah's triumph in topping the list of 2024/25 top scorers extending their advantage.

Arsenal are two behind on six wins as a team, while Man Utd and Tottenham have had five winners.

Chelsea are on four, with Man City level with them after Haaland gave the club a fourth win by finishing first in the list of 2023/24 Premier League top scorers.

The Premier League began from the 1992/93 season. Prior to that, Ian Wright was the last player to be the highest goalscorer in England when it was the old First Division.

Gary Lineker and Alan Smith were also winners in the 1990s before the league was rebranded.

Most goals in a Premier League season

Erling Haaland has the record for the most goals in a single Premier League season, having scored 36 times in just 35 matches during the 2022/23 campaign.

Previously, the record for most goals in an EPL campaign was shared by Alan Shearer (1994/95) and Andy Cole (1993/94).

Both players scored an astonishing 34 goals, though the season schedule was longer then – Shearer did it in 42 matches and Cole reached the total from 40 games.

Mohamed Salah came close to that record in 2017/18, scoring 32 times in 36 outings, producing what had been the best Premier League goalscoring season in this century until Haaland's spectacular arrival.

The Golden Boot winner with the best goals per game ratio in a season is also Haaland after his exploits in his record-setting season (1.03 goals per game).

Prior to that it was Kane after the England captain netted 29 times in just 30 games to win the 2016/17 scoring title, averaging 0.97 GPG.

Who are the Premier League top scorers of all time?

Alan Shearer is the highest goalscorer in Premier League history, having ended his career in 2006 with a magnificent 260 goals to his name in England’s top division.

Former Tottenham star Harry Kane (213) and Man Utd legend Wayne Rooney (208) are the only other players who have scored more than 200 EPL goals.

Andy Cole (187), Sergio Aguero (184), Frank Lampard (177) and Thierry Henry (175) are former Premier League players who sit near the top of the all-time list.

Before the 2025/26 season began, Robbie Fowler (163), Jermain Defoe (162) and Michael Owen (150) were also in an elite group of 11 players in EPL history who had scored 150 goals or more.

Prior to his transfer from Spurs to Bayern Munich in 2023, Kane was the highest-scoring active Premier League player and he had long been cited as one of the rare contenders who has a chance to rival Shearer’s record total.

But Kane's continued absence from English club football meant it was Salah, with 186 goals, who started this season as the highest scoring current EPL player.

Salah has been rising fast in the rankings over recent years, beginning this campaign sitting in fifth place having started the previous year sitting in 10th overall and surging up the standings by hitting 29 goals last season.

Going into this campaign, Salah had scored at least 18 goals in all eight of the Premier League seasons he had played with Liverpool. He sat just one goal behind Cole when the campaign began, with Kane and Rooney also realistically within reach if he has a similarly strong year in 2025/26.