Best goalscoring season in an English top division since the 1960s

Kane's holdup play is quite good as well, at least when he plays with his mates, Eriksen, Alli, and Son.

 

One of the two or three best strikers in the world the past three years. He uses his (technical) abilities in the most optimal fashion. His diet has done wonders.

 

12.2 - Harry Kane registered the best Expected Goals differential in 2017 in the top 5 leagues (+12.2), while Karim Benzema posted the worst (-5.9). Gap. #Opta2017 pic.twitter.com/Tb9kQnMuIR

— OptaJean (@OptaJean) December 23, 2017

 

Not sure whether it is totally accurate but it appears he's - even with the contract improvement that Harry Kane signed december 2016 - somewhat underpaid






Meanwhile, the goalkeeper Joe Hart earns more than the forward Kane (but not when including bonuses I suppose?) while the past seven seasons he consistently lets in more goals than reasonably expected.

For every one of the last 7 (seven) seasons Joe Hart has conceded more goals than post shot xG would suggest. Yet, he somehow still earns £120k per week. His recent poor performances are nothing new; its just been picked up on recently https://t.co/mr8VRvmlvd pic.twitter.com/ckcLb0h6re

— Colin Trainor (@colintrainor) December 28, 2017

 

Some informed Spurs fans (fan websites) on twitter claim he has averaged just over 150k including bonuses in the 2017 calendar year, but was thinking yes that with bonuses he would go over the likes of Hart or Fellaini.

Peculiar is that despite a significant pay cut Ibrahimovic still ranks so high. Perhaps/probably it has some strings attached (on games and minutes).

Sturridge as best paid English player according to that table...

Based on performances the past three years (not his peak year perse) I'd say Kane would deserve it to be over Lukaku, Aguero, Ibra, Lacazette and Morata but I suppose it is not that simple.

 

Kane is now on 36 goals. He has 7 more games, or 8 if they reach the FA Cup final, to reach the 40 goals mark. He had a dry spell lately but has the fortune that the light deflection was awarded to him (plenty examples around where that didn't happen). That might kick-start him again and with penalties included he's likely to reach 40 goals. His penalty record is now 21/27 (78% conversion).

The past three seasons the following players have been in the top 20 of WhoScored, in all three seasons (15+ games):
Kevin De Bruyne, Alexis Sanchez, Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Virgil van Dijk.

 

Mohammed Salah reached the 40 goals mark yesterday. Remarkable is that it only includes one penalty goal, and he's also scoring/producing against the rest of the 'big six' except Manchester United (for ex. Suarez his weak point in 2013-14).

I saw the FM and pes stats buffs are not fully convinced about his (all-around) qualities, and his flirtation with anti-semitism is lamentable, but he'd be my personal pick for player of the year. He's certainly (??) footballing wise a step ahead of the other high volume scorers (Kane, Aguero, Vardy, Sterling, Firmino, Lukaku).

Of course it is in part a team effort, which is seen with more clarity when one thinks about Suarez his 2013-14 effort.

Liverpool has one of the easiest routes ever to the CL final (Sevilla, Spartak Moscow, Maribor, Porto, ManCity, AS Roma).

 

Yes I agree they don't get the best out of Sanchez (there are some more ManUnited players who are below their career best form, Pogba most notably), but that's also reflected in his WhoScored ranking. He is now around 10th (8th to 12th) among players with at least 15 games. In previous seasons he was 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in the ranking. He's below his previous standards.

That said, too much journalism in the so called quality papers is based around "scored 1 goal in his first 10 games". They did the same thing with Thierry Henry and are still doing it.
Particularly unfair, yes, is in the manner how stat companies pander to these feelings and set narratives, while "losing many balls in league X" applies to many top class forwards. When Neymar and Messi are in top form, nobody loses as many balls as they do - that's an objective reality. Good/great forwards simply lose many balls, at least in this superteam era, and also have one 'poor' touch every game.

Alexis doesn't get and isn't brought to opportunities to score (has only 1.7 shots per game), but still dribbles well (3.8 succesful dribbles per game, with 1.4 failing) and provides through balls (0.4 per game, which is relatively high, the more so given circumstances) as well as creating 'clear-cut chances' (only De Bruyne has more over a full season). I'd say that is among the primary tasks of, explosive, forwards and midfielders. It's not to do nice shimmies in relative open space.

As a bonus, Sanchez also scores high in the various defensive statistics. 2.0 successful tackles per game and 1.1 interceptions is very high in his position, and it wins possessions for your team. That's only a nice extra, one might very well say, but it gets justifiably rewarded in the indexes. He's, also, traditionally among the most fouled attacking players in world football (in quantity).

 

Salah has 30 goals. The Premier League record is 34 and the record for a 38 game season is 31. In addition to Salah, Man City is on pace to break the Premier League records for points and goals.