THE SHARPE END: The spotlight is on Ivan Toney and Dominic Solanke
With a European Championships coming into view, the auditions are open for who plays second fiddle to England captain Harry Kane this summer.
Two of the key contenders take to the floor this weekend. Ivan Toney returned from his eight-month ban on Saturday and scored Brentford’s first goal in their 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
He’s the last person not named Harry Kane to score 20 goals in a Premier League season. Callum Wilson and Ollie Watkins, both bustling for a place in the squad for Germany, have got close but never managed it.
Dominic Solanke, meanwhile, goes up against his old club Liverpool on Sunday with 12 goals so far and on track to become only the eighth English out-and-out centre-forward to reach that age-old 20-goal landmark over the last 18 years.
Kane is the only English striker to reach 30 goals in a 38-game season twice. Alan Shearer and Kevin Phillips did it once.
We're in a new age of English striker. In the early days of the 20-team Premier League, many reached double figures but only a handful got to 20.
As foreign imports grew and clubs moved to one-striker systems, those scoring 10 a season plummeted and, for a while, hardly anyone reached 20.
Between 2005 and 2013 only Rooney and Bent did it. In the last 10 seasons, those reaching 20 is like the early days.
There are fewer elite English strikers, but those left are at the top.
Read on m.allfootballapp.com
