The top 10 non-penalty PL goalscorers in 2023-24: Jackson ahead of Palmer…
Getting yourself on the Premier League’s top goalscorers list is one impressive feat. Usually, the ballers in that list also take their team’s penalties.
And that’s impressive in itself — to be able to remain that icy cool with the eyes of the entire world on you. We’d crumble like the brittle biscuits that are holding Callum Wilson’s hamstrings together.
Usually, only one player can be their side’s designated penalty-taker. Can’t imagine anybody’s taking the ball out of Cole Palmer’s hands at Chelsea anytime soon, for example.
Back in the day, Matt Le Tissier was borderline infallible from 12 yards. Only ever missed one, and that was exactly 35 years to the day after Elvis Presley joined the US Army. Makes you think…
We’ve taken a look at what the Premier League’s top goalscorer charts would look like if you removed all the spot kicks. Manchester City, Liverpool, Newcastle et al. are still represented up there, but it’s good news for some of your midtable favourites.
=9. Cole Palmer & Mohamed Salah: 13
Palmer is second in the actual overall top scorers list for 2023-24, but nine of those goals have come from the spot.
That puts the Chelsea star down in joint ninth when penalties are taken away, alongside Mo Salah, who drops three places from fifth overall.
8. Nicolas Jackson: 14
Chelsea’s enigmatic forward doesn’t take penalties, so he’s here totally organically. Probably the weirdest striker in the Prem, Jackson. All the attributes you could want as an attacker, but for the finishing.
Yet, he’s managed 14 goals, all from open play, with one game left to go in the season. If Jackson had finished even half of the glaring opportunities he’s had this season, we might be talking about one of the great Premier League debut campaigns.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the top 25 goalscorers across Europe’s five major leagues in 2023-24?
=6. Alexander Isak & Son Heung-Min: 15
Tottenham’s Son remains pretty much unaffected by losing his penalty strikes.
The Korean has only netted twice from the spot, this season, whereas Newcastle’s Isak has scored five of his six PL pens in 2023-24, and so drops from third place overall, to joint sixth alongside Son.
5. Jarrod Bowen: 16
We got another non-pen taker, here. West Ham’s versatile forward has racked up 15 open-play, grass-fed, free-range goals, this season. Surely Mr. Southgate has reserved Bowen a place on the plane to Germany, this summer.
Having said that, there are three more Englishmen to come on this list…
=3. Phil Foden & Dominic Solanke: 17
Bournemouth’s revelatory number 9 Dom Solanke has a couple of penalty goals scratched off his record, but all of Foden’s 17 goals this season have come from open play. An extremely impressive haul for a midfielder.
The fact that Solanke is not a shoo-in for England’s Euros squad is a crazy thought, but someone we’ve yet to mention in this list, plus a certain Harry Kane, may be keeping him out of the squad.
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the top 20 Dutch goalscorers in Premier League history?
2. Ollie Watkins: 19
And the man potentially keeping Dom Solanke out of the Euros is… Well, yes, it’s the bloke whose name is in big writing above this sentence. Ollie Watkins has been sensational for Aston Villa, cementing his place as a bona fide striker.
There’s one game of the 2023-24 season to go, and if Watkins can reach 20 non-penalty goals in the Premier League, it would cap off an already massive season for the Englishman.
1. Erling Haaland: 20
Obviously. Haaland is inevitable.
The terrifying Leeds-born Norwegian is on 27 league goals including his penalties, and you wouldn’t bet against him bagging a hatty in the final game of the season to bring him to 30.