The race for the Premier League Golden Boot is really hotting up now we approach the end of the season, with a whole host of players still in the running to pick up the award.

Harry Kane is bidding for back-to-back Golden Boots, but will certainly face stiff competition if he is to manage this feat.

The likes of Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa, Jermain Defoe, Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all still in with a chance and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero or Liverpool’s Sadio Mane probably can’t be ruled out just yet either.

The match between Tottenham and Everton last weekend put the two leading goalscorers up against each other and it definitely did not disappoint.

It was England international Kane who came out on top having scored either side of half-time to take his tally for the season up to 19, whilst Lukaku could only manage to pull one goal back with about ten minutes to spare and finds himself on 18 goals for the campaign so far.

There are certainly plenty of twists and turns still to come in this competition, but here are the top five players who Shoot! think are most likely to pick up the Golden Boot this season…

Alexis Sanchez

Sanchez is the only player currently keeping pace with the top-flight leading scorers who is not actually an out-and-out front man.

The Arsenal winger has currently managed 17 goals in the League during this campaign – just behind Kane and Lukaku, level with Diego Costa – and has almost double the number of assists than those around him (9).

The 28-year-old is on track to beat his current record when he reached 19 goals in a season playing in La Liga for Barcelona and he will be keen to better this achievement in the next 12 games.

However, something that has to be considered is the fact that the Chilean international seems to be out-of-favour with manager Arsene Wenger having been dropped for the game against Liverpool following his rumoured involvement in a training ground row.

His future at the Emirates Stadium is also in doubt with his contract talks ongoing and no quick resolution in sight.

Whilst it would be disappointing, his off-the-field issues may prevent him from staking a claim in what may be his last attempt of attaining the Premier League Golden Boot. 

Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku is the only player outside of the Premier League’s top six to be really in the mix for this year’s Golden Boot.

The Belgian striker has played a pivotal role in Ronald Koeman’s resurgence with Everton and has already matched his 18-goal tally from last season, with 11 games left to play.

Four of these strikes came in their 6-3 win over AFC Bournemouth last month and he also earned himself a hat-trick against bottom of the league Sunderland at the beginning of this season.

Currently only one goal shy of current top scorer Kane, Lukaku should definitely be in with a great chance of taking home the accolade come the end of the season.

The Toffees should consider themselves very lucky to have a player of Lukaku’s quality in their squad and after this campaign, the 23-year-old will have topped their goalscoring charts for four consecutive years.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimovic has proved a lot of doubters wrong this season, as he has been able to transfer his goalscoring capabilities from Ligue 1 to the Premier League with ease.

The 35-year-old had led the scoring in the top French division three times in four years before the start of this campaign, scoring 94 goals in total, and has definitely made a positive impact since signing for Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.

In his first season at the top-flight of English football, the Swedish superstar has scored on 15 occasions and netted an additional 11 times in all other competitions.

This is already way above the expectations of many and is the most goals scored by a player for the Manchester outfit since Robin Van Persie scored 30 in the 2012-13 season.

With 13 games remaining, Ibrahimovic will be hoping to equal this by adding an extra four goals to his season tally.

Should he be able to do this, he will hot on the heels of those above him and will have definitely done enough to secure another year on his deal at The Theatre of Dreams.

Diego Costa

With Chelsea well on the way to their now seemingly inevitable Premier League title, Costa has been one of the standout performers of the season so far.

The Spanish striker has netted 17 times in 25 games, which means that he currently averages a goal every 130 minutes in the top-flight.

Interestingly, the 28-year-old has actually scored in 16 of these 25 games, with his only brace coming in the draw at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea City.

Since joining The Blues in the summer of 2014, Costa has scored 54 goals in 107 appearances, with his first season in 2014-15 seeing him amass his highest goalscoring tally in England.

The former Atletico Madrid man is three goals short of equalling this record and he should have plenty of opportunities to score more before the end of the campaign.

Chelsea still have to face Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, and Diego Costa could very easily make a viable claim for this year’s Golden Boot.

Harry Kane

Kane has been in extraordinary form recently and has netted on 11 occasions since the start of the New Year.

The Spurs frontman currently has 19 goals for the season and tops the scoring charts for the Premier League so far this term.

His goal tally includes four braces against Everton, Swansea, Watford and West Ham United, as well as two hat-tricks against West Brom and Stoke City – with his third hat-trick in nine games coming against Slavisa Jokanovic‘s Fulham in the FA Cup.

The English forward, of course, claimed this accolade last year as he pipped Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy to the Golden Boot after finishing with a remarkable 25-goal tally.

Should he be able to repeat last year’s achievement, he will join the exclusive club of being one of the only Premier League players to win the award in back-to-back seasons – with the only other players having achieved this feat being Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Robin Van Persie and Thierry Henry.

The 23-year-old is favourite to claim the accolade and undoubtedly proves that he is no one-season wonder!