Why Southampton and Middlesbrough stars will love big Philippe Clement, Norwich City update | OneFootball

Mo Toure is out for months after damaging his shoulder, which could be a big boost in Cyle Larin and Will Lankshear's Golden Boot chances

We may only be eight games in and at the first international break, but this Championship season is threatening the old glory days of the Golden Boot race.

The last two campaigns have been pretty underwhelming when it comes to the battle to become the league's top scorer.

Swansea City's Zan Vipotnik had things wrapped up as the season went on due to a lack of potent challengers last year. Indeed, his 23 goals were six more than Haji Wright and Oli McBurnie, who shared second place.

Even worse, the year before, no single player broke the 20-goal barrier, with Leeds United's Joel Piroe winning the award on 19 goals. Funnily enough, six of those came against Stoke City.

Gone seemed to be the days of multiple stars netting in the mid-twenties, which was commonplace in the late 2010s and early 2020s. The likes of Dominic Solanke, Adam Armstrong, Neal Maupay and Ollie Watkins, who never won a Golden Boot, must have been looking on in real frustration.

The 2026/27 Championship Golden Boot race went off to a flying start

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This season is bringing back the hope that a multiple 25-goal season can be achieved by numerous different stars, though.

Defence hasn't seemed to win out too much in games so far this season, with only four teams conceding an average of a goal a game or fewer, and from a striker's (and Konstantinos Mavropanos') perspective, that can only be a good thing.

Indeed, we head into the international break with eight players averaging at least a goal every other game, and at the top, we have Cyle Larin netting seven in eight, Will Lankshear scoring six, and Mo Toure bagging five in just seven appearances.

All three have an incredible goals-per-90 ranking in the early stages, and if they could keep that up, we could have easily had a three-way battle in the high twenties for the top spot.

Mo Toure's Golden Boot hopes dashed with recent injury setback

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However, those dreams have seemingly gone up in smoke from both a neutral and Norwich City fan's perspective, as Toure's injury-riddled time at Carrow Road has haunted him once again.

The Australian international dealt with niggling injuries in the early stages of his time in Norfolk after arriving in January from Danish outfit Randers. A muscle injury, especially, kept him out for around a month.

Unfortunately, the shoulder injury he picked up after just 15 minutes on Sunday against Bolton Wanderers — a game he'd already scored in — is much more severe, as head coach Philippe Clement stated after the game that he'll be out for "months."

In previous seasons, given his incredibly prolific goalscoring record, he could probably afford to miss 10 to 12 games and still be in with a shout of landing the Golden Boot, but not this year.

Cyle Larin and Will Lankshear may be in a straight shootout for the Golden Boot

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With Toure likely to miss too many games to see him be a threat to the top scorers' rank, it may end up being a straight shootout between Larin and Lankshear over who will be lifting the trophy in May.

There are other obvious candidates, too, of course. Fer Lopez has had a great season so far; Jarrod Bowen's obviously a threat, as is Piroe.

However, there's an argument to be made that the goals at West Ham United and Wolves, especially, will be equally shared — as they were at Leeds the year Piroe topped the charts with 19.

From Larin and Lankshear's perspective, they're the talisman for their respective clubs. Their teammates at Southampton and Middlesbrough, respectively, will chip in with a few goals, but their system will be set up to create chances for them, hence why they currently top the charts.

The only other player who relates to this is Toure, but with him seemingly out of the picture, the duo can battle out for that top spot over the next eight months.

Norwich City will hope they can continue to be an attacking threat without Mo Toure

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From Norwich's perspective, this is, obviously, a massive blow, but while Toure was the main focal point of their attacks, it's not as if he was their only outlet going forward.

What helps is that Jovon Makama is returning to fitness. He's come off the bench in the last three, including for Toure against Bolton, and scored against Middlesbrough in the first of consecutive 4-3 defeats a fortnight ago.

If Mathias Kvistgaarden can stay healthy, who has missed the last two games, he's seemingly finding his feet after a tough first Championship season last year. He's been a bench option thus far, but actually has a better goals-per-90 record than Larin — or anyone else — does.

And then there are the likes of Andre Brooks, Anthony Musaba and co, who can also chip in with goals, as they have done so far this season.

So, while Norwich may not be getting their name on the Golden Boot this season, they still have enough firepower for after the international break. Indeed, it's the defence Philippe Clement needs to sort out over the next couple of weeks to help the Canaries realise their potential towards the top of the table.