Soccer AM

Bent: hat-trick hero

The Golden Shoe and Espadrille are fast becoming two of the most prestigious awards in the game, with past winners including Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jermaine Beckford.

The fact is we all love goals and those who know how to find the back of the net, but who is really the best at it?

Is it the player who scores the most, or the striker that always seems to pop up and score in the important matches?

Well here at Soccer AM we think the players with the best goals-to-games ratio should be recognised, which is why every week for the remainder of the season we will be revealing who, in our opinion, are the best strikers in Europe with a bit of help from our friends at Opta.

The Golden Shoe takes into account all the players in the top four tiers of the English game as well as the Scottish Premier League for the first time, while The Espadrille will be focusing on the top forwards from Italy's Serie A, Spain's Primera Division, the SPL and of course our very own Premier League.

To qualify, players must have played in at least half of their side's matches this season and only league goals count.

The Golden Shoe

The race to be amongst the greatest strikers in the land is hotting up as we enter the final straight of the Golden Shoe.

Kris Boyd remains top, despite failing to hit the back of the net in either of his matches north of the border this week, and the Scotland international will undoubtedly come under increasing pressure as we enter the business end of the season.

The top of the table is very much as you were with none of the top five exchanging positions in the last seven days; however things are getting interesting at the base.

Last year's winner Jermaine Beckford has forced his way back into the top ten after dropping out for one week. The Leeds United striker ended his seven game goal drought against Brentford on Saturday and followed it up with a brace in United's 4-1 victory over Tranmere on Tuesday night.

It means he re-enters in eighth position one place above this week's new entry, Darren Bent.

The Sunderland hotshot makes his debut in the Golden Shoe on the back of his first hat-trick for the club.

The England hopeful was in superb form as the Black Cats beat Bolton 4-0 and he will be hoping Fabio Capello caught his latest performance.

*Accurate as of 10/03/2010

The Golden Espadrille

They may be the two best players in the world according to the Ballon d'Or, but Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been proving themselves in a true test of footballing greatness this week - the Golden Espadrille.

In a week when goals were at a premium, the Real Madrid and Barcelona rivals were the only players in the top 10 to find the net, moving them both up the chart.

Indeed, Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in the 3-2 thriller against Sevilla leapfrogged him above teammate Gonzalo Higuain, who could only scare the woodwork in that game, leaving Ronaldo to take second place in the standings.

The extra game for Higuain, combined with a vital double from Messi in Barca's match with Almeria, left Real's Argentine striker down in fifth while his countryman stole four places to end in third.

Over in England, with Rooney and Drogba not in action, Sunderland striker Darren Bent took the chance to improve his hopes of a place in the top 10 with a fine hat-trick against Bolton.

With his excellent start to the season still helping his cause, those goals brought Bent up to 11th place in the table, but he certainly can't afford another drought if he hopes to improve his position by the end of the season.

Elsewhere in Italy, it was a tale of the no-score-draw as contender Antonio Di Natale's Udinese played a 0-0 stalemate with Atalanta, much to the detriment of his goalscoring ratio.

The big Serie A game of the weekend also ended goalless, although that may be down to the fact that Di Natale's fellow Espadrille chasers Alexandre Pato and Francesco Totti were both missing with injury as AC Milan were held by Roma.

*Accurate as of 10/03/2010