Bukayo Saka scored the clincher as Arsenal defeated Fulham 2-1 in their English Premier League (EPL) encounter at the Emirates stadium on Tuesday.

The England international of Nigerian heritage had missed the last 12 league matches due to a hamstring injury and doubled the Gunners’ advantage on his return in the second half after Mikel Merino’s opener.

Alex Iwobi, a former Arsenal man and Super Eagles midfielder, was a second-half substitute for Fulham, while Calvin Bassey was an unused substitute.

Arsenal are playing catch-up to Liverpool, runaway league leaders, but Mikel Arteta’s side were not ready to give up on their fading title hopes in this London derby, claiming all three points as the season’s final stretch unravels.

Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Ethan Nwaneri all fired wide for the hosts, who then lost Gabriel Marghaelles, their talismanic defender, to injury.

However, they regrouped and found the breakthrough on 37 minutes through Merino. The Spaniard’s deflected shot found the bottom corner for 1-0, which Arsenal protected into the halftime break.

The game continued without much action until the entry of Saka in the 66th minute, and the winger scored seven minutes afterwards, arriving at the back post to apply the finish to Gabriel Martinelli’s flick with his head for 2-0 on 73 minutes.

Rodrigo Munoz pulled one back for Fulham in the dying seconds as Arsenal saw out the match to claim all three points. The North Londoners remain second 61 points from 30 matches, cutting Liverpool’s lead to nine points.

Elsewhere, Anthony Elanga carried the ball for 85 yards to finish off a counter attack into the bottom corner as high-flying Nottingham Forest defeated struggling Manchester United 1-0 at the City Ground. Both Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi, Nigeria internationals, started the match, but Aina hobbled off due to injury on 39 minutes while Awoniyi lasted 86 minutes before substitution.

The win for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side completed a home and away clean sweep over Man United, their first over the Red Devils since the 1991/92 season.

They consolidate on third position with an eight-point gap over Chelsea in fourth as they inch closer to a spot in next season’s Champions League.

RESULTS
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 West Ham United
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Manchester United

Sky Bet Championship outfit, Leeds United are interested in Porto defender Zaidu Sanusi, Ekwutosblog reports.

Leeds United have already opened talks with the Portuguese club for the Nigeria international.

According to Africafoot, the Whites are willing to sign Sanusi for €2m.

The 27-year-old is open to leaving Porto at the end of the season after struggling for regular playing time at the club this season.

The left-back has made three league appearances for the Dragons in the current campaign.

He joined Porto from another Portuguese club Santa Clara in 2020.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and Thierry Henry are some of the legendary goalscorers who have claimed the European Golden Shoe in the 21st century – but who will get their hands on the prize in 2024-25?

The award is invariably handed out to superstars at clubs in Europe’s major leagues, but players from across all the top-flight leagues in Europe are eligible in a complex coefficient ranking system.

Goals scored in the top five leagues according to the UEFA coefficients list are multiplied by two, goals scored in the leagues ranked sixth to 22nd are multiplied by 1.5, and goals scored in leagues ranked 22nd are down count for one.

Here’s the current European Golden Shoe top 10.

10. Omar Marmoush – 38pts

Before his move to Manchester City in January, Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush was banging in the goals for Eintracht Frankfurt.

He bagged 15 goals for his former side, and such was his proficiency in front of goal that he’s still the joint third-top scorer in the Bundesliga, despite not having played there for over two months.

He has added four Premier League goals with Manchester City, taking his tally to 19.

That lands him 38 points, placing Marmoush 10th on the list at the moment.

9. Mika Bierith – 40.5 points

English-born Danish international Bierith has been slamming in the goals this season. In the first half of the campaign, he was playing in the Austrian Bundesliga for Sturm Graz.

There, he bagged 11 goals, which count for 16.5 points on the scoring system, given the strength of the league.

But the 22-year-old was rewarded with a move to Monaco in January, and in 10 games in Ligue 1, he already has 12 goals. Those are worth 24 points, so in addition to what he had already picked up at Sturm Graz, Bierith now has 40.5 points.

8. Erling Haaland – 42pts

Haaland has floated around the top 10 in the golden shoe rankings all season. There have been peaks and troughs, but he’s been able to build on an outrageous start, in which he notched 10 goals from his first five outings.

Since then, Haaland has bagged another 11 goals in the Premier League, taking his tally to 21 for the season, which is worth 42 points.

Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions might be suffering a wobble at this moment but it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see their No.9 banging in back-to-back hat-tricks again soon, having only scored one brace since September in the league.

He won the European Golden Shoe in 2022-23 and you’d be daft to write him off competing for it again.

7. Ousmane Dembele – 42pts

Paris Saint-Germain forward Dembele has shot up the list thanks to a remarkable upturn in form since December. He has largely played out wide in his career, but a move to the centre of the attack has transformed his potency.

Before December, Dembele had played through the middle once this season, and had only five goals to his name.

But in the 13 games he’s played in during and since December, the Frenchman has bagged a whopping 16 Ligue 1 goals. That includes a run of 11 goals in the space of six games.

The 21 Ligue goals Dembele has scored this season put him on 42 points in the golden shoe rankings.

6. Mateo Retegui – 44pts

Born and raised in Argentina, having developed his skills in River Plate and Boca Juniors’ academies, Retegui has turned out to be Italy’s great new hope thanks to his parentage.

He showed promise for Genoa last season after returning to the motherland but he’s exploded into life since signing for Atalanta in the summer as a last-gasp replacement for his Azzurri team-mate Gianluca Scamacca.

Gian Piero Gasperini has a proven track record of getting the most out of attack-minded players and he’s struck gold once again. Retegui’s 22 Serie A goals are only bettered by two players in Europe’s major leagues, and are equal to a pair of absolute superstars.

READ: The top 10 goalscorers in the history of Europe’s top five leagues

5. Kylian Mbappe – 44pts

Equal on points with Retegui on the rankings is Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe. The Frenchman failed to score in his first three La Liga games as a Galactico, but has made up for lost time.

Four braces and a hat-trick in the league since then have helped Mbappe to 22 goals, and 44 points on the rankings.

With the form he’s found of late, it would not be a surprise to see him continue climbing the table.

4. Harry Kane – 44pts

England’s captain continues to be in with a shout to retain the award, a feat only achieved by Henry, Messi, Ronaldo and Lewandowski in the 21st century. Esteemed company.

No player since the year 2000 has reached the milestone of 50 goals in any of Europe’s major leagues quicker than Kane in the Bundesliga.

He had 14 goals in his first 11 games this season, and has since slowed down, with eight goals in his last 14. That included a run of five games without a goal, but he snapped that unwanted streak with the opener in a 3-2 victory over FC St Pauli.

Now on 22 goals and 44 points, Kane will want to up the ante in order to retain his crown.

3. Viktor Gyokeres – 45pts

Here he is.

No player from outside of Europe’s top five leagues has won the Golden Shoe award since Mario Jardel scored 42 goals in the Primeira Liga back in 2001-02. Over two decades later it could well be another Sporting forward that does it.

European football’s hottest property has scored 30 goals in just 26 games so far. That includes eight goals in his last five games – four wins and a drwas.

With just 1.5 points per goal, you imagine he’ll need to score 40+ if he’s to challenge the European royalty at the top of this list. But with three more goals than any other player on the list so far, he’s in with a shout.

2. Robert Lewandowski – 50pts

The last man who retained the award back in 2022, Lewandowski is gunning to win it for a third time in five years.

Hansi Flick is once again getting the very best out of Poland’s all-time top goalscorer, who has arguably peaked well into his thirties. He’s formed an irresistible trident alongside Raphinha and Lamine Yamal and is firing Barcelona’s title charge with 25 goals in 28 games.

Lewandowski has only failed to score once in the last nine La Liga games, and it’s that sort of consistency which stands him in good stead to potentially win the award.

1. Mohamed Salah – 54 points

As a winger, Salah is something of an outlier on the list, and if we consider Dembele a striker now, the Liverpool man is the only out-and-out man in the top 20.

He is, of course, the Reds’ talisman, and is on course for his best season in the Premier League. That was 32 goals in his debut season, and Salah currently has 27 goals this term.

The unwavering reports about his contract situation are clearly not distracting the Liverpool icon, who in the last eight games, has nine goals. If he is to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, he’s almost certain to cap it off with another Premier League title, and perhaps the golden shoe, with a four-point buffer to second place.

READ NEXT: The 10 players with the most goals & assists in Europe in 2024-25: Salah, Marmoush…