What makes the best striker in the Premier League? The amount of goals he scores, or the rate in which he scores them in? Whatever the calculation and method is, Manchester United can feel quite secure. They have both Robin van Persie, the league’s top scorer, and Javier Hernandez, with the best goal-per-minute ration in the league.
The table was made prior to the batch of matches on Tuesday, but that didn’t change too much. Javier Hernandez played a rare 90 minutes and scored two more goals, bringing his tally up to 8 in the league this season, and his scoring average to a goal every 75.5 minutes. Robin van Persie climbed to 16 league goals this season, somewhat breaking away from the chasing pack, making it a goal every 104 minutes he’s on the football pitch.
Despite Wayne Rooney’s injuries and fitness problem, he’s not too far off. He has scored 7 goals in 14 matches so far, and is in the top 15 when it comes to efficiency, scoring a goal every 154 minutes. Taking into account that he does more all-around work on the pitch than most forwards, and you’ll get that at least statically, Rooney isn’t doing too bad this season.
Another name you expect to find near the top is Edin Dzeko, who certainly is there. The Bosnian striker is finally getting some consecutive starts under Roberto Mancini, who has grown tired of his forwards rotation. A problem for him might be Sergio Aguero getting injured again. Who knows, maybe Manchester City will purchase someone else instead of counting on “only” 3 strikers. Dzeko now has 9 goals in 806 minutes, a goal every 89 minutes.
The second most efficient scorer in the league isn’t even a striker – it’s Frank Lampard. The two goals in the win over Everton certainly helped his cause. Being the penalty kick taker doesn’t hurt as well when it need to hide the fact that he isn’t a good and consistent footballer as he once was. Age does that to you. Still, with a goal every 88 minutes, he’s better than all the striker except for one.
Theo Walcott is also among the better scorers per minute in the league, with 8 league goals so far this season, quite a few of them off the bench. He has scored 8 in 956 minutes, that means a goal every 119 minutes of football. Good enough for the top 10 in the league, along with Demba Ba, who has scored 13 goals in 1665 minutes (every 128 minutes) and Michu, with 13 goals, one every 132 minutes. Luis Suarez, also with 13 goals this season, has one every 131 minutes.