Hull City forward Jarrod Bowen celebrates after scoring. (Getty Images)
Widely acclaimed as the most competitive second-tier league in Europe, the EFL Championship never fails to produce an abundance of drama and excitement every season and the 2019-20 season has once again lived up to the expectations.
With Leeds United and West Brom going hammer and tongs at each other atop the standings, the automatic promotion race is starting to take a clear shape as we near the halfway mark in the season heading into the ever-busy festive period.
The race for the playoff spots is still very much open, with several teams vying for a top-six finish in the Championship and one does expect the race to go down to the wire in the coming months just like every other campaign.
Looking back at the top-scorers in the EFL Championship in the previous campaign, the likes of Teemu Pukki, Tammy Abraham, Neal Maupay and Billy Sharp are now excelling in the Premier League this term.
With that in mind, let us take a look at the top 5 goal contributors in the 2019-20 EFL Championship so far.
When it comes to the hottest young talents presently gracing the EFL Championship, they don’t come much better than Hull City star Jarrod Bowen, who looks set to become the Tigers’ top-scorer for the third season running.
That, of course, depends on whether he stays put at the KCOM Stadium beyond January, with Premier League interest in his services really soaring high ahead of the mid-season trading period. (h/t Chronicle Live)
Hull City have endured a hit-and-miss run in the ongoing campaign so far but Bowen has been truly sensational for Grant McCann’s side, plundering 15 goals and 4 assists and bagging as many as 6 Man-of-the-Match awards.
The 22-year-old has already bagged braces against Derby County, Preston North End and Stoke City. He certainly looks set to go past the tally of 22 goals that he had registered in the Championship the last term.
It was a real masterstroke when Fulham retained the services of the towering Serbian goal-machine following their relegation from the Premier League and Mitrovic has unsurprisingly stamped his supremacy in the Championship this term.
The 25-year-old has been the key driving force behind the Cottagers’ successes this season, with a hat-trick against Luton Town and braces against Reading and Fulham being the highlights of his displays in front of the goal.
Fulham are still some way off the automatic promotion places but a top-six finish looks guaranteed if Mitrovic continues his scoring spree in the coming months.
Having previously played in a supporting wide role up top beside Neal Maupay at Griffin Park, Watkins has now established himself as Brentford’s main man in front of goal this season.
With manager Thomas Frank shifting him to a centre-forward role following the departure of Maupay, the 23-year-old has grabbed his opportunities with both hands to spearhead the Bees’ bid for a top-six finish in the Championship.
Watkins has already registered braces in victories over Derby County and QPR while a hat-trick against Barnsley back in September is perhaps a standout example of the kind of devastating form he has shown so far this term.
The former Exeter City starlet is currently enjoying his most prolific season in the second-tier and the Bees certainly need to him continue firing on all cylinders.
The Millwall star’s inclusion in the list somewhat comes as a surprise, given his modest returns in the previous campaigns. The former Wolves man has certainly taken a lot of people by surprise with his rich vein of form at The Den this term.
The Lions might not be one of the strongest playoff contenders but Wallace’s brilliance this season certainly can’t be played down by any means.
The 25-year-old’s impressive tally has also seen him rack up four Man-of-the-Match awards and if the influential winger continues to deliver the goods, Millwall could well be in with a shout for an unlikely top-six finish at the end of the season.
The QPR starlet’s potential has never been in doubt and it was always going to be a matter of him adding some considerable end product to his game to push on for greater heights in his career.
And so he has done this season under the stewardship of Mark Warburton, scoring nine times and setting up a further four in 21 appearances for QPR in the Championship so far. Eze has already bettered his tally from the previous campaign by a long margin and his rich vein of form means that he looks set to gobble up plenty more goals and assists this season.
The 21-year-old has enhanced his reputation as one of the best rising attacking talents in the English second-tier and QPR’s playoff hopes will most definitely rest on his shoulders.