With nine games to go, the battle for the Premier League Golden Boot looks set to go down to the wire

At the front of every great team there is a goalscorer, charged with converting the team's chances into goals and delivering moments of quality that can change the course of a game.

While the battle for the Premier League crown looks set to go down to the wire, there is another race that is starting to heat up, with just two goals separating the top four players in the hunt for the Golden Boot.

Four of the Big Six clubs have a man in that race, and just as Manchester City are leading in the league, it is their star striker Sergio Aguero who is heading the charge towards the top goalscorer prize.

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After 29 matches, the Argentinian tops the charts with 18 goals, ahead of Mohamed Salah, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Harry Kane in a battle that also looks likely to be decided only in the final weeks of the season.

Last year's winner Salah is just one goal behind Aguero on 17 but would need a further 15 from the remaining nine games to even match the record-setting 32 he scored last season; no player has ever scored more under the current 38-game top-flight season format.

Behind him sit Kane and Aubameyang in joint third position on 16 goals. Yet despite the quartet's similar goal tallies, they each possess different strengths.

Super Sergio

Aguero, for instance, stands out for his exceptional goals-per-minute record. His 18-goal return from just 1,852 minutes equates to a net bulging for every 103 minutes he has played.

The 30-year-old has been there or thereabouts since his first season at City in 2011-12, and for his quality and longevity in England's top flight might be expected to have won more than his one Golden Boot.

He has often struggled to pull together a season-long run without injury keeping him out for a handful of games and his tally this season, despite playing less than his rivals, is a testament to how clinical he can be.

It is only within the last two months that Aguero has moved into pole position, with hat-tricks against both Arsenal and Chelsea going some way to putting him there.

He has played 600 minutes fewer than Salah, the equivalent of just under seven whole matches, and around 300 fewer than both Kane and Aubameyang.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has missed 19 "big chances" in the Premier League this season, more than anyone else (Source: Getty)

Missing big chances

Salah, who won the award in his debut season, sits second in the charts for goals but has claimed more assists than the others – seven – and also has the best shot accuracy, with 47 of his 94 shots hitting the target; a rate of 50 per cent.

Perhaps surprisingly, Aguero has the worst shot accuracy at 38 per cent, but has scored his 18 goals from just 35 shots on target, meaning that more often than not when he hits the target the ball goes in.

Only Aubameyang can boast a better goals-per-shots-on-target ratio, with 16 from 30, making him appear to be the most lethal.

But Aubameyang's Premier League high tally for “big chances missed” of 19 suggests he should in fact have converted more often.

Missing a big chance is defined by statisticians Opta as: “A situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score usually in a one-on-one scenario or from very close range.”

Second on that list with 14 is Salah, but Aguero and Kane have missed just nine each, showing they are less likely to waste a clear-cut scoring opportunity.

Inseparable

Aside from this there is little to pick between Kane and Aubameyang's records, with both on 16 goals and four assists from 2,157 and 2,127 minutes played respectively.

Of course, had Aubameyang converted his late penalty against Spurs last weekend, he would have improved his record to 125 minutes per goal, but instead he sits on one every 133 minutes – two minutes less than Kane.

One area where the pair do differ is how they scored their goals. The England captain has scored a wider variety of goals, with 11 from his right foot, three from his left and two with his head, although four have come from the penalty spot.

Aubameyang, by contrast, has scored 15 with his right foot and one with his left, but it is Aguero who has shown himself to be the best with both feet, having scored nine with his right and six with his left.

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Romelu Lukaku has shown a similar ability to be two-footed, scoring five and four with his right and left respectively, while he also has a superior shot accuracy than the aforementioned at 62 per cent.

He is currently further down the Golden Boot table on 12 goals but, with braces in his last three matches in all competitions, it looks unwise to rule him out altogether.

Lukaku and Aubameyang are set to face each other on Sunday when United visit Arsenal. And while that match looks a key fixture in the six-way fight to finish in the top four, it might also have say in the race to be crowned top scorer.