Who are the five best strikers in the English Championship?
Zan Vipotnik finished last season as the Championship’s outright top scorer with 23 goals, and he heads into the new campaign as the benchmark every other forward in the division is judged against.
Consistency at this level is rare, given the physical demands of a 46-game season and the quality of defences across the division. Anyone checking Championship betting markets for top scorer odds this season will find him and a handful of others regularly near the front of the market.
Judging the best strikers in the Championship means looking beyond raw goal counts to assists, big-game performances and overall consistency across a 46-game season. Here are five forwards who stood out last time round and look set to do so again.
Zan Vipotnik
Vipotnik’s 23 goals for Swansea City made him the division’s clear top scorer last season, well clear of the next best return by six goals. The Slovenian international combines a physical presence with genuine composure in front of goal, and he was directly involved in several of Swansea’s biggest results, including braces against sides pushing for the play-offs, underlining the kind of end product managers look for from a lead forward at this level.
Josh Windass
Windass scored 16 league goals for Wrexham last season as the newly promoted side settled into seventh place, adding to a reputation built over spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Rangers. For those using free bet offers to back him for another strong season, his record in big matches, including plenty of goals against sides in and around the top six, makes him one of the more reliable current forwards in the division.
Richard Kone
Kone arrived at QPR from Wycombe Wanderers for around £5m last summer after being named League One’s Player of the Season, and he settled into Championship football well, finishing as the club’s joint top league scorer with 10 goals in 43 appearances.
The Ivorian carried an average match rating in the high sixes across the campaign, a solid return for a then 22-year-old adjusting to a tougher level, and he still has plenty of room to add goals and assists as he grows into the role.
Patrick Bamford
Bamford’s move to Sheffield United reinvigorated a career that had stalled during his later years at Leeds United, and he was rewarded with a long-term contract after a strong first few months at Bramall Lane under Chris Wilder.
His pedigree as a two-time promotion winner speaks to the kind of big-game nous clubs want from a lead striker heading into a promotion push, even if his overall minutes have been managed carefully following a history of injury problems earlier in his career.
Emil Riis
Riis has spent several seasons as one of the more talented if occasionally inconsistent forwards in the Championship for Preston North End and Bristol City. The Danish international’s aerial ability and finishing when in form make him a genuine threat.
On his best days, he has looked capable of leading the goalscoring charts outright rather than simply featuring among the division’s better strikers, though maintaining that level across a full campaign has proven the harder task.
Between them, these five forwards combine proven goal returns with the kind of composure and experience that tends to matter most when Championship promotion races reach their closing weeks, and each will be central to how far their respective clubs can go this season.
