NOT all prolific goalscorers at Championship level are able to transfer their skills successfully to the Premier League.
Ivan Toney (£5.4m), however, has proven to be a centre-back’s nightmare at top-flight level since Brentford’s promotion.
Last season, the Bees’ No17 scored 12 goals and provided five assists in 33 league appearances – a superb effort for a newly-promoted side.
This campaign, he’s already scored 14 goals (and provided three assists) with only Harry Kane (£8.2m) and runaway leader Erling Haaland (£8.8m) ahead of him in the Golden Boot race.
Granted, Toney latest strike was served with a sizeable slice of luck given the PGMOL have issued an apology to Arsenal for video assistant Lee Mason’s mistake in incorrectly checking for an offside in the build-up.
Had VAR been properly employed, Brentford’s equaliser would have been chalked off although Toney certainly won’t be breaking out the violins for the Gunners over the matter.
What matters to Thomas Frank’s side is that they’re now unbeaten in ten league fixtures and a point earned at the home of the leaders may well prove to be hugely valuable in their quest for European qualification this season.
It goes without saying that if they are to maintain their pursuit of the Europa Conference League/Europa League then their top scorer will need to keep leading the line in the effective manner to which opposition defenders have become accustomed, much to their chagrin.
Poor William Saliba (£3.1m) was given a ragged time by Toney at the weekend with the latter winning all but one of his 13 aerial duels, a freakish statistical achievement.
From a Dream Team perspective, it was the 26-year-old’s all-round performance that contributed to him bagging the Star Man award just as much as his goal.
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A 13-point haul in north London has taken Toney’s total for the campaign to 133.
Mohamed Salah (£7.7m), Kane, Marcus Rashford (£6.1m) and Haaland are the only forwards with more points to their name at the time of writing.
Even more impressively, Toney averages six points-per-game in 2022/23 – Haaland and Rashford are the only assets in his position who boast a superior rate.
Barring injury setbacks or suspensions, he should register 20+ Premier League goals this season and, more importantly, 200+ Dream Team points.
Double centurions are relatively rare, last season just six forwards reached the milestone.
One potential issue for Toney (and his backers) is that Brentford’s calendar contains their remaining 16 league fixtures and nothing more.
Without European or FA Cup commitments, the streetwise target man may find it difficult to keep pace with busier assets in the final third of the campaign but he’s not to be underestimated.
Toney’s current ownership of 8.1% makes him the ninth-most selected forward in the game but the fact he’s less popular than Darwin Nunez (£4.8m), Gabriel Martinelli (£3.1m) and Son Heung-min (£5.2m) should raise a few eyebrows.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
