African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace

Mohamed Salah surged to the top of the Premier L
eague Golden Boot chart thanks to a double for Liverpool in a 6-3 rout of Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.

The Egypt captain struck twice in the second half for the leaders to raise his goal tally for the season to 15, two more than Erling Haaland of Manchester City.

There are three other Africans — Cameroonian Bryan Mbeumo (10) and Congolese Yoane Wissa (9) of Brentford and Senegal’s Nicolas Jackson (9) of Chelsea — among the top 10 scorers.

Here, AFP Sport highlights African headline-makers in the major European leagues:

ENGLAND
MOHAMED SALAH (Liverpool)

Salah starred in an extraordinary rout of Tottenham as Liverpool moved four points clear at the top. In the process the 32-year-old became Liverpool’s fourth top-scorer with 229 goals — only Ian Rush (346), Roger Hunt (285) and Gordon Hodgson (241) are ahead of him. And as if that were not enough, Salah also provided two assists in north London after hitting the crossbar in the early stages.

ANTOINE SEMENYO (Bournemouth)

The Ghana striker set the seal on Bournemouth’s superb 3-0 win at Manchester United as the Cherries climbed to fifth. Dean Huijsen’s goal and a Justin Kluivert penalty had given the visitors a two-goal lead before Semenyo put the result beyond doubt with a 63rd-minute strike as Bournemouth won 3-0 at Old Trafford for the second successive season.

MOHAMMED KUDUS (West Ham)

The Ghana winger headed his third goal of the season, and his first since completing a five-match ban for a red card at Tottenham in October, to equalise for West Ham in a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton.

ISMAILA SARR (Crystal Palace)

The Senegal forward equalised after 11 minutes for lowly Palace at home against third-placed Arsenal, then missed