The English Championship is a long, grueling campaign. In fact, it’s hard to think of another top league in European football — not including League One or League Two — with quite as many teams (24) and where sides are made to play a huge 46 games a season — and that’s not including the extra one or two games for the select few who make the play-offs. 

With teams often having to play twice a week, it can prove extremely difficult to make your predictions when scouring through the English Championship odds. However, that is all part of the thrills and spills of the exciting division and rarely does a game disappoint. 

Playing so many games in a season may be tough on the body, but it is a dream come true for attackers who have the opportunity to rack up a ton of goals over the course of the year. We are just 17 games into the 2021-22 Championship campaign and a few forwards have already hit double figures. 

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at how the race for the Golden Boot is shaping up now we are a third of the way into the season. Read on to find out more!

Aleksandar Mitrović – Fulham

It will come as absolutely no surprise that Aleksandar Mitrović is once again thriving in the Championship. Having helped guide Fulham to promotion to the Premier League twice already, the Serbian is a goalscoring machine in the second division of English football. 

He has found the back of the net an impressive 20 times in just 17 games this season and is well on course to smash his previous record of 26 strikes in one Championship campaign, as well as break Ivan Toney and Glenn Murray’s record of 30 goals. 

With 58 goals in 74 Championship appearances, Mitrović is a real asset in the second division, it’s just a shame he isn’t as prolific in the Premier League. 

Ben Brereton – Blackburn Rovers

Ben Brereton’s sensational recent rise to the fore is quiet the story and as he quickly becomes a Chile cult hero, he just seems to be getting better and growing in confidence. Prior to this season, the 22-year-old struggled to find the net for Blackburn Rovers — scoring a mere nine times in 80 Championship appearances. 

But with the addition of Díaz to the back of his shirt, he has turned into a South American star. He has found the back of the net 13 times already this campaign, almost doubling his previous seasonal best (7), and is showing no signs of letting up as he spearheads a Blackburn side looking to make the play-offs. 

Sure to attract interest during the January transfer window, it will be interesting to see if Brereton will stay at Ewood Park until the end of this season or if he’ll up sticks and move on as his status grows around the footballing world.

Dominic Solanke – Bournemouth

Another striker who has perhaps surprised many in the early stages of this season, Dominic Solanke is level with Brereton on 13 goals after 17 games. Brought to the south coast for a sizeable £19m in January 2019 by then Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe, the former Chelsea and Liverpool forward has arguably never lived up to his price tag — especially in his year and a half in the Premier League, where he scored just three times in 42 games. 

However, he is already just two goals off the 15 strikes he recorded in 40 Championship games last season as the Cherries just missed out promotion and if he can carry on his current form for the remainder of this campaign, then Scott Parker’s men will surely earn their place back in the Premier League next season — where the 24-year-old could have a chance to redeem himself.  

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Swansea City’s Joël Piroe and Viktor Gyökeres of Coventry City are both tied on nine goals apiece, followed by John Swift (Reading), Karlan Grant (West Bromwich Albion), Lewis Grabban (Nottingham Forest) and Luton Town’s Elijah Adebayo — who are all on eight.