EVERTON 1-1 SOUTHAMPTON: DANNY INGS SCORES AGAIN TO KEEP THE GOLDEN BOOT CHASE ALIVE.

With less than three weeks to go the race for the Premier League Golden Boot is gathering steam after Danny Ings was on target again on Thursday.

Ings’ 19th league goal of the season put Southampton ahead in their eventual 1-1 draw at Everton, with the striker now just three behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy in the overall standings.

It now appears to be a four-way battle for the Golden Boot, with Ings one behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and level with Mohamed Salah – the duo who shared the award last season with Sadio Mane when scoring 22 goals apiece.

Vardy’s two-goal lead over Aubameyang makes him the favourite to pick up the Golden Boot, with matches at Bournemouth and home to Sheffield United to come.

The 33-year-old recently received a silver fox from Leicester after reaching 100 Premier League goals, while he is two goals away from matching his tally of 24 in the 2015-16 title-winning campaign.

However, his rate has somewhat slowed in the second half of the season, having initially reached 17 goals in the first 18 matches.

Ings meanwhile is comfortably enjoying his most prolific season in the top-tier – his previous best of 11 coming at Burnley in 2014-15, while a year prior he scored 21 league goals for the Clarets in the Championship.

Both Vardy and Ings will be aiming to become just the third English striker to win the Golden Boot since the turn of the century.

Kevin Phillips won the award for his impressive tally of 30 goals in 1999-2000 for Sunderland, while Tottenham’s Harry Kane was the top scorer in 2015-16 (25 goals) and 2016-17 (29).