Golden Shoe 2017-18: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Latest Points After New Year

Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani holds a two-point lead over Harry Kane in the race for the 2017-18 European Golden Shoe after Monday's round of New Year fixtures. 

Cavani has netted 19 times in Ligue 1 compared with Kane's 18 in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, and the pair sit just ahead of Mauro Icardi and Mohamed Salah, who have each netted 17 times.

Here are the standings:

1. Edinson Cavani, Paris Saint-Germain. 19 goals x 2.0 difficulty factor = 38.0 points

2. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur. 18 x 2.0 = 36.0 points

T3. Mauro Icardi, Inter Milan. 17 x 2.0 = 34.0 points

T3. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool. 17 x 2.0 = 34.0 points

5. Ciro Immobile, Lazio. 16 x 2.0 = 32.0 points

T6. Lionel Messi, Barcelona. 15 x 2.0 = 30.0 points

T6. Radamel Falcao, Monaco. 15 x 2.0 = 30.0 points

T6. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich. 15 x 2.0 = 30.0 points

9. Igor Angulo, Gornik Zabrze. 19 x 1.5 = 28.5 points

10. Paulo Dybala, Juventus. 14 x 2.0 = 28.0 points

Rules: Every European league is assigned a difficulty factor by UEFA between one and two, which is then multiplied by a player's goal tally to calculate their overall points total.

For example, goals in Europe's top five leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga—are worth two points each, while in the Eredivisie they are worth just 1.5 because of its lower difficulty rating.

Kane Closes on Cavani over Winter Break

Despite speculation over his relationship with Neymar and two missed penalties this season, Cavani has enjoyed a superb campaign for PSG and netted 19 times in just 18 matches to help them establish a nine-point lead atop Ligue 1 heading into their winter break on December 20.

His goal tally has also put him in pole position in the race for the Golden Shoe, with Ligue 1 now enjoying the same difficulty factor as Europe's other top leagues, having previously been given a rating of 1.5.

However, the Premier League has continued relentlessly, and Kane has closed the gap on Cavani in his last two matches after netting back-to-back hat-tricks either side of Christmas as Spurs beat Burnley 3-0 and Southampton 5-2.

His club provided a look at all of his Premier League goals in 2017 on Twitter:

The striker's sensational form has also earned him favourable comparisons with some of the greats of the game past and present, per Times Sport:

Spurs take on Swansea City on Tuesday and West Ham United on Thursday, so Kane will soon have the opportunity to pull level with or perhaps even surpass Cavani in the race for the Golden Shoe.

Meanwhile, Salah was rested for Liverpool's clash with Burnley on New Year's Day, but he bagged a brace on December 30 to sign off 2017 in style.

Squawka Football shared the numbers behind his performance in the 2-1 win over Leicester City:

The Egyptian has been a revelation in the Premier League this season and is already enjoying the most prolific campaign of his career having surpassed last year's tally of 19 with Roma, 15 of which came in the league.

There's a long way yet to go to win the Golden Shoe, but he'll be in contention if he can keep up his sensational form.