Golden Shoe 2015-16: Top Goalscorers in Europe After Boxing Day Results

Jamie Vardy failed to take advantage of the continental Christmas break as he could not find the net in Leicester City's 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on Boxing Day in the Premier League.

As a result he remains tied with Robert Lewandowski in fifth in the European Golden Shoe standings, but he could leapfrog the Pole when the Foxes face Manchester City on Tuesday.

Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang remains atop the rankings having netted 18 Bundesliga goals this season, while Legia Warsaw's Nemanja Nikolic has closed in on the top after scoring five times in as many matches recently, per WhoScored.com.

Here are the latest updated standings following the Boxing Day action in the Premier League:

Position	Player	Team	Goals x Factor	Points
1.	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	18 x 2	36.0
T2.	Alex Teixeira	Shakhtar Donetsk	22 x 1.5	33.0
T2.	Nemanja Nikolic	Legia Warsaw	22 x 1.5	33.0
4.	Gonzalo Higuain	Napoli	16 x 2	32.0
T5.	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	15 x 2	30.0
T5.	Jamie Vardy	Leicester City	15 x 2	30.0
T7.	Tomas Radzinevicius	Suduva	28 x 1	28.0
T7.	Neymar	Barcelona	14 x 2	28.0
T7.	Thomas Muller	Bayern Munich	14 x 2	28.0
T10.	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	13 x 2	26.0
T10.	Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City	13 x 2	26.0
T10.	Romelu Lukaku	Everton	13 x 2	26.0
T10.	Odion Ighalo	Watford	13 x 2	26.0

Rules: Each division is attributed a difficulty constant (between one and two), which is then multiplied by the number of goals scored to produce a total. 

For example, La Liga is considered among the most difficult leagues to net in, so Neymar's 14 goals are doubled to create his points tally of 26. By contrast, the Lithuanian top flight has a constant of one, meaning Tomas Radzinevicius’s 28 goals equate to 28 points.

Ighalo Joins Premier League Contenders in Top 10

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Watford's Odion Ighalo was the only one of the Premier League's top four scorers to get on the scoresheet as the English top flight continued on Boxing Day with the rest of Europe enjoying their winter break.

The Nigerian netted for the fifth game in succession—a club record per Opta—as Watford claimed a 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge:

The division's other lethal goalscorers this season—Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Romelu Lukaku—all failed to find the back of the net and thus there was little movement in the European Golden Shoe standings after the Boxing Day action.

Tottenham's Harry Kane netted a double to move closer to the top 10 as he took his league tally for the season to 11, per WhoScored.

In the most unpredictable of Premier League seasons, the Englishman remains a consistent scorer.

The same cannot be said of Manchester City's Sergio Aguero—who was ranked third in last season's Golden Shoe—whose consistent injury problems have led to an erratic scoring trend, per Opta's Duncan Alexander:

The Argentine remained on the bench as the Sky Blues beat Sunderland 4-1 on Boxing Day.

Diego Costa was the Premier League's third top scorer in 2014-15—behind Aguero and Kane—and he finally looked to have found some form again in scoring twice against Watford, per Squawka:

But he is some way off troubling the Golden Shoe leaders having scored just five times in the Premier League so far this season, per WhoScored. 

The Bundesliga rumbles back into action in late January when Aubameyang will look to add to his tally against Borussia Monchengladbach, and Bayern duo Lewandowski and Thomas Muller face Hamburg.

Barcelona's Neymar and Luis Suarez return much sooner as the Blaugrana face Real Betis on Wednesday before a Jan. 2 meeting with local rivals Espanyol.

It may well be that Aubameyang has slipped from the top spot by the time he returns to action given the amount of football to be played elsewhere in the coming weeks, but for now he remains the man to overhaul.