EPL Table: Updated 2015 Standings, Top Scorers After Monday's Week 19 Results

The Premier League table isn't the only top-flight race heating up in England after Romelu Lukaku scored a brace in Everton's 4-3 defeat to Stoke City to pull level with leader Jamie Vardy in the top-scorer standings.

Arsenal's 2-0 win over Bournemouth was enough to squeeze them one point in front at the Premier League summit, but the top-scorer charts have been dominated by a much more understated bunch.

Leicester City's dynamo will have his chance to pull back in front when the Foxes host Manuel Pellegrini's men on Tuesday, while Lukaku continues to reap the benefits of his recently rampant run.

Watford frontman Odion Ighalo also extended his hot streak on Monday by bagging his 14th of the 2015-16 campaign in the Hornets' 2-1 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur.

The Golden Boot race remains focused on forwards from outside the very elite teams in what's been a refreshingly open season so far, with the top-scorer table, standings and more broken down in detail ahead.

Home	Prediction	Away
Crystal Palace	0-0	Swansea City
Everton	3-4	Stoke City
Norwich City	2-0	Aston Villa
Watford	1-2	Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromwich Albion	1-0	Newcastle United
Arsenal	2-0	Bournemouth
Manchester United	0-0	Chelsea
West Ham United	2-1	Southampton

Position	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	19	12	3	4	33	18	+15	39
2	Leicester	18	11	5	2	37	25	+12	38
3	Tottenham	19	9	8	2	33	15	+18	35
4	Manchester City	18	11	2	5	37	20	+17	35
5	Crystal Palace	19	9	4	6	23	16	+7	31
6	Manchester United	19	8	6	5	22	16	+6	30
7	West Ham	19	7	8	4	28	23	+5	29
8	Watford	19	8	5	6	24	20	+4	29
9	Stoke	19	8	5	6	20	19	+1	29
10	Liverpool	18	7	6	5	21	22	-1	27
11	Everton	19	6	8	5	35	28	+7	26
12	Southampton	19	6	6	7	26	23	+3	24
13	West Bromwich Albion	19	6	5	8	18	24	-6	23
14	Chelsea	19	5	5	9	23	29	-6	20
15	Norwich	19	5	5	9	22	32	-10	20
16	Bournemouth	19	5	5	9	22	34	-12	20
17	Swansea	19	4	7	8	16	24	-8	19
18	Newcastle United	19	4	5	10	19	34	-15	17
19	Sunderland	18	3	3	12	19	37	-18	12
20	Aston Villa	19	1	5	13	15	34	-19	8

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jamie Vardy	Leicester City	15
2	Romelu Lukaku	Everton	15
3	Odion Ighalo	Watford	14
4	Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City	13
5	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	11
6	Olivier Giroud	Arsenal	10
7	Georginio Wijnaldum	Newcastle United	7
8	Sergio Aguero	Manchester City	7
9	Marko Arnautovic	Stoke City	7
10	Alexis Sanchez	Arsenal	6

Lurking Lukaku Lunges Into Joint-Lead

Everton's loss at the hands of Stoke City meant Lukaku's day ultimately ended in tears, but at least the Belgian had the comfort of a brace to ease his disdain with the disappointing home result.

The two goals netted in Monday's mad rush led him to join Vardy at the peak of the top-scorers list on 15 goals apiece, and Daniel Storey of Football 365 described the former Chelsea man as "unplayable":

One would be inclined to agree after seeing Lukaku net 11 goals in his last 10 games for the Toffees, who have grown almost completely reliant on their star forward to bring them results of late.

Some might have raised their eyebrows after seeing Everton fork out £28 million for the 22-year-old last year, but as Merseyside writer Richard Buxton insisted, the fee looks like superb value for money:

As long as Lukaku can continue to hulk his way through on goal, Everton boast one of Europe's biggest attacking threats; now the aim is to see their defence match his standards and start piecing results together.

And in a very similar tale, Watford appear to be in a similar boat with Ighalo after they too succumbed to defeat at home on Monday despite seeing their talismanic hitman get on the scoresheet.

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Spurs forward Son Heung-min netted a late winner for the north London visitors to ensure Ighalo's earlier equaliser counted for little in the end, although the Watford fans may not see it that way.

The Nigerian showed terrific close control with his back to the Tottenham goal to grab his goal, and Breathe Sport noted how he measured up against Europe's elite this league campaign:

"

League goals this season: Ighalo - 14 Suarez - 13 Ronaldo - 12 Aguero - 7 Messi - 5 pic.twitter.com/5tcy8Le9rw

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) December 28, 2015"

Ighalo also now has 30 goals to his name in 2015, having soared in last season's Championship campaign to lead Watford back into the top flight, but he's clearly not intent to let his form prevent him from thriving in England's first tier.

Hornets boss Quique Flores can perhaps consider his forward fortunate to have stayed on the pitch after hollering at an official after already receiving a yellow, but his goal will be the biggest impact remembered.