The Golden Shot - the winner!

The Golden Shot is a race with a difference. It tracks the Premier League players who have hit the most shots without scoring. Who will be top of the pile come May?

Papa Bouba Diop has been officially knocked off his perch as the least dangerous goal threat in The Premier League! After winning the competition last season by failing to score from a league-high 48 shots in The Premier League, he has seen his inaugural record smashed by Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing, who attempted an incredible 60 shots (20 of which were on target) without scoring in the league this season.

Downing’s achievement is all the more impressive given that his inability to find the back of the net extended to penalties as well, as the winger also twice sent attempts wide from the spot. One cannot help but wonder whether if Downing had been able to convert some of his chances into goals, Gareth Southgate’s side wouldn’t be playing Championship football next season.

There is perhaps something in the water in the North-West, as three of Downing’s four main rivals for this season’s Golden Shot crown played at Bolton at some point this season – Kevin Nolan, Fabrice Muamba and Gavin McCann all failed to find the net in the recently-finished Premier League season despite a glut of opportunitites.

Special mention should go to two players not in the list this time around – Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen who, after 37 efforts, finally found the net three days from the end of the season, and Ashley Cole who, with only three minutes remaining in the 2008/09 Premier League, ended his goalscoring drought after 22 unsuccessful attempts to evade a mention on our list.