Former Manchester City star Micah Richards believes Sergio Aguero will miss out on the Premier League Golden Boot this term due to the rotation made by Citizens boss Pep Guardiola. The Argentina international is currently the league’s top scorers with eight goals this term but there have already been a couple of instances where he has started off the bench.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Richards said that Mohamed Salah has a good chance of winning the individual accolade, given he is greedy in front of goal and starts regularly for Liverpool. He added that Aguero is probably the best striker in the Premier League but he may lose out on the award due to Guardiola’s tendency to rotate him with Gabriel Jesus on some occasions.

He told: “Mohamed Salah will win the Golden Boot this season. He’s greedy around the box and he’ll benefit from playing every game because won’t rotate him unless they absolutely have to. Salah will be pushed by the likes of Mane, Kane and Aguero but he’ll pip them to the prize. In terms of natural goalscorers, Aguero is the best but Pep tries to rotate his forwards so he won’t get as many games as Salah.”

While the likes of Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have been regularly completing the 90 minutes this season, the same has not been the case with Aguero, who has managed an average of just 67 minutes on the playing field this term. As such, he does have the luxury of completing a full game unlike his Premier League counterparts and that could hamper his prospects of topping the goalscoring charts come the end of the season.

City are currently playing catch up to Liverpool at the top of the table and they are presently five points behind the Merseyside giants. Still, they are regarded by many as the favourites to win the Premier League crown, considering they have the experience of getting over the line unlike the Reds, who have not won the top-flight title for more than three decades.