Premier League Golden Boot Leaders As On January 2

The big news of the New Year's first match week is that Manchester United's Wayne Rooney has scored his first goal from open play since March 2010. This could be the beginning of a barrage of goals and that is an ominous sign for rival teams as Manchester United have consolidated their position as league leaders.

While Rooney's teammate Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov continued to lead the list of goal scorers in the Premier League, Man City's Carlos Tevez, who is the nearest to him, just two goals adrift with 12 to his name, missed three goals, for the asking, against Blackpool.

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Players who went up the list in comparison with their positions after match week 20 are Chelsea's Didier Drogba, Sunderland's Darren Bent, Tottenham's Gareth Bale and Arsenal Samir Nasri.

Another player in close contention to overwhelm Dimitar Berbatov at the top of the list is Newcastle's Andy Carroll. The prolific striker failed to add to his tally of 12 goals, as his side triumphed over Wigan by a solitary goal scored by Shola Ameobi.

In good news for Chelsea fans, Lampard is back to his goal scoring ways, along with Drogba and Terry, helped himself to a strike against Aston Villa.

Here's the list of scorers with seven or more goals as on January 2. This list is due to change when the next set of matches take place, on New Year's Day, January 1:

14 goals: Dimitar Berbatov

12 goals: Carlos Tevez

11 goals: Andy Carroll

9 goals: Didier Drogba, Tim Cahill

8 goals: Darren Bent, Florent Malouda, Kevin Nolan, Rafael Van der Vaart

7 goals: Gareth Bale, Marouane Chamakh, Samir Nasri,

Premier League Golden Boot Leaders As On January 2

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