5 most underrated strikers in the English Premier League

With Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah scoring goals for fun, from every position and often in bunches, it's difficult for other strikers in the English Premier League to get noticed. Week in week out, Kane and Salah grab the headlines with their heroics, with a bit of Sergio Agüero, Romelu Lukaku and such mixed in there as well.

The goalscoring machines deserve all the plaudits they are getting on a regular basis, but we should talk more about other strikers as well. Many forwards in the league are flying under the radar and deserve to be talked about a lot more. Here's a look at five of them.

All stats via whoscored.com.

#5 Charlie Austin (Southampton)

Austin has been injured most of the season, which means that it's not surprising that he hasn't gotten any praise, but his performances do deserve attention.

Health has been an issue for a while with Austin and he's played in only 16 Premier League games this season, but he's one of the deadliest strikers in the league when fit. He has scored six goals this season while starting only five games, getting his goals with only 14 shots on target.

The Saints were arguably playing their best football of the season in November-December when Austin was in the starting XI. He bagged five of his goals during a seven-match stretch before getting injured right before the busy Christmas period. Southampton has won just one of 11 Premier League fixtures since then and they haven't scored in three of the last four.

Southampton has been among the lowest-scoring sides in the league this season and their toothless performances up front are the main reason why they find themselves in relegation trouble. Life would be a lot rosier if Austin had managed to stay fit, as he's scored nine goals in his last 13 Premier League starts. He really can't return quick enough for them.

#4 Chris Wood (Burnley)

Chris Wood scored twice and recorded an assist in a recent 3-0 win over West Ham

Wood is another player, who's been sorely missed by his team. The results tell the story, as Wood got injured on December 23 in a 3-0 loss to Tottenham and Burnley didn't win a single league game before he returned in March, and they have won both since then with the big New Zealander scoring three of the five goals in 2-1 and 3-0 wins.

In total, Burnley has lost just four games this season with Wood in the lineup and they have managed to win only three games without the former Leeds man. He's scored seven of their 27 goals, assisting one as well.

It makes you wonder what really could've been if Wood hadn't suffered a hamstring injury, which kept him out for three months. Burnley was hanging around the top-four places before it happened and while they are still flying high at seventh, European football will most likely remain only as a dream.

#3 Oumar Niasse (Everton)

Oumar Niasse is the unsung hero at Goodison Park

Niasse is a player you really have to feel sorry for, as his talent is going unnoticed not only in the league but at his club as well, which is a big shame.

The Senegalese striker, who joined in the 2016 January transfer window, was frozen out from the team by Ronald Koeman, who arrived a few months later, as Niasse famously didn't even have his own locker in the dressing room during the Dutchman's first year in charge. However, he went from zero to hero real quick.

Everton was playing some really dire stuff at the start of the season before Niasse was suddenly inserted into the lineup and he scored his first two Premier League goals in a comeback win over Bournemouth. He went on to have a nice streak of five goals in seven games before Sam Allardyce arrived and sadly he was out of the team once again.

Allardyce brought in Cenk Tosun from Besiktas in January, pushing Niasse down the pecking order, but he has still performed well when given the chance. He has two goals in seven appearances in 2018, mostly as a sub.

With seven goals, Niasse is still the second-best scorer at the club behind Wayne Rooney, even though he's played just 925 minutes thus far, which makes his goals ratio 132 minutes. For comparison, Javier Hernandez is fifth on the league's all-time list, recording 130.2 minutes per goal.

#2 Glenn Murray (Brighton)

Glenn Murray is the fourth-best English scorer in the Premier League this season

Murray recently grabbed the headlines in a surprising win against Arsenal with his goal turning out to be the game-winner in a 2-1 result, but his form deserved recognition even sooner.

The former Crystal Palace man started 2018 off really well, getting four goals in six games across all competitions in January and he's quietly kept the run going. The goal against Arsenal finished off a streak of five goals in five games, which has catapulted Murray to 11 league goals that make him the fourth highest scorer among Englishmen behind Kane, Raheem Sterling, and Jamie Vardy.

Murray has ended up scoring nearly half of Brighton's goal, as the team is sitting on 28 goals. As a 34-year-old, he's having one of the most successful seasons of his career, with his account up to 13 goals across all competitions. In the end, he should easily break the 15-goal mark, which is currently his third highest ever output in a season in any league.

#1 Jordan Ayew (Swansea)

Jordan Ayew is a valuable player for Swansea both offensively and defensively

The younger Ayew isn't an out and out striker, but he's filled that role since Carlos Carvalhal took the reigns at the Liberty Stadium, and he's done it really well.

Ayew has scored a lot of vital goals in the New Year, helping the team beat Arsenal and West Ham, while his goal also led to a valuable point away from home in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle. He also scored in the FA Cup against Sheffield Wednesday to take the side to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1964.

Ayew has surprised with his build-up play while making it tough for the opposition with his tricky feet. He's also provided two assists this season in the league, so a big percentage of the team's goals (25) have come with Ayew being involved (8).

But it isn't all offense with Ayew, the 26-year-old Ghanian is also one of the top defensive forwards in the league. He's so far recorded 2.1 successful tackles per game, which is the highest among all attacking players - Richarlison is the closest with 1.9 - and he also has 0.8 interceptions per game to his name, which is among the highest marks in the league for forwards as well.

The Swans basically would be doomed already if it weren't for Ayew and the effect of him missing has actually been clearly seen in the last couple of outings. The team didn't record a single shot attempt when Ayew was sent off early in a recent game at Huddersfield and a run of seven consecutive home wins ended with a 0-3 loss to Tottenham in a game, which Ayew missed because of a three-game suspension. Carvalhal's men ended up getting just two shots on goal in the game and a total of only three attempts.