Iheanacho now a top Fox as Vardy struggles for form
Leicester City have found a very unlikely hero in Nigerian international Kelechi Iheanacho in recent times. The 24-year old Owerri born forward has been the beam in attack for the Foxes at a period their main taps of goals have suddenly dried up.
A former Manchester City youngster with high promise, Iheanacho seems headed to surpassing his best ever Premier League season – in 2015/16 when he scored eight goals for the Citizens. The forward is currently on six Premier League goals.
His latest three came in the 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United in the Sunday 14th March league game. He has now scored five goals in the last three matches and seven in the last 12 games.
A few weeks ago, Harvey Barnes, Jamie Vardy and James Maddison were the main sources of goals for the Foxes. The three Englishmen were on son and none would have thought of the Owerri-born forward as a savior someday. Well it is happening now.
Vardy is off color, and hasn’t scored in seven games. Maddison and Barnes are out injured and it is Iheanacho keeping the Leicester flag flying up there. His three goals against Sheffield made him the fifth Nigerian player to score a hat trick in the English top flight.
He has joined a league of Nigerian big boys that has Nwankwo Kanu (hat trick against Chelsea in 1999); Efan Ikoku (hat trick against Everton in 1993); Yakubu Aiyegbeni (four hat tricks, against Portsmouth, Portsmouth {2004}, Fulham {2007}, Swansea {2011}) and Peter Odemwingie (hat trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers (2012).
It is unsurprising that as the value of Iheanacho rises at Leicester City, and in the Premier League, there’s more and more following of the league and much interest back in his home country, as SportyTrader rates the betting sites most followed there. With the team set to face Manchester United and Manchester City in the next two matches the top 6 bookmakers in Nigeria have these matches listed, including Bet9ja, 1xBet, Marathon Bet, Nairabet, Betwinner and Cloudbet.
The crucial importance of Iheanacho to Brendan Rodgers’ side especially at this point of the season can be easily captured by going back a few months ago, to last season. Towards the close of the 2019/20 campaign, the team really wobbled towards the finish line as they held out for a slot in the Champions League.
They were out of form and mostly off color, and only managed one win in their last five matches of the season. While Vardy was in good form, most of the team’s top players were not. As a result, the team would stagger to the final game of the season, against Manchester United, with both needing a win to guarantee Champions League football.
Leicester had lost the earlier game, against Tottenham and would have done with even a draw in the United game, but went on to lose 2-0 through late goals from Bruno Frenandes and Jesse Lingard. As a result, they finished fifth and missed out on Champions League football.
The team is currently third, eight points above fifth placed West Ham United and after last season’s failures, Brendan Rodgers will know better to preserve his gem of the moment, Iheanacho as his other top players nurse injuries or seek a return to top form.
