Manchester United of England striker, Odion Jude Ighalo had the best laugh on Sunday, despite spending only 60 seconds on the pitch, as a 2-0 win for The Red Devils away to Leicester City was just good enough to see his team into the UEFA Champions League at the expense of The Foxes, who had both Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi on from the start at King Power Stadium, megasportsarena.com reports.
However, while Iheanacho put up a tantalising performance and was found spraying passes or running at the opposing goal before he was replaced in the 57th minute, with Ndidi also full of sterling efforts for the duration of play, the day’s delight went to Ighalo, following the victory that put his side third on the English Premier League’s final table.
Ighalo did get into the highlights within the short spell had he on the pitch, as his gritty effort to win the ball led to a goal kick that was fumbled by Leicester’s goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel and led to Jesse Lingard netting the day’s second goal in the 97th minute, after Bruno Fenenades opened scoring from the penalty spot in the 70th minute to give all three points to the visitors.
Also in England on Sunday, Bukayo Saka spent 90 minutes on Arsenal’s bench in their 3-2 win at home against Watford, who did not dress Isaac Success and Tom Dele-Bashiru; Tammy Abraham played for Chelsea as 78th minute sub in place of Olivier Giroud while Ross Barkley also got off The Blues’ bench in the 88th minute of their team’s 2-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers to also qualify for the Champions League as fourth place on the final log.
While Fikayo Tomori was benched all evening long by Chelsea, Dele Alli was a second half sub for Tottenham Hotspur as he shook off injury to play the last ten minutes of his team’s 1-1 draw away to Crystal Palace in a London derby at Selhurst Park; while Norwich City had two Nigerian-born lads in action, as Adam Uche Idah replaced Teemu Pukki in the 77th and Akin Famewo took over from Kenny McLean in the 90th minute of the relegated side’s 5-0 loss away to Manchester City.
Dominic Solanke hit target for Bournemouth in the 45th minute, before giving way to fellow-Nigerian-born attacker, Philip Anyanwu Billing in the 65th minute, but their compatriot, Arnaut Danjuma was benched for the entire duration of their ’relegation escape enhancing’ 3-1 victory away to Everton, who did not dress Alex Iwobi.
Sadly, scoring on the last day of the season was just a drop in the ocean for Solanke, even as he maintained his recent run of good form and amazing accuracy in front of opposing nets, as his latest effort on Sunday was not enough to keep The Cherries in the EPL.
Eddie Howe’s side needed to win and hope that both Aston Villa and Watford lost in order to finish 17th and retain their place in the top flight, but The Villan’s 1-1 draw at West Ham United was enough to keep Dean Smith’s team up and condemn Watford and Bournemouth to another spell in the lower cadre English Championship.
On the other hand, Ighalo’s United and Chelsea sealed spots in next season’s Champions League, after both clubs won their final matches of the season to confirm their places in the top-four spots, which see them join title-winners, Liverpool and second-place Man City next season in the UCL; while Leicester and Tottenham settled for the UEFA Europa League, with Wolves left waiting for the result of the English FA Cup final to see if they can edge out Arsenal into Europe.
