Leicester City of England midfielder, Kelechi Iheanacho is set to get his 100th appearance in the English Premier League this weekend, as he prepares to line out with The Foxes against Norwich City on Saturday, megasportsarena.com reports.
Iheanacho has recently hit a rich vein of top form, with goals from his last two matches, which puts him in line for a role in the game at King Power Stadium, and he would go on to become the 15th Nigerian player to get a milestone 100 matches in England’s top-flight.
The former Manchester City midfielder-cum-attacker will take after his Leicester teammate, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi as the next Nigeria to reach a century of games in the EPL, joining a list that also has Shola Ameobi, Nwankwo Kanu, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, John Mikel Obi, Joseph Ikpo Yobo, Victor Moses, Victor Anichebe and Celestine Babayaro.
Also on the roll call of Nigerian stars to play 100 or more games in England’s top-flight since it all started in the 1992/93 season are Efan Ekoku, Peter Osaze Odemwingie, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Alex Iwobi and Dickson Paul Etuhu, with Iheanacho now set to join the rundown this Saturday.
This comes after ‘Kelele’ got his EPL debut in a game for Man City against Watford on August 29, 2015, when he replaced Raheem Sterling in the 89th minute, after which he went on to play 46 matches for The Citizens before joining Leicester, with which he has played 53 top-flight ties.
He has scored against 13 EPL clubs during his run of 99 games in the elite class, being Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, Hull City, Southampton, Bournemouth, Manchester United, Everton, Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Swansea City, Stoke City and Crystal Palace.
Interestingly, Iheanacho has scored in all four of his competitive appearances for Leicester this season, in which his club have set many records already, yet are still chasing more and, for this weekend’s clash with The Canaries, he will be 23 years and 72 days old.
His 99 games in the EPL include 29 starts and 70 as substitute, a total of 3,118 minutes on the pitch and 18 goals, of which he will aim to make it another bull’s eye in three games, as he aims to add more luster to the impressive and swarming stats already being bandied by his club, who many observers are rating as title contenders again for the second time in four years.
The Foxes can on Saturday equal their longest winning streak in all competitions, being 10 in a row, which was set between December 1962 and March 1963; while they have already set a new club record of eight consecutive top-flight victories, while scoring at least twice in each.
The club’s longest run of league victories is nine in a row from December 2013 to February 2014, while they were still in the English Championship, but Brendan Rodgers’ side would become only the seventh club to win nine successive English Premier League fixtures.
The Foxes could also go nine games unbeaten at home from the start of a top-flight season for the first time since 1962, having lost just one of their past 14 league matches at the venue of this weekend’s game, King Power Stadium, where they have won 11 and drawn two.
Interestingly, one of Iheanacho’s closest pals in the team, James Maddison scored 16 goals in 53 appearances for Norwich before joining Leicester in 2018, and the club currently have the EPL’s best defensive record, with just 10 goals conceded.
The Foxes’ top scorer, Jamie Vardy has netted in eight consecutive Premier League appearances so far this season, marking his best streak since a record 11-match run in 2015, and he already has a shot conversion rate of 39%, netting from 16 of his 41 attempts on goal in this campaign.
