Leicester City of England attacker, Kelechi Iheanacho hit home an 87th minute goal for The Foxes, but his effort was not good enough to help them snatch a point at home against Newcastle United, megasportsarena.com reports.
Iheanacho’s latest goal in a truly edifying season was the second in a late rally for the hosts, who went for broke when they were already 4-0 down, but it was just too little too late for the 2016 champions.
On an evening Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi was rather anonymous in 90 minutes of action, Iheanacho’s goal wrapped up a six-goal thriller, as Newcastle took a giant stride towards survival after securing a resounding victory.
Five years to the day since lifting the title against Everton at same venue, the hosts needed to find the spirit which saw them through that season – but the response was far from immediate, but they were dented in their UEFA Champions League hopes at King Power Stadium.
Steve Bruce’s side moved up to 13th, 12 points clear of 18th-placed Fulham, who still have four games to play, as fears of another end-of-season collapse for the Foxes in their bid to finish in the top four showed signs of materialising.
Joe Willock took full advantage of a Caglar Soyuncu error to continue his rich vein of form (22) before Paul Dummett rose unopposed to double Newcastle’s lead (34), with Brendan Rodgers’ team visibly unsettled by the late withdrawal of Jonny Evans prior to kick-off through injury.
Callum Wilson pounced on a Timothy Castagne mistake to add to Leicester’s woes (64) before making it 4-0 from an acute angle (74) following a slack backpass from the unnerved Castagne.
Marc Albrighton reduced the deficit with a rifled finish (80), before Iheanacho halved the arrears (87) but it would prove scant consolation, as Iheanacho’s dummy allowed Albrighton to run onto Jamie Vardy’s pass to cut across his shot and send an unerring strike high into the top corner beyond the dive of Dubravka.
Newcastle were wobbling when Iheanacho notched his customary strike, collecting Perez’s pass before reversing his shot into the bottom corner for his 11th Premier League goal in eight games. Vardy was then dramatically denied by Dubravka from Luke Thomas’ flick-on to ensure there would not be an unexpectedly tense finale.
Iheanacho’s goal came few hours after he gained two nominations for the past month, with another shot at EPL best player and best goal gongs for April; thereby enacting same feat for the second month running with double-nominations.
Consequently, Tottenham Hotspur’s former coach, Tim Sherwood opined that Iheanacho is now an important member of Leicester’s squad and The Foxes’ coach, Brendan Rodgers cannot afford to drop him from the starting line-up.
For a while in his career, it looked like Iheanacho would not fulfill his talent, but the UAE 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup gold medalist and most valuable player has now become the precocious lad that has made the biggest impact for Leicester in the last two months.
Since the start of March, ‘Kels’ has been involved with 15 goals in ten matches across all competitions for The Foxes, all of which he started, which is a testament to the player and the coaching that he has received.
Iheanacho’s form has now attracted superlatives from Sherwood, who said on The Weekend Preview: “He is undroppable, fantastic goals that he scores. I feel sorry for him, he has come from Manchester City, he probably thought he was going to play every minute of every game.
“Now he has kept himself right, he’s very professional, he’s had the opportunity and he’s showing everyone what he can do.”
