Leicester City of England attacker, Kelechi Iheanacho has gained some sympathy over his effort that appeared to be a goal in Monday’s English Premier League fixture away to Arsenal, as former Liverpool striker, Emil Heskey says the referee should have allowed it to stand, megasportsarena.com reports.
It would have been the first time Iheanacho would score in three straight EPL matches and could have helped his side snatch a shock win away to The Gunners, but they ended up battling back to force a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium, after which Heskey expressed sympathy for the Super Eagles star.
The draw set Leicester back in the race for the EPL’s UEFA Champions League spots, as they dropped to fourth position on the log, behind Chelsea who won 3-2 away to Crystal Palace, but Heskey insists it would have a different story had Iheanacho’s sizzler been allowed to stand.
Instead of a third goal on the bounce for Iheanacho, a late scrambled effort by Jamie Vardy saved the day for The Foxes against Arsenal, for who Bukayo Saka was in the starting line-up and got a superb assist on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 21st minute opening goal.
Saka’s low cross across goalmouth helped Aubameyang put the hosts ahead heading into the interval and, though Vardy’s late equalizer ensured the game finished honours even, Heskey stressed that it could have been a different story had Iheanacho‘s 34th minute effort counted.
Iheanacho had the ball in the back of the net but it was disallowed after a video assistant review (VAR) review but, while he was adjudged to have fouled Sead Kolasinac before putting the ball into the net, Heskey opined that Arsenal’s Bosnian left-back ran into the Nigerian first.
Heskey stated: “When you actually look closely, the foul was actually on Iheanacho first, running into him and then obviously he does not need to swing his arm out. A lot of time, that’s your first instinct when someone does this but it’s a great cross from Vardy.”
