A goal and an assist, ruthless Kelechi Iheanacho on song again
As Iheanacho himself described it, it was a massive three points for the Foxes, who consolidated on their third-place in the league table.
The win took them seven points away from fifth place West Ham, giving a massive boost to their quest to finish in the Champions League places.
Unlike the 2019/2020 season when they couldn’t sustain their push, Iheanacho has stepped up to help Leicester City when they needed him most.
He has been in scorching form, and on Monday night at the King Power Stadium, he ran the game.
He was Leicester City’s best player on the night, playing behind that pocket in front of the midfield and connecting well with Jamie Vardy.
He played with the conviction of a man in form; that’s the confidence a run of games have given him, confidence. He exuded all through Monday night with his runs, touches and passes.
After a lacklustre first half from Leicester City, he created an equaliser in the 50th minute.
In the first half, he moved around the edge of the Palace area, looking to make that pass or have an effort on goal.
In the second half, he made more runs behind the Palace defence, and that’s how his assist and goal came.
He ran to the byline where he controlled a pass, turned and laid the ball for wing-back Timothy Castagne who had made a run into the box to score with his left foot.
From then on, Iheanacho became more dangerous, playing those short passes to Jamie Vardy, who should have scored at least a goal on the night.
Several times, both Iheanacho and Vardy connected so well, finding each other with short passes in and around the Place ball without even looking.
In the 80th, Iheanacho got the winner with a fine goal.
He made a run into the box again to control a long pass from Jonny Evans, turned to his stronger left side, shifted the ball once and blasted past the Palace goalkeeper.
“It was a great finish, I enjoyed that one,” he told Leicester City’s in-house TV channel after the game.
“I think I that moment I wanted to control the ball; it’s just one V one; I wasn’t thinking about anything, just shift and shoot, it could go anywhere.”
Iheanacho is enjoying himself and is finally showing what he is capable of. His performance on Monday night was a complete contrast to what happened in this reversed fixture when he missed a penalty and posted an awful performance.
For context, that 1-1 draw in late December 2020 was his only second Premier League start. On Monday night, he had his eighth consecutive starts in the league alone.
“He’s a talented player and I think about the difference with him tonight to when he played Crystal Place the last time; when he played them around the Christmas time, he wasn’t playing so much,” Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports after the game.
“When you are a striker in particular, that run of games is important but over the last few months he’s been absolutely incredible.”
In the form of his life, the 24-year-old Nigerian has now scored 17 goals in all competition this season, his best-season tally of his career so far.
Senior man is currently unstoppable.
