2023/24 EPL Season: Iwobi battles Awoniyi for top scorer, most assists honour
With just five games left to play in the Premier League, there looks to be a two-way battle between Alex Iwobi and Taiwo Awoniyi for the top scoring Nigerian and most assists provider in the Premier League this season.
Iwobi provided the most assists among Nigerian players in the Premier League last season while Awoniyi was the top scorer in his first season in the competition.
This season, Awoniyi is leading Iwobi on both counts, as it were. The injured Nothingham Forest forward has scored one goal more than Iwobi (6-5) and has provided more assists than the Fulham midfielder (3-2).
Last season, Iwobi’s seven assists were the joint most (with Peter Odemwingie) ever provided in a single Premier League season by a Nigerian while Awoniyi joined a few Nigerian players like Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Odemwingie and Emmanuel Dennis who scored 10 goals or more in their debut season in the Premier League.
Awoniyi’s injury which has accounted for the Nigerian missing 17 of the 34 games Nothingham Forest have played so far this season may have scuttled his plan of joining Aiyegbeni and Odemwingie as the Nigerians who have scored 10 goals or more in their first two seasons in the competition.
The 26 year old is however leading the race for both records so far this season.
If Iwobi should provide one more assist to equal the three Awoniyi has provided, he will become the standalone all-time Nigerian assists provider in Premier League season with 30, one more than Nwankwo Kanu.
