Silva: Why Iwobi was subbed off for the 118th time in 275 Premier League games

Alex Iwobi was subbed off for the 11th time in 21 games so far this season in Fulham’s 2-0 defeat of Leicester City at the King Power stadium on Saturday.

The Nigerian has started all 21 Premier League games Fulham have played this season and he was hauled off at half time of the game with manager, Marco Silva revealing the Nigerian was substituted for fitness reason.

‘Iwobi was not substituted because of his performance. He had a difficult 24 hours before the game. In the morning, we assessed him, and he was okay to play. But there were doubts if he would have been able to play the full game. At half time, he was not feeling so well, and we decided to change him,’ Silva to West London Sport.

Iwobi is now the most subbed off Nigerian in the Premier League both this season (11) and all-time (118).

The 28 year old, one of only two Nigerians to have started every game of a Premier League season will be keen to be back and start for the 22nd time this season as he hopes to become the first Nigerian to start all games in two Premier League seasons.

Iwobi currently holds the most assists by a Nigerian (32), the most minutes played (18,664) and the most shots (336) in Premier League history.