Super Eagles Euro Leagues Preview: Ndidi gunning for 189th start, 80th win in 203 EPL games; Okoye looking to stop Lookman

Wilfred Ndidi has started all 10 games Leicester City have played in the Premier League so far this season and the 27-year-old will be looking to start his 11th game when he files out with his teammates at Old Trafford Sunday afternoon where they will visit Manchester United.

If he starts, it will also be his 189th in 203 appearances in the competition since he made his debut in January 2017 after switching Belgium for England. It will be his 11th start in 11 games against Manchester United.

Ndidi has won just once in 10 appearances against the Red Devils in the Premier League and a win on Sunday will not just be his second in 11 games against their host but also his 80th in 203 appearances. He has neither scored nor provided an assist against Manchester United.

At the City Ground in Nottingham, Taiwo Awoniyi will be seeking to start his first Premier League game in over a month when his side, Nottingham Forest host Newcastle United in a battle of two in-form teams.

Awoniyi has not been in the kind of form he was in his first two seasons at the club and in the Premier League and the Nigerian has neither scored nor bagged any assist in the seven appearances he has made so far.

The 27-year-old has featured twice against the Magpies since he made his Premier League debut in August 2022, incidentally against Sunday’s opponent at St James’ Park.

Awoniyi’s Nigerian compatriot at the club, Ola Aina will be seeking to make his 11th start in 11 Premier League games this season and the 28-year-old will be aiming to extend his unbeaten run against the Magpies to three games after winning one and drawing the other of the two appearances.

Aina scored his first Premier League goal of the season in Nottingham Forest’s 3-0 defeat of West Ham last weekend and the former Chelsea, Fulham and Hull City player will be looking to score twice in a Premier League season for the second time after doing so in the 2020/21 season for Fulham.

In Spain, Chrisantus Uche will be looking to make his 12th start in 13 LaLiga games in his first season in the Spanish topflight when his club, Getafe host Girona at the Coliseum.

Uche scored on his LaLiga debut and has featured in all games in the competition so far despite joining from the lower division last summer.

At the Reale Arena, Umar Sadiq, whose invitation for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games against Benin Republic and Rwanda has generated a lot of controversies will be hoping he gets the opportunity to show how good he really is when his club, Real Sociedad host high flying Barcelona.

Sadiq has started just two of the six games he has featured in for Sociedad in the LaLiga this season and has not scored.

Against a rampaging Barcelona side who he will be facing for the first time in the competition, Sadiq will be seeking to become the seventh Nigerian to score against the Catalan giants after Odion Ighalo, Ramon Azeez, Christopher Ohenhen, Finidi George, Kalu Uche and Samuel Chukwueze.

In Belgium, Tolu Arokodare will be eager to score his ninth goal in 14 appearances in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League when his side, Genk face Union St.Gilloise at the Stade Joseph Marien in a match week 14 fixture.

The Festac, Lagos born forward has scored twice and bagged three assists in his last three games in the competition and will hope to continue in that light to prove Super Eagles interim gaffer, Austin Eguavoen wrong for not inviting him for the games against the Cheetahs of Benin Republic and the Amavubi of Rwanda later this month.

At the Olympisch Stadion in Antwerp, Raphael Onyedika will be seeking to help his side, Club Brugge to their third away win and fourth win generally in four games when they face their host, Beerschot.

The 23-year-old has started 10 0f the 11 games he has played for the club in the competition so far this term and all three since he served a one-match suspension early last month against Union St.Gilloise.

In Italy, it will be a battle between two brothers as Ademola Lookman faces Maduka Okoye. While the former will be looking to make Udinese the 17th side in the Serie A to get a win against, the latter, who has made 37 saves so far this season, will be looking to keep his fourth clean sheet.

The question many Nigerians will be asking is: Can Okoye keep out Lookman from scoring against him for the first time in the Serie A and for the second time in four games against Udinese?

At the Ibrox stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, Cyriel Dessers will be aiming for his 32nd goal in 74 games across all competitions and his first in the Scottish Premiership since August when he netted twice in Rangers’ 6-0 mauling of Ross County.

The 29-year-old will be aiming to score his third goal in four games against Hearts, the visitors to Ibrox stadium on Sunday.