Super Eagles Euro Preview: Iheanacho still looking for first league goal in 16 months, Sadiq targets first LaLiga goal in almost one year!

Kelechi Iheanacho will be hoping he scores in his second game for Middlesbrough in the Sky Bet Championship after he failed to inspire on his debut at Bramall Lane mid-week where he failed to stop his Riverside team from crumbling to their 11th defeat of the season and three in their last three games.

The 28-year-old, who joined the Sky Bet Championship side on loan from Spanish LaLiga side, Sevilla, was labelled as lazy by Middlesbrough fans after just one game and the Super Eagles star has an arduous task of impressing the fans when his club hosts Watford on Saturday.

A goal for the former Man City and Leicester City forward will be his first in the league since October 2023 when he scored for the Foxes in their 3-1 win at Swansea.

Still in the Sky Bet Championship, another loanee, Emmanuel Dennis who has gotten another chance at redeeming his image, this time at Blackburn Rovers will be hoping to seize the opportunity.

Dennis, who was electrifying in his first season in England and the Premier League when he netted 10 goals and provided six assists in 33 appearances.

Since that time, the 27 year old went off the radar, scoring just twice in the Premier League in 19 appearances for Nottingham Forest the following season (2022/23).

Dennis was impressive in his first game for Blackburn in the 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Wolves and will be expected to do event better this weekend when his club host FA Cup giant killers, Plymouth Argyle at Ewood Park.

Semi Ajayi will be hoping to play for some minutes for the West Brom when they visit The Den to face their host, Millwall in their matchday 32 game.

The Nigeria defender returned to the substitutes’ bench in the Baggies’ 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at the Hawthorns last week after missing 19 games due to the injury he suffered since last October.

In the Premier League, Alex Iwobi will be looking to extend at least five wanted and unwanted Premier League records he set as a Nigerian in the history of the competition when he visits the City Ground with his club, Fulham in a matchweek 25 game against Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi’s Nottingham Forest.

Just before the weekend of FA Cup games in England, the former Arsenal player made his 24th straight start in Fulham’s 2-1 win at Newcastle United to set another ‘record’ by a Nigerian in the history of the competition.

The start was Iwobi’s 217th in 277 appearances and it is the highest number of starts made by a Nigerian player in Premier League history.

Prior to the game at St James’ Park, Iwobi was tied on 216 with Yakubu Aiyegbeni (252 games) but the 28-year-old moved clear of the retired Super Eagles striker to stand alone as the record holder, as it were.

Iwobi, also on the day, extended one of his three ‘Nigerian best records’ he holds in the competition.

The former Arsenal star’s compatriot at Craven Cottage, Calvin Bassey will be making his 53rd appearance in the Premier League for Fulham.

It will also be the 25 year old’s fourth game against Forest with two wins and one loss recorded so far in three games.

Ola Aina will be seeking to score his first goal in four appearances against Fulham.

The 28 year old has scored twice as a wing back so far this season, the most he has in a Premier League season. Another goal on Saturday will take his tally for the season to three which will be a personal record for him.

At the King Power stadium, Wilfred Ndidi will be seeking to record his first victory against Arsenal since September 2019 when the Foxes won 2-0 and his third win in 12 appearances.
Ndidi has started 193 Premier League games this season, the fourth most by a Nigerian in Premier League history.

The Leicester City midfielder has won 80 of the 207 games he has played in the competition and another win this weekend will keep him just seven away from equaling Celestine Babayaro as the Super Eagle with the sixth highest number of wins in Premier League history.

In Italy, Ademola Lookman will miss his third Serie A game in a row after he was not listed in the Atalanta team that will take on visiting Cagliari at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo.

Lookman has scored 10 times in the 19 appearances he has made in the competition so far this term and 34 in 80 appearances which makes him the joint second most prolific Nigerian in Serie A history with Simy Nwankwo (116 appearances) and behind Victor Osimhen who netted 65 times in 108 games.

At the Estadio de la Ceramica in Villarreal, on loan forward, Sadiq Umar will be looking to score his first LaLiga goal for his ‘new club’, Valencia who play away at Villarreal.

The Nigerian is yet to score in the LaLiga this season and last scored in March 2024 when he headed in Real Sociedad’s first goal in their 3-2 win away at Granada CF.

In Germany, Victor Boniface will be seeking to score his eighth Bundesliga goal in 13 appearances this season, 22nd in 36 games since he joined Bayer Leverkusen in 2023 and first goal and win in three games against Bayern Munich.