Nigerian international striker Kelechi Iheanacho will be seeking to be the sole highest scoring African in domesctic cup competitions in England when he files out with Leicester City against Chelsea in the final of the 2021 Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley stadium.
Iheanacho and Chelsea legend Didier Drogba are both tied on 22 goals each as joint top scorers. While the Nigerian has outscored Ivory Coast’s Drogba in the FA Cup (14 goals to 12), the Chelsea legend has scored two more than the Nigerian in the League Cup (10 to 8).
Today’s final will not only afford Iheanacho the chance to score his 15th in the FA Cup but also to take his total domestic cups tally to 23, one more than Drogba.
Iheanacho will also be aiming to become the sole top scorer in the FA Cup this term. The Super Eagle is currently joint top scorer with five others with four goals each but the former Manchester City star will only be vying for the award with out-of-favour Chelsea forward, Nigeria-born Tammy Abraham.
Abraham who has pledged his international allegiance to England has featured just twice for Chelsea in the last two and a half months and may not feature in today’s final and this can give Iheanacho the chance to claim the award if he scores just once.
This will be the bonafide Nigerian’s first FA Cup final and he will be seeking to be the Foxes hero for the second consecutive game in the competition as it was his goal in the semi-final win against Southampton that sent Brendan Rodgers’ side to their fist final in 52 years.
If the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup winner scores the winner today, he will be emulating former Nigeria captain, Nwankow Kanu’s feat for Portstmouth in the 2008 final when the former Arsenal star scored the only goal of the match to hand Pompey the coveted trophy.
Interestingly, Chelsea remain the only top London side Iheanacho is yet to score against despite featuring eight times against the Thomas Tuchel side.
The Nigerian has scored four times against Crystal Palace, three against West Ham, two versus Tottenham and once each against Arsenal and Fulham.