Nigeria forward Simy Nwankwo’s Italian Serie A club, Crotone may be flirting with relegation barely seven months after they got promoted to the top-flight but the Super Eagle has been fairly consistent in front of goal as he has banged in eight goals and provided two assists in 25 games so far this term.
The lanky forward will thus be seeking to add to his goals tally and score for the second consecutive Serie A game for the third time this season in what will be his 26th appearance this term and 70th overall.
If he scores,it will be his ninth of the season and 19th in 70 games since he scored his first goal in the competition incidentally against this evening’s vistors to the Stadio Ezio Scida, Torino. The Nigerian right footed in the equaliser in a 1-1 draw in April 2017 for his first goal in the top flight in Italy.
At the Armando Maradona stadium in Naples, all eyes will be on Victor Osimhen as he bids to return to Serie A action after overcoming a head injury in Bergamo against Atalanta last month.
Napoli will play host to Bologna and the Super Eagles forward will be aiming to return with a bang by scoring his third goal of this campaign. The Nigerian has scored twice in 10 league games with the second coming in the 1-0 defeat of Bologna at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on November 8,2020.
In England, defender Semi Ajayi will be seeking a return to the Baggies starting line-up against Newcastle at the Hawthorns after he was left on the bench for the entire duration of the 1-0 loss to visiting Everton last time out.
Ajayi served a one match ban following his sending off in the goalless draw at Burnley last month and was overlooked by gaffer,Sam Allardyce when the Toffees came calling four days ago to take all three points.
The Nigerian has started all 24 games he featured in so far this term and will be looking to make it 25 starts in 25 appearances in only his first season in the English top-flight.
Overall it will be his 71st game for West Brom in all competitions since he joined from Rotherham United in the 2019/20 season and played a huge role in getting the Baggies promoted to the Premier League at the end of last season.He has scored twice in the Premier League so far this term and eight goals in all competitions since last season.
At Anfield, the Nigerian quartet of Ola Aina, Tosin Adarabioyo, Ademola Lookman and Josh Maja will resume their quest of getting Fulham out of the relegation zone when they face free-falling Liverpool who have lost their last five home games in a row.
In the first meeting at Craven Cottage last December, Lookman,on loan from German Bundesliga side, RB Leipzig provided the assist for Bobby Reid to give Fulham the lead in the tie that ended 1-1.
Lookman will be seeking to score his fifth goal in 25 games while Aina will be hoping to make his 24th start in 24 appearances this term. Maja, on loan from Ligue 1 side, Bordeaux will be targeting his third goal in seven appearances after scoring on his full debut for the Cottagers last month.
In Belgium, Paul Onuachu will be targetting his 25th goal in 29 appearances this term for RC Genk who take on Cercle Brugge at the Luminus Arena in Genk.
Onuachu is the top scorer in the Belgian Pro League so far this term with 24 goals and the free-scoring Nigerian will be seeking to score his third goal in four appearances against the visitors.
He scored a brace in his side’s 5-1 demolition of today’s opponent last November at the Jan-Breydel-Stadion in Brugge.If he scores,he will extend his lead on top of the top scorers chart in Belgium by five goals ahead of Oud-Heverlee Leuven’s Thomas Henry.
At the Türk Telekom Stadium in Istanbul,Turkey, Henry Onyekuru will be desperate to end his goal drought that has extended to three games after starting his third season in the Super Lig on fire, scoring three goals and as assist in his first two games.
Onyekuru will also be hoping to score for the third time in four games against Sivasspor, the visitors to the Türk Telekom Stadium. The Nigerian has featured 48 times in the Super Lig for Galatasaray across three seasons and has scored 18 times and bagged nine assists. He has made 64 appearances for the club in all competitions and has banged in 20 goals and provided 10 assists.