The last-goal banker to be on at the end of Man City’s Stoke trip
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Like his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has used teenage forward Kelechi Iheanacho sparingly during his short reign at the Etihad, but another late showing from the Nigeria international can prove punters’ delight away to Stoke.
Iheanacho, whose middle name really is ‘Promise’, managed a fantastic 14-goal haul in all competitions for the two-time Premier League champions last season, his debut campaign in the first-team squad.
To put that into context, Manchester United’s Anthony Martial only managed 17, despite making 15 more appearances and three times as many starts.
As you would expect from a regular substitute, a large chunk of the 6ft 1in striker’s efforts came late in games, with nine bagged after the half-time oranges had been passed around, seven of which hit the back of the net with less than 20 minutes left on the clock.
Four of those seven were fired home after the 19-year-old had come off the bench, with the other three part of multi-goal hauls when given the nod from the off by Pellegrini, including two at home to Stoke last April.
Guardiola is yet to start Iheanacho in two competitive fixtures at the Citizens helm, leaving him on the bench for the entirety of his side’s 5-0 Champions League play-off win away to Steaua Bucharest, which was wrapped up at 3-0 after 50 minutes.
The former boss did chuck on the youngster when in need of a late show against Sunderland on Premier League opening day though, with the winner eventually coming through Black Cats centre-half Paddy McNair’s own goal.
Stoke are a much better side than Steaua, so backing Iheanacho at 5/1 to bag the last goal at the Britannia makes plenty of sense as there’s every chance his services will be required.
Of course, if he doesn’t get on you’ll get your money back.
Iheanacho’s first City goal came in the 90th minute of a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace last September, having come on in the 89th, so there’s no such thing as too late with this lad.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
