26th January, 2020
Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho earned the praise of Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers after his goal booked the club’s place in the FA Cup fifth round.
The Foxes kept their hopes of a cup double alive as the Nigerian scored the only goal of the game in the fourth minute at Brentford.
Leicester were missing top goalscorer Jamie Vardy at Griffin Park due to a glute injury suffered in Wednesday’s win over West Ham, but Iheanacho filled the void impressively and scored his seventh goal of the season.
Rodgers said: “For Kels, he is getting better and better. He is so efficient now in his game. He is working so hard. He creates goals, he scores goals and I am delighted for him.”
Rodgers said Vardy was “responding well to the treatment”, but the manager was still unsure whether the striker would be fit for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Aston Villa, where a win will send his side to Wembley.
Rodgers added: “He was really sore after the (West Ham) game, but that has eased up after the last day or so. We will find out (if he can play on Tuesday) tomorrow when we are in.”
With Leicester on course to quality for the Champions League, alongside their cup exploits, they are on course for a memorable campaign, but Rodgers warned there was still plenty of hard work ahead.
The Northern Irishman said: “Every club has priorities but, for us, what we’ve hopefully shown is we want to do as well as we possibly can in every competition we’re in.
“We have the semi-final on Tuesday. We are into the fifth round of the FA Cup and in a really healthy position in the league, but we know we have a lot of work to do.