By Garry Hayes/Bleacher Report on February 21, 2016

Kelechi Iheanacho’s Manchester City team-mates may not have wanted to get close to him when he celebrated his equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur last week, but Chelsea’s defenders will do well to pay the Nigerian a bit more attention on Sunday.

The Blues face City in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge, with both sides desperately wanting victory to advance in the competition.

For Chelsea, a win will keep their season alive this season as the Premier League title has long since slipped their grasp. Their only hopes of silverware are in the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, meaning Sunday’s clash comes with heightened importance.

Where City are concerned, they need to get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats have dented their chances of claiming a third Premier League title.

There have been some indifferent performances from Manuel Pellegrini’s side in recent weeks. Losing former Chelsea midfielder Kevin De Bruyne hasn’t helped their cause, but the progress of Iheanacho continues to be one of the positives in their season.

Still only 19, Iheanacho is making a big impression on a side built on the fortunes on their owner Sheikh Mansour. He arrived at City just over a year ago relatively under the radar, and now he’s looking a shrewd acquisition.

Since he announced himself with a late winner against Crystal Palace in September, the youngster has ensured those who were left asking “who?” at the time no longer are.

Iheanacho has been unfazed by competing with the likes of Wilfried Bony for a place as back-up to Sergio Aguero. Unlike his £30 million team-mate, Iheanacho has been impacting games at vital moments, scoring goals that have mattered.

Alongside that Palace goal, Iheanacho scored a late winner against Swansea City in December. Regardless of how fortuitous it was, the fact remains he got himself on the scoresheet to give his side victory, which has long been the meat and drink of any striker.

A telling sign of his ability is in how those goals have tallied up; Iheanacho edges out Bony nine to eight.

What we’re seeing from the Nigerian is him applying the pressure on his more experienced colleagues, unfazed by what lies before him, which is why Chelsea need to be wary on Sunday.

The FA Cup has a romance story with football that is well known. It’s one made up of giant killings, those David versus Goliath moments where logic goes out of the window and the minnows pull off once-in-a-lifetime shocks.

The competition has also been a breeding ground for the stars of tomorrow. Entire careers have been built on FA Cup success, and the stage is set for Iheanacho to do something similar himself. He already has a hat-trick to his name after City put Aston Villa to the sword in the previous round, which gives us a hint that things are beginning to ramp up for him.

With a Champions League trip to Kiev just 72 hours after they face Chelsea, Pellegrini is going to have draw on the resources of his squad. That means Aguero might be rested, or at least he won’t play the full game.

Iheanacho has already built trust with his manager, and the Nigerian’s task now is to continue building on that. What better way than by terrorising a Chelsea defence that continues to lack the confidence of old?

Chelsea have been at their most vulnerable this season when players have charged at them. We saw Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez give them nightmares in December, while Odion Ighalo is just one of the many other strikers who has enjoyed success. In midweek, the movement of Edinson Cavani through the middle eventually proved too much as the Blues suffered a 2-1 loss against Paris Saint-Germain thanks to his second-half finish.

Indeed, City’s own Aguero did something very similar way back in August when Chelsea were comfortably beaten at the Etihad Stadium.

He may be young and relatively raw, but Iheanacho has demonstrated he has the sort of capabilities to do the same. He has excellent pace, is quick-thinking and, as the Spurs back line found out a week ago on Sunday, he has an eye for goal.

Defenders don’t like players in Iheanacho’s mould, especially Chelsea. John Terry will not feature for the second game running as he remains injured, which means another makeshift pairing for Guus Hiddink at the back.

The Gary Cahill-Branislav Ivanovic partnership is barely a week old. They’ve been team-mates for four years, but they’ve never played together like they’re being asked to now. They need games to develop a solid bond; what they don’t need is a young upstart, eager to impress, running at them and asking big questions.

In this clash of the titans, could it be the little man who steals the headlines? Iheanacho will be hoping so.

•Photo shows Kelechi Iheanacho going for goal in a match.

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 21, 2016

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