EPL RELEGATION: Ndidi and Iheanacho need a win and must pray for Iwobi to lose
For Ndidi and Iheanancho whose club Leicester City sit 18th on the table with 31 points, their prayer is for Everton to lose when they host Bournemouth
Sunday, May 28 is the last day of the English Premier League.
For Super Eagles trio of Alex Iwobi of Everton, and Leicester City duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi, they will all pray that underperforming London top club Tottenham play their best game and beat Leeds United.
Defeat for Leeds will confirm their relegation to the Championships and remove one of the obstacles to their playing in the highly lucrative English Premier League next season.
The prayers of the trio does not end there, Iwobi, whose club Everton now sit 17th on the table with 33 points will be praying they beat Bournemouth.
A win for the Liverpool club mean they will play in the elite league next season.
For Ndidi and Iheanancho whose club Leicester City sit 18th on the table with 31 points, their prayer is for Everton to lose when they host Bournemouth while their club inflict heavy defeat against West Ham who they host same day and time.
Leicester played a goalless draw against Newcastle on Monday and their manager Dean Smith believes his side have put pressure on the Toffees, who now must beat Bournemouth to avoid City overtaking them on goal difference next weekend
Had City lost at St James’ Park, Everton may have been able to get away with a draw on the final day, with only a three-goal victory for Leeds over Tottenham toppling them. But City’s goal difference will mean the Toffees have to push for all three points.
“We hope we can get to the King Power and fortunes go our way,” Smith said. “We’ve made Everton have to win if we win ourselves. That performance (against Newcastle) was what supporters deserved with all the travelling they’ve done this season, and it was a clean sheet they deserved.
“I think we have (put pressure on Everton). If they draw and we win we stay up. I did say it might be down to goal difference.
“We have got a tough game against West Ham who have just qualified for a European final. Their manager is a good friend of mine, David Moyes, he’s someone I have a lot of respect for and he will make it a really tough game for us.”
To get the point at Newcastle, Smith went for a defence-first approach, dropping James Maddison and Harvey Barnes to the bench and bringing in Harry Souttar to form a back five.
City needed luck on their side with Newcastle hitting the woodwork three times, but they held out for their first Premier League clean sheet since November, and then nearly won it in injury time when Timothy Castagne’s volley was saved by Nick Pope.
Smith said: “It was a real battling performance. I make no apologies for the way we set up for too long and the reason we are where we are is because of that.
