Leicester boss Rodgers: Outstanding Iheanacho deserves his special hat-trick

LEICESTER City manager Brendan Rodgers was buzzing about Kelechi Iheanacho after Sunday’s 5-0 Premier League win over Sheffield United.

The Super Eagles striker scored his first-ever Premier League hat-trick in the big win and took his goals tally for the season to 10 in 27 games in all competitions.

Rodgers praised Iheanacho’s individual contributions to a very important win.

“He was outstanding, not just in his goals, but his overall work-rate,” the former Liverpool manager told LCFC TV. 

“He had a big responsibility today, in terms of dropping into the space, finding that pocket that was just on the back of the midfield, and I thought he did that very, very well.”

Rodgers felt Iheanacho, who was as expected named man of the match, might even have got more than the treble he did.

He added: “He’s a great guy. He deserved the three goals. He had one or two other opportunities, but we’re all delighted for him.”

Iheanacho became only the third Nigerian player ever to score a Premier League hat-trick after Efan Ekoku and Yakubu Aiyegbeni.

Rodgers was also pleased with the overall performance and collective effort of his team as they took apart the relegation-bound Sheffield United.

“We worked very, very hard in the game,” he noted. “You have to play with an intensity and we were able to do that. “Organisationally, we defended well. We were aggressive. We got in contact with them and that’s always the foundation for any good performance.

“It was a game where you had to work hard, but you’re looking at where you can exploit the space.

“I don’t think we gave away too many shots, if any, on target. We played with a good speed, there was nice creativity and the movement was good in the team. We were very clinical when we had opportunities.”