It’s another weekend of packed schedule in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) and Enyimba will be involved when they play hosts to Katsina United this Sunday at the Enyimba Stadium in Aba. Yes, there was a little bit of confusion concerning the exact match date, after words popped out that the game will be live on television and will hold on Saturday. For the People’s Elephant, I have rarely witnessed them play their home matches outside of Sundays, something that now looks like a tradition at the club.
Anyway let’s dive straight into business. Katsina United are coming to town and this is a game Enyimba should win. However, the People’s Elephant might have to rely on their midfielders to carry the can on Sunday when it comes to goalscoring responsibility. In their last five matches in all competitions, Enyimba strikers have fired blank since Clinton Jephtha and Ifeanyi Ihemekwele scored in their 3-1 win at Heartland. The others goals this season have come from Chinedu Ufere, Eze Ekwutoziam and Austin Onyemaechi – all midfielders. Of course, Enyimba head coach Yemi ‘Yema’ Olanrewaju has from the outset of this season raised concerns that there are no top number nine or centre forward in the division. Something I agree with him considering the fact that the current top scorer in the NPFL as at present, is Nasarawa United’s midfielder Anas Yusuf with five goals.
This is not passing a vote of no confidence on Enyimba’s striking personnel but I think the club selectors along with Yema did smart business in the off-season window when they tried to plug the goalscoring hole by bringing in midfielders who could also score goals. Two of those midfielders, Ufere and Onyemaechi have already got off the mark and their goals have been important too.
The other midfielders capable of scoring goals are Elijah Akanni and Fatai Abdullahi, the latter who I rate quite good from dead-ball situations, something he did effortlessly during his time at Abia Warriors.
The absence of Daniel Daga, away on international duty with Nigeria’s Under-20s and who often provides steel in the middle, has meant that Abdullahi has played a slightly deeper role in midfield in front of the defence. Nonetheless, Abdullahi could be key in the D-area of the opponents’ box as I expect Katsina United’s head coach, Bishir Sadauki to play a 4-2-3-1 formation which he adapts for their road trips. Abdullahi is capable of exploiting pockets of space around the D-area and even attempt shots from range if he bombs forward.
One thing remains clear to me. Enyimba should again get the job done like they did in midweek against Akwa United though they had to wait till the final 15 minutes. The feel good factor for the People’s Elephant is that Katsina United have lost in all of their six previous league visits to Aba, scoring just once (a 9-1 aggregate score in favour of Enyimba).
All that said, football games are not won on paper or blog pages. The boys still need to take nothing for granted. Get out there, put in the work required with the right attitude and focus to ensure the 3 points.
Back tomorrow,
‘EnyimbaEnyi
