Five Super Eagles stars set to miss tasty FA Cup clash as Dennis’ Watford draw Iheanacho’s Leicester

The third round draw of the oldest cup competition in the world has pitted the Foxes against the Hornets

Leicester City will host Premier League rivals Watford at the King Power Stadium in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup.

The exciting fixture was confirmed for the weekend of January 8/9 after the draws were completed on Monday, December 6.

Ordinarily, five Nigerian internationals – Watford’s Oghenekaro Etebo, William Troost-Ekong, Emmanuel Dennis, and Leicester City’s Wilfried Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho – would have faced each other in a tough battle to decide who moves to the next round.

But four of those – Troost-Ekong, Dennis, Ndidi, and Iheanacho – are likely to have joined the Super Eagles squad for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in January by that time.

The fifth, Etebo, would have also made the final Afcon squad list, but he continues to recuperate from a lengthy injury.

With or without their Nigerian imports, Watford, newly promoted to the English elite division, will start as second best to reigning FA Cup kings, Leicester City.

The Foxes, aided in no small part by the contributions of Iheanacho and Ndidi, made history in May by lifting the FA Cup for the first time, and they will start as favourites by 4 pm on January 8. 

However, the third player of Nigerian descent at Leicester, Ademola Lookman, could be available for the Foxes as he is not believed to be in the plans of Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr for Cameroon 2021.

Both Lookman and Dennis were on the scoresheet when Leicester humbled Watford 4-2 at the King Power Stadium in the most recent league clash between the pair on November 28.

The Hornets, who reached the final of the competition in 1984 and 2019, have never lifted the trophy.