After a run of seven goals in four games in all competitions, Kelechi Iheanacho seems to be finally fufilling his potential in a Leicester City shirt.
His run of form has also resulted in a brand new contract, keeping him at the club until 2024, with the striker telling LCFC TV: "I can't express how I'm feeling. I'm excited, I'm happy, I'm overwhelmed! It's a great moment and I'm happy that Leicester City gave me a new contract."
This news will certainly act in the forward's favour as he will be full of confidence as his former side Manchester City travel to the King Power Stadium.
The newly crowned Premier League Player of the Month for March has not had much success against the Citizens since transferring to the East Midlands but his current form has put him in good stead to show his old club what they are missing.
Becoming the main goal threat
Iheanacho is the type of player who thrives off of confidence and that comes with getting regular game time, something that the striker has struggled with during his time with the Foxes as he competes for a place with arguably one of the greatest ever Leicester players, Jamie Vardy. Vardy's presence, coupled with formations that do not cater to more than one striker, has meant that Iheanacho has had to bide his time and take his chances when they came.
While he has had purple patches in the past, this season has been especialy impressive due to his overall play and the fact that Vardy is undergoing a difficult spell in front of goal. In the past, Leicester have found it difficult to share the burden of goalscoring so that, when Vardy wasn't scoring consistently, noone was. This time around however, Iheanacho's name has been a constant feature on the scoresheet since his recent inclusion in the team and has been rightly awarded with the Player of the Month accolade.
This emphasises just how crucial Iheanacho's rise has been as his goals have not only gone towards maintaining Leicester's push for a Champions League finish in the league, but has also lead the club to it's first semi final in the FA Cup for 39 years during a dry spell for the Foxes' talisman.
Playing in his preferred position
While the lengthy injury list has not particularly helped the Foxes this season, the loss of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes forced Brendan Rodgers into playing a back three with two strikers, a formation that plays to Iheanacho's strengths.
When the striker broke into the Man City team, he usually played alongside Sergio Aguero as opposed to a lone striker as that role suited his ability to link up with the players around him and find space using the other striker's runs. At Leicester however, he has usually been utilised as a lone striker when he was awarded starts due to the formations that Leicester preferred. This opportunity only came when Vardy wasn't playing so when the number nine was in the line-up, Iheanacho would either be played slightly out of position or named on the bench.
Fastforward to the present and Iheanacho is showing exactly why Leicester signed him in the first place as he is displaying the same level of link-up play and ruthlessness in front of goal that he showed at Man City due to playing in the position best suited to his style.
Having a point to prove
As mentioned before, Iheanacho has not found much success against his former side, with the most notable example coming at the Etihad Stadium in the 2018/19 season. The attacker squandered a brilliant chance to equalise late on after his first time shot more than failed to hit the target.
This was an Iheanacho desperately lacking in confidence and almost thinking too hard about scoring, a far cry to the player he has shown that he is recently. His finishing has been instinctive and he has always found himself at the right place at the right time, proven by his brace against Manchester United when his positioning and pressing lead to an easy finish after shifting the ball past the keeper.
It would be poetic for Iheanacho to score in the first game since Aguero's announcement that he is to leave at the end of the season as his old strike partner's departure will spark talks of replacements while the former City man is thriving his time with the Foxes. Not only that, if the miss at the Etihad still haunts Iheanacho, there is no better way to put it behind him than to score his first goal against the Citizens.