This Scottish Premiership title race is going right to the wire. On Sunday, despite being up against only ten-men for over 70 minutes, Celtic required a late strike from Kelechi Ịheanachọ to snatch a vital 2-1 victory over Hibernian at Easter Road. While there were scenes of jubilation in the away end, many Hibs supporters in attendance were quite relieved too, not wanting Hearts to win the title.
So now, ahead of Hearts and Rangers going head-to-head at Tynecastle on Monday evening, the Hoops and the Jambos are level on 73 points, four ahead of the Gers. It could hardly be tighter. Ịheanachọ's season in Glasgow has been blighted by injury, playing just six Premiership minutes between 19 October and 22 March, during which time the club changed manager four times.
However, his quality is not up for debate, with Sunday Ịheanachọ's seventh goal for the club, many of which have been crucial.
List of Kelechi Ịheanachọ's goals for Celtic
- 14 September: Kilmarnock 1-2 Celtic: 90+6' penalty winner.
- 24 September: Crvena zvezda 1-2 Celtic: 55' open the scoring.
- 5 October: Celtic 3-2 Motherwell: 28' penalty.
- 5 April: Dundee 1-2 Celtic: 82' winner.
- 19 April: Celtic 6-2 St Mirren: 96' & 100' extra time winners.
- 3 May: Hibernian 1-2 Celtic: 72' winner.
Ịheanachọ marked his Celtic debut with a winner from the penalty spot at Rugby Park in September, also now scoring the decisive goal in 2-1 victories at Dens Park and now Easter Road in the run-in. With games against Rangers, Motherwell and then Hearts on the final day to come, could the Nigerian international be a pivotal figure?
Well, his minutes-per-goal ratio is up there with the best across Europe.
Players with best minutes-per-goal ratio Europe's top 11 leagues 25/26
Players | Club | Total goals | Minutes per goal |
|---|---|---|---|
Daniel Bragança | Sporting CP | 5 | 63 |
Harry Kane | Bayern Munich | 33 | 67 |
Bertuğ Yıldırım | İstanbul Başakşehir | 7 | 76 |
Kelechi Ịheanachọ | Celtic | 5 | 83.2 |
Mauro Icardi | Galatasaray | 14 | 86 |
Hamza Igamane | LOSC Lille | 5 | 86 |
Ricardo Pepi | PSV Eindhoven | 14 | 89 |
Orri Óskarsson | Real Sociedad | 6 | 89 |
Ousmane Dembélé | Paris Saint-Germain | 10 | 93 |
Ansu Fati | AS Monaco | 10 | 96 |
Luis Suárez | Sporting CP | 25 | 97 |
Ayase Ueda | Feyenoord | 25 | 98 |
Kylian Mbappé | Real Madrid | 24 | 100 |
Note: Only league goals are considered; minimum 5 goals scored.
Across UEFA's top 11 ranked leagues at the start of this campaign, only 13 players boast a minutes-per-goal ratio of 100 minutes or better; only players who've scored five goals or more are considered. Well, towards the top of this ranking is where one will find Ịheanachọ, behind only Daniel Bragança of Sporting, Bayern Munich's Harry Kane and Bertuğ Yıldırım who plays for İstanbul Başakşehir.
The Celtic striker is just ahead of former Rangers man Hamza Igamane, now of Lille. Of course, Ịheanachọ's numbers are slightly inflated by the fact that he has only played 416 minutes in the Premiership this season, starting just one league game since October, and four in total.
Nevertheless, these numbers do emphasis that, when he is on the pitch, Ịheanachọ can be a difference maker. Two trophies remain up for grabs in the final weeks of the season, so could Ịheanachọ come to the fore for Martin O'Neill's team?
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