Al Wehda will hope that Odion Ighalo begins to fire the goals this weekend as they continue to battle against relegation this season.
The Saudi Arabian club welcome league leaders Al Ittihad Saturday in The Old Derby.
They are second bottom of the table with 13 points from 19 matches, 36 points adrift of Al Ittihad.
When a team have won three of 19 matches and is rooted firmly in the relegation zone, it’s safe to say there is more than one aspect of their game that needs improving.
Defence is the most glaring area in need of improvement, with the Mecca club having conceded the most goals of any team this season, at 46. However, they also require more from the leaders in the team – and that includes former Manchester United star and RSL veteran Odion Ighalo.
In the twilight of his career, now aged 35, Ighalo provides not just quality, but leadership as well with so much big-league experience under his belt.
Only once, in that first campaign when he joined mid-season, has Ighalo failed to register double figures in goals, with returns of 24, 19 and 15 across his three full terms to date in Saudi Arabia.
His 24-goal season in 2021-22 was enough to claim Golden Boot honours as well as the top-flight trophy, as Ighalo established himself as one of the continent’s most feared strikers.
Notching at a rate of 0.7 goals per game, it marked an incredibly handy return for any frontman. With it, Ighalo’s RSL legacy was secured.
But it has to be said, this season has been more of a struggle. Nineteen games in, Ighalo has found the back of the net only four times, a poor return for someone of his quality and with his record.
Perhaps understandably given Al Wehda’s present plight, his goals-per-game ratio has dropped to a meek 0.2.
Adding to Ighalo’s frustrations this season is the fact he has missed eight big chances – twice as many as anyone else at Al Wehda, and ninth overall in the league. What the club would give, then, for some of those opportunities to have been converted into goals
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