Super Eagles and Watford forward, Jude Odion Ighalo, is now The Hornets highest ever goal scorer in the Barclays Premier League era.
The Nigerian, who joined the Vicarage Road outfit two seasons ago from Granada in the Spanish topflight, scored Watford’s opener in last weekend’s win over Aston Villa at Villa Park, to take his season EPL goals to eight, and 24 for the calendar year.
Only Tottenham’s Harry Kane has scored as many as the Ajegunle-born forward in England’s top four divisions. Reacting on the performance of Ighalo, strike partner, Troy Deeney, admitted that the Nigerian remained Watford star performer.
“It’s quite funny because when I wasn’t scoring, he (Ighalo) was the star and I was Championship fodder,” he said. “We do what we do but we don’t get caught up in any of the hype. We complement each other very well and both get through a lot of graft defensively, and it works,”
Deeney explained further of his partnership with Ighalo. Similarly, the club’s manager, Quique Sanchez Flores, said that the duo were one of the best strike partnerships in the top flight, an unlikely pairing, who have fired Watford to promotion with 41 goals between them last season and are proving no less effective at this level.
Interestingly, they scored one each at the Villa Park and had a hand in the other, an unfortunate own-goal by Alan Hutton. This weekend, Ighalo will be searching for his ninth goal to further extend his lead at the top as Watford play host to Norwich City at Vicarage Road.