It has been a few tough months with almost every football league stuck in limbo as the world grappled with the coronavirus pandemic. The English Premier League, the most-watched football league in the world, also had to suspend its season on 13th March 2020.
After no matches being conducted for more than two months, football slowly started coming back with the Bundesliga being the first major league to restart matches in closed stadiums with other leagues following their lead and looking to restart this month.
The EPL teams are stated to restart the season from 17th June and have already started playing warm-up friendlies to gear up for the rest of the season that’ll be played in closed stadiums.
As we’re ready to start watching top-tier football again, let’s take a look at some African players to look out for in the EPL!
Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace
It would be fair to say football is in the blood of Jordan Ayew, son of a former captain of the Ghana national team. Ayew joined Crystal Palace on loan from Swansea City for the 2018-19 season and was bought by Crystal Palace on a three-year deal starting in the 2019-20 season.
His performance in the 2019-20 season has been truly noteworthy as he made his mark by scoring against Manchester United at Old Trafford in August. It was one of the two Crystal Palace goals in that match that led them to a historic victory. He also scored the match-winner in the boxing day match between Crystal Palace and West Ham United.
It is definitely worth keeping an eye to see how the rest of the season plays out for him and for Crystal Palace.
Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City)
Kelechi Iheanacho is a promising Nigerian forward, having played for Manchester City and the Nigerian national team (including the U-17 team that won the 2013 FIFA World Cup). Iheanacho signed a five-year contract with Leicester City in 2017 and has scored 8 goals with just 18 appearances for the club in the 2019-20 season so far.
Iheanacho also made history in 2018 by being the first player in EPL to get a goal awarded due to VAR after the referee mistakenly marked him offside. He’s already one of the most important names in the Nigerian national team and often promoted on the top betting sites in Nigeria. It would be interesting to see how his 2019-20 season plays out in the EPL.
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
It’s kind of hard to talk about African players in the EPL without talking about Mohamed Salah. His stint at Liverpool since 2017 has been nothing short of legendary and has raised his status to be one of the best football players in the world.
The current EPL season has been phenomenal for Liverpool who are currently leading the table. With 16 goals in 26 games, Salah has proven to be one of the most important parts of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. With the team on top of the table and leading by a whopping 25 points from the 2nd position held by Manchester City, there’s a huge chance Liverpool might take the league this season. It would definitely be interesting to watch how Salah performs for the rest of the season.
Along with top football leagues, football betting is back too!
Other than the players, a lot of football betting lovers were missing the action too over the last few months. While most of the top African betting sites tried to pivot to virtual games and their online casinos during the time off, they’re definitely happy to welcome back the action from punters all over Africa!