The 2014/15 NPFL title race looks to wrap up today as Enyimba and Warri Wolves will do battle in Aba in a match that should determine the winner of the league. The hosts require just a point to lift their seventh title.
Goal gives an analysis of the variables that would tilt the title in Enyimba’s favour after the NPFL Week 37 tie.
Enyimba are buoyed by their determination to lift the league title this season for a record seventh time and they will no doubt be approaching their clash with Warri Wolves with their full arsenal.
They have the players to run the Seasiders down in Aba despite the fact that the Warri side are equally talented and with their star players ready to wreck havoc too. They will be eager to start right from the blast of the referee’s whistle on Sunday.
The People’s Elephants did their assignment well and actually started their title chase right from the beginning of the season. They created a wedge between them and Warri Wolves and other teams when they secured four away wins and three road draws in the first round of the league alone and by the turn of the second round, they had added a road win and four away draws to their points haul.
Kadiri Ikhana's men have also been urged on by the Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu who, besides donating a luxurious bus to team, has also detailed that the gates to the Enyimba International Stadium be flung open to allow Aba fans watch their darling team free of charge on Sunday.
Enyimba FC are blessed with tactically disciplined players. For every position there is able replacement that can add something different to the team when there is need for that. They have won many battles people thought they would stumble.
And against Warri Wolves on Sunday, they know what they only need to do is to avoid a loss to guarantee them their much coveted seventh league crown. Enyimba also have a willing captain in Chinedu Udoji that can do everything including the dirty jobs just to ensure that the Aba side rank among the best.
The People’s Elephants have the impressive Femi Thomas to call on for important saves just like his last minute wonderful save in Oghara against Bayelsa United which earned them a point among other ones both home and away.
He will be relied on to keep another clean sheet against Warri Wolves. Ezekiel Bassey, Idris Aloma and Kingsley Sokari are among the team leaders and their form will decide the fate of the former two-time African champions against the Seasiders.
Kadiri Ikhana is a veteran in Nigerian coaching and after he agreed to return to Aba to a job he left in 2003, everyone knows that he has staged a comeback for a purpose -to round off his unfinished work. He has been doing that with aplomb.
After a narrow title loss to Kano Pillars last season, he started the 2014/15 NPFL season very brightly. After the heroics of the first round, he consolidated on it in the second stanza and it is only a point that separates them from winning the league title.
Against Warri Wolves on Sunday, Ikhana and his men will no doubt fashion out a winning formation that will render Gbolahan Salami, Stanley Dimgba, Joseph Osadaiye and others ineffective as they set their sights on the path of history.
If the league title is won by support of the home fans, Enyimba would have been miles away at the top because Aba fans have been very key to the title quest of the Elephants from the beginning of the season till now.
Having laboured with the People’s Elephants all season, Aba fans will no doubt want to witness Enyimba's title triumph while they will only be going to Lagos for the coronation after the game against Sunshine Stars. They will no doubt make the atmosphere very electrifying and intimidating to the visitors.
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