Alex Iwobi has picked his first Premier League goal for Everton as his best moment at the club while his lone strike for Nigeria against Zambia in a 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifying match stands out as the happiest memory in his football career.
The Nigeria international left Arsenal to join the Toffees on a five-year deal last summer, and he made an instant impact on his first league start against Wolverhampton Wanderers by opening his league goal account for the club.
His header gave Everton a 2-1 lead in the encounter as they managed to secure a 3-2 victory and it was also his second headed goal for the club, surpassing just one he scored in his entire Arsenal career.
“Hopefully, more special moments in the future but for now, I will say my favourite moment was scoring against Wolves – that header,” Iwobi told Soccer Bible in an Instagram Live.
“It was a bit of a shock for me to score a header in the first place and it was my first Premier League for Everton.”
The effort was his only goal in 18 league outings for Everton before the English top-flight was suspended in March due to coronavirus pandemic.
Iwobi picked his crucial goal for Nigeria against Zambia at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium back in 2017 as the happiest moment for him on the football pitch.
The 24-year-old came off the bench to score the only goal that secured a 1-0 win and sent the three-time African champions to the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.
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“I’ve had a lot of happy moments in my career but for me, I will say when I scored against Zambia to send my national team to the World Cup because my parents were there,” he said.
“That’s a special moment, I almost shed a tear on the pitch.”
Iwobi started his professional career by wearing the shirt number 45 at Arsenal before switching to number 17 which he now wears in Carlo Ancelotti’s team at Everton.
He explained the reason behind the change of the numbers even though he loves the ‘Big 45’ nickname.
“I actually love Big 45 when I came into the scene in the first place, it was a youth team number at Arsenal but they told me to change to a senior number, so the next available that was 17. Ever since then, it’s been that number and you’ve got to love it,” he added.
