Nigeria’s Super Eagles cruised past their Algerian opponents, the Fennecs, 3-1 in one of Saturday’s 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers in Africa.

It was a Chelsea show for the Nigerians as winger Victor Moses scored twice and Mikel John Obi got among the goals as well while the Algerians got their solitary strike from Nabil Bentaleb.

Nigeria head coach, Gernot Rohr, turned to Chippa United stopper, Daniel Akpeyi in the absence of injured Carl Ikeme while Oghenekaro Etebo, Moses and Leon Balogun got their first games under the Franco-German.

The Algerians named a strong startlist that included Riyad Mahrez, Islam Slimani, Carl Medjani and Bentaleb in the absence of El Arabi Soudani and other top players.

Seven minutes into the game, Moses did well to dink past his marker and then cut inside another Algeria but just could not apply the appropriate finish by dragging his effort off target.

However, the Chelsea man made no mistake 18 minutes later when he gave the Nigerians the lead through an individual piece of play laced with a little bit of good fortune.

Algeria came closest to drawing level on 37 minutes but Bentaleb scooped the ball over the post with Nigeria’s defence in sixes and sevens.

Slimani came close to scoring too but for the alertness of Akpeyi in Nigeria’s goal.

On the stroke of half time, Mikel doubled Nigeria’s lead after Algeria’s back four played the Chelsea midfielder onside to score past Rais M’bolhi.

It was a different performance from the Fennecs in the business end of the game however, as they clawed themselves back by pegging the Super Eagles in their half.

On 67 minutes, Bentaleb fired in a stunner to pull one back for Algeria, reports supersport.com.

Mahrez also came to life as Brahimi could only watch as his attempt went off target on 74 minutes.

It was Moses that turned up at the death to kill off any kind of fight back from the Algerians by picking his spot from Ahmed Musa’s cross to give Nigeria a 3-1 win.

Nigeria now have six points, four more than second-placed Cameroon while Zambia and Algeria have a point each.

And despite their willingness to bag the three points, Cameroon were ultimately held to a 1-1 draw by Zambia in their Group B 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier at Stade Omnisport in Limbe on Saturday afternoon.

Although Zambia scored first, the hosts found the back of the net through a penalty when Vincent Aboubakar converted from the spot in first-half stoppage time.

Chipolopolo broke the deadlock in the contest through a fine finish from Collins Mbesuma as early as the 34th minute.

The stalemate means the hosts have two points at number two in the group from two draws thus far, while Zambia now have one point at the bottom of the group following their defeat to Nigeria on the opening weekend of qualifying.

In another qualifier, South Africa moved top of 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifying Group D following a 2-1 win over Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday afternoon.

First-half goals from Thulani Hlatshwayo and Thulani Serero led Bafana Bafana to a morale-boosting victory on home soil, with Shakes Mashaba’s men surviving late pressure by the visitors to seal all three points and so making significant strides in their quest to seal their ticket to Russia.

Cheikh N’Doye scored what proved to be a mere consolation for the Teranga Lions as arguably Africa’s best team suffered a blow to their chances of reaching a first showpiece in 16 years.