Michael Owen has described Eddie Nketiah as a ‘born finisher’ after the Arsenal man marked his first league start of the campaign with a goal against West Ham.
The Gunners shook off losing the first half yesterday to come away with all three points after clinching a 3-1 win at the Emirates, increasing our lead in top spot in the Premier League table, with us now seven clear of Newcastle United, and eight ahead of Manchester City.
The victory came despite worries over the loss of Gabriel Jesus, who didn’t return from the World Cup ready to play, and Nketiah’s goal will certainly have given us plenty of reason to feel positive about the Brazilian’s replacement.
Michael Owen is amongst the best finishers that the English division has ever seen, and he has come out with some massive praise for young Eddie.
“When he gets in that position, this guy can finish,” the former England striker told Premier League Productions (via TBR). “We’ve watched games today where it’s not the centre-forwards strength lets say, to be an absolute killer in front of goal. This lad does finish. He’s a born finisher.
“You can just tell. You can see in front of goal. He just looks like a finisher. He’s calm, he’s collected. All the pressure in the world can be on you but when you’re a goalscorer that’s what you’ve honed your skills in all your life. His goal tonight was absolutely brilliant. I loved how he felt for his man. He just felt where he was and knew where he was then he rolled him.”
It certainly was a neatly taken goal, but we will need to see some consistency from the 23 year-old in the coming weeks before we go over the top. The best bit about the performance was seeing all of Martinelli, Saka and Odegaard in top form in the absence of Jesus however, and they will be massive for us in the coming weeks whether Eddie is able to find that level on a regular basis or not.
Do you still expect Arsenal to jump into the transfer market for a new striker? Does Nketiah deserve more credit for his role in the side?
Patrick
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Find this surprising my son shares Owen views on Eddie,
But I strongly believe Arsenal will not try to bring in a striker during this window.
First to comment this is not a striker market and in my opinion we are not really desperate for a striker.
Secondly the gaffer just dont want any striker he wants top top striker that is lethal.
Arsenal must continue to work mail ch by match
Thay can beat any team in this league and all they have to do is believe in themself and be brave and courageous.
By End of February things will be clearer as from now on the mail ches will be tough for sure.
I’m still struggling to buy the argument that Eddie can handle doing a “Main striker” role consistently well enough for a team that wants to challenge for trophies, but I guess you never know. I’d written off Xhaka at one point. and now he’s playing like Andrea Pirlo crossed with Tony Kroos, so really who knows? The other argument is that although the Nketiah won’t get the necessary goals, they can come from plenty of other places in the team so it’s not too bad so long as Eddie can create / assist as well. Can he? Not totally sure about that either.
Let’s give nekiata the chance to prove his self believe me he will surely make us proud and by the time Gabriel Jesus returned the couch might be confused on who to put as number 9 nekiata score in his first ever EPL and he will still score in other matches starting from this Saturday
He needs to add ruthlessness into his games. He looks like a good finisher but wouldn’t reach that level yet.
“Not to panic buy”… I just saw the January fixture list and it’s a proper tough one !!! Going to need some clinical finishing to win those fixtures.
It’s too much to ask Eddie to play up front in every game until jesus returns – if jesus hadn’t suffered his injury, I’d imagine this is the period where we’d have seen Eddie starting stone games anyway. We need someone who can provide cover – ideally someone who can also play another position.
Anyway, glad to see Nketiah took another step towards proving himself on Monday. He’s an unusual type of player, seems like an old school sniffer, who’s worked hard to develop a more rounded playing style to meet the demands of the modern game. He’s got the skill imo, and since he improved his physical strength/balance, he’s been a handful for defenders in most of the games I’ve seen.
Well under the tutalage of Mikel, anything is possible. Look at Ben White, centre back , now comfatable at the RB and has displaced Tommi. Xhaka learnt the tricks at 30! Martenelli what a joy to watch and what an incredible finish on Monday. Everyone here was complaining when we signed Ode, and now we know what a MO10 should be What a turn around with Mikel. You may never know, Eddie might just displace GJ when he is back.
I always said Eddie is a late starter….Saka came good at 21 years old..Eddie is 23 and will come good….we will see a lot of goals from Eddie
I’ll back Eddie to do the job until Jesus returns
Owen is a snake… He doesn’t want the best for Arsenal. Saying they should not panic buy. Would he have said Man UTD or Liverpool should use Nketiah as a starter if their main striker was injured? He’s saying this hoping Arsenal would drop points due to the lack of certain attributes Nketiah doesn’t have in his game that Jesus has