Arsenal’s young centre-forward Eddie Nketiah is certainly not looking to replace Aubameyang as our top scorer just yet, but when given the chance he has showed that he can bang in a few. In fact he seemed to have displaced Alexandre Lacazette in the starting line-up after the lockdown until he was crazily sent off and missed the last games of the season.
Nketiah has always been part of the England set-up as well, scoring goals at every level, and is expected to captain the U21s in this Friday’s game against Kosovo. Speaking to Goal ahead of the game, Nketiah has been very positive about Arteta’s influence on him and the other young Arsenal starlets. He said: “Mikel has taught me a lot,”
“He is definitely very personable. He does a lot of tactical work about understanding your role.
“As a player, it’s great to see the manager going into such detail — it shows how much he cares.
“As a young player, if you have the right mentality, you can definitely improve under him and that’s something I’m trying to do.
“He’s helped my all-round game, given me chances to express myself, make mistakes and try to correct them. I’m learning on the job.”
Of course all Arsenal fans are expecting to see further improvement from Nketiah this season and even more goals. I can see him, Saka, Willock and Nelson, dominating our Europa League line-ups in the early stages of the competition, and becoming more integrated into our senior side this year..
Nketiah is definitely improving his all round game, but his finishing still leaves a lot to be desired.
I am surprised that despite his small stature, he is quite good in the air- I have always thought he might not make it in this league due to his size as he can easily be bullied off the ball and for this reason, Lacazette should not be sold.
Even Auba when played in the middle can be invisible and frustrating, FOR NOW, Nketiah can not and should not displace Lacazette. Ideally, Laca starts and then Nketiah can come in to terrify opposition defences with his pace when they are knackered.
What Laca does is under-appreciated because he lost a bit of confidence which affected his goal returns but he makes Auba shine while also being a major ‘technical security’ upfront.
That said, it seems as though Willock is not Arsenal quality for now, I would like to be proven wrong of course as he has great engine like Ramsey, I suggest we replace him with Smith-Rowe this season and allow him go on loan and as for Nelson, from the look of things, it’s only a matter of time before he starts complaining of game time, I feel he has the talent but short on confidence, whatever happens, I wish him all the best…
We should be talking about Martinelli instead of this Nketiah. Martinelli is far better than him. Faster than him. Everything u can think of. It’s bcs he is an English player that’s why all the hype. This Nketiah will not make Chelsea or Liverpool bench.
It’s because he’s a different position, not nationality. I’ve never met an Arsenal fan who rates Nketiah above Martinelli.
Nketiah is not up to standard yet maybe in the future..I DONT KNOW WHAT ARTETA SEE IN HIM MS WILLOCK..I THINK IT’S TIME FOR BALOGUN AND SMITH ROWE….LACAZETTE IS THE REAL DEAL HE SHOULD STAY AND PLAY
Watching though
Guys I can’t say this enough Eddie Nketiah is a good player but not quite ripe enough.. how I keep hearing displace Laca is beyond me.. in which world are you watching Nketiah and Laca that they match up so much you feel Nketiah is better… I have seen a lot of Nketiah’s in Arsenal but I have never seen a Lacazette.. remember Chuba Akpom? We are bluffing ourselves if we feel Nketiah is ready to lead our lines.. there is a reason why toddlers aren’t teaching adults in schools.. if we are selling Laca we better be lining up a proper replacement and give Nketiah the time he needs to develop not tell him he is a world beater when he is not there yet.. Willock can use a loan.. ESR is suppose to get an increased role for Arsenal this season because after Martinelli he is probably the next best thing coming out of Arsenal followed by my ancestral brother Bukayo Saka.
Eddie has got to start taking his chances. You just dont get many at this level for a club like Arsenal. He misses too many easy goals and needs to offer more off the ball too. I know it’s asking a lot, but that is the demands if you want to lead the line at Arsenal. We are letting Balogun go to keep Eddie so he needs to return the favor. More focus Eddie, you can do this…
Very sensible comments Goonerboy.