Jamie Redknapp has opined on the reason why Mikel Arteta has shifted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the wing and played Eddie Nketiah through the middle of the Arsenal attack.
Nketiah was recalled from his loan spell at Leeds United in the last transfer window and the Englishman was expected to head out on loan again.
However, he impressed Mikel Arteta in training and the Spaniard decided to keep him and make him an important member of his first team.
The striker has made the Gunners change their setup. Alexandre Lacazette now starts from the bench while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has had to play from the left side of attack.
Aubameyang’s speed makes him a good attacker from the wing and he has continued to score the goals for Arsenal.
However, if anyone is wondering why Arteta has kept the club captain on the wing to accommodate Nketiah, Redknapp reckons that it is because of Nketiah’s hard work in front of the goal.
Redknapp told Sky Sports as quoted in the Metro: ‘Work from the front, chase things down… It took a little while for Aguero to buy into it and I don’t know if Aubameyang at this age will be that striker still, especially if he doesn’t want to be at the club and he wants to go.
‘He thinks with Nketiah – he works hard for the team. It’s a midfielder’s dream, it’s a defender’s dream, when someone is just pickpocketing balls around the pitch and winning balls back. It’s fantastic.
‘And he gets his reward. It’s not good goalkeeping, it’s not good from the defender as well.
‘But a lot of strikers would just leave it, they wouldn’t bother chasing lost causes, he did it and deserved that goal for that reason.’
