Unpopular Arsenal opinion, framed as a question to make people a little less angry: what if having a poacher like Eddie Nketiah makes this team better than when Gabriel Jesus is in it?
Firstly, that’s not to lambast Jesus, who played a vital role in Arsenal’s tremendous start to the season and offers more than Nketiah in terms of tracking back and chance creation. But I refuse to believe that Jesus would have taken those two chances (or, alternatively, been in a position to take them) against Manchester United. He prefers a starting position on the left of the box. Nketiah found space on the right and finished both impressively.
And Arsenal need that poacher just as much as the creator. Jesus has scored five goals from 61 shots this season. Nketiah has scored nine from 57 shots and might just have won the most important fixture of Arsenal’s season so far.
It’s not like Nketiah isn’t also very capable of running the channels and holding up the ball. There was a moment in the first half where he outpaced Raphaël Varane on the chase, held off the central defender and then played the ball to Martin Odegaard to continue the attack.
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I’ll happily concede that I didn’t think he was quite up to this task yet. The Emirates Stadium chanting “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie” on repeat probably answers that question.
This is an excerpt from The Score, Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on every Premier League club. Click here to read this week’s edition or click here to get it sent straight to your inbox on a Monday morning.
Jesus vs Nketiah
Premier League 2022-23 stats:
- Goals: Jesus 5 – Nketiah 4
- Minutes per goal: Jesus 245 – Nketiah 148
- Shots: Jesus 50 – Nketiah 27
- Shooting accuracy: Jesus 54 per cent – Nketiah 72 per cent
- Assists: Jesus 5 – Nketiah 0
Nketiah’s rise explained
By Michael Hincks
At the tail-end of last season Nketiah was being advised to leave Arsenal, with Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher saying in May: “I don’t think he’ll ever end up first-choice striker, so I think it would be better for him to move on.”
Nketiah’s future was a topic of conversation because he was set to become a free agent in the summer of 2022, with manager Mikel Arteta often asked about the striker amid reported interest from Leeds United, West Ham and Crystal Palace.
Arteta had already swiftly dismissed the prospect of Nketiah leaving last January, and towards the end of the 2021-22 campaign the Arsenal boss gave Nketiah a lifeline after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s departure and with Alexandre Lacazette struggling up front.
Your defence is in trouble!!!
— Eddie Nketiah#GodsPlan @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/Dw9ltLW7T7
From zero Premier League starts in Arsenal’s opening 30 games, Nketiah started their final eight matches, scoring five times to eclipse Lacazette’s tally of four – having also played 959 fewer minutes (826’ to 1,785’).
That run in the side led Nketiah to sign a new contract in June, when it was also announced that he would wear the iconic No 14 shirt made famous by Thierry Henry.
It was a bold move, but despite that form Carragher’s doubts were understandable. Lacazette may have followed Aubameyang out the door, but a new striker seemed inevitable, and so it proved when Arsenal signed Jesus.
What followed was a familiar sight for Nketiah: the bench. In a similar vein to the previous campaign, Nketiah did not start any of Arsenal’s opening 15 league matches, but Jesus’ World Cup injury has resulted in the 23-year-old starting their last five league matches with a return of four goals.
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Add to that an FA Cup double against Brighton earlier this month and you have a striker in a rich vein of form, a striker stepping up when his side needed him the most.
That is exactly what you need from your back-up striker (dare we say Divock Origi-esque?), and so when Jesus does return and is likely reinstated, Arteta will have no hesitation in calling on Nketiah when chasing the win.
And, who knows, maybe this run could sway Arteta’s thinking entirely.
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