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‘Deeply under-appreciated’: Arsenal now told they have a ‘top quality’ player who doesn’t get enough love
Tony Cascarino has claimed that Eddie Nketiah is deeply under-appreciated following his performance for Arsenal in their opening day win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Cascarino was speaking to after the 24-year-old scored the goal which opened the Gunners’ account for the new campaign as they went on to win 2-1 at the Emirates.
Eddie Nketiah came into the starting lineup for the game against Forest after Kai Havertz had led the line against Manchester City in the Community Shield.
And Nketiah went on to find the back of the net. His finish squeezed past Matt Turner after Gabriel Martinelli’s outrageous piece of skill to create the opportunity.
Cascarino lauds Nketiah after Arsenal win
Nketiah has an outstanding record when starting for Arsenal. He is certainly proving a point to anyone who doubted whether he would be able to fill the void left by Gabriel Jesus.
In fact, Cascarino suggested that it should no longer even be a debate regarding whether the striker can step up when Jesus is sidelined.
“I loved Mikel Arteta’s reasoning for picking Eddie Nketiah against Nottingham Forest after dropping him for the Community Shield. “The way he was training this week, he was saying, ‘Gaffer, if you’re not playing me you are blind’,” the Arsenal manager said after Nketiah’s excellent goalscoring performance,” he told .
“Too many players respond to being dropped by knocking on the manager’s door, or worse, sulking about it. Nketiah has the right attitude: work hard, train hard and do your talking on the pitch. I feel Nketiah is a deeply underappreciated footballer.
“Whenever Gabriel Jesus is injured, the narrative is that Nketiah is simply ‘filling in’. He does so much more than that. He is a top-quality centre forward in his own right who has a promising campaign ahead.”
Many felt that Arsenal’s title challenge was going to fall apart when Jesus sustained that serious injury at last year’s World Cup. It felt imperative that Arsenal signed a new striker in the January transfer window if they were going to stand any chance of keeping City at bay.
And yet, Nketiah did score some really important goals. And Arsenal’s results did not drop off.
Even with Jesus sidelined, Arsenal are not totally reliant on Nketiah. Havertz played well at Wembley. And Leandro Trossard has made a huge impact since arriving this year.
But Nketiah is proving to be a game-changer for Mikel Arteta when he is called upon. And Cascarino clearly feels that he now deserves a lot more credit.