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Pundit says 24-year-old Arsenal player could be phenomenal if Arteta made one change
Tony Cascarino believes that Eddie Nketiah would go to another level if the Arsenal star had a strike partner to play alongside, as he compared the striker with Ian Wright.
Cascarino was speaking on after the 24-year-old bagged a brilliant hat-trick for the Gunners in their 5-0 victory over Sheffield United.
Eddie Nketiah certainly went some way to silencing a lot of doubters with his display against the Blades. There would have been real concern amongst Arsenal fans when it was announced that Gabriel Jesus would be sidelined for weeks with injury.
Tony Cascarino thinks Eddie Nketiah could be world-class with one change
Nketiah has stepped into the fold before. And he has largely done well. However, there remains a question mark over whether Nketiah is world-class.
Interestingly, Tony Cascarino believes that he has the potential to be. But he is not entirely sure that Mikel Arteta is using him in the best way to help him his full potential.
“I keep looking at Nketiah and thinking: how good would you be with a partner? If you had someone alongside him, because he’s very Ian Wright-like,” he told .
“He’s quick feet, he makes decisions really quickly. And he’s a natural goalscorer, you can see that in his game. But Ian always had a partner, Eddie doesn’t have that. He has to play literally angles, make himself available, lead the line. And he’s done that well, he’s not the biggest. I just think it’s a tough gig to expect him to get lots and lots of goals.”
Arsenal can’t yet justify building team around the striker
The problem for Arteta is he does not want to lose the balance of the side. Arsenal are having huge success with the system which includes two wingers and three in the middle of the park.
Perhaps there are some games where one of the number eights could push forward, too. But then the question becomes who comes out of the team.
Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard appear to be amongst the first names on the team sheet when they are fit. And Rice has been particularly excellent in front of the holding position.
Someone like Leandro Trossard could come in and easily move between being a number 10 and another striker. And Gabriel Jesus can definitely do that, too.
Nketiah has definitely proved that he can do a good job when Arsenal are without Jesus. However, he probably has some way to go before the Gunners’ side is being built around him.