Eddie Nketiah says that Mikel Arteta is instilling confidence and belief into the young players at the club, and demonstrating to them they have a chance of first team football if they work hard.
The 20 year old started his second successive Premier League game against Everton yesterday, and rewarded the manager’s faith in him with a 27th minute equaliser from a Bukayo Saka cross.
The latter has been the breakthrough star from Academy ranks this season, but Nketiah made his mark yesterday and was keen to credit Arteta for the way he’s handling his squad after the Gunners ran out 3-2 winners in a hard fought encounter at the Emirates.
“He’s great,” he said. “He’s given us a lot of opportunities and he’s showed us that if you work hard in training, it doesn’t matter how old you are, he’ll give you the chance if he thinks you deserve it.
“It’s great for a young player to know that the manager is confident in us and has belief in us and it’s just about working hard each day and improving with each game and that’s what we’re doing.”
The striker also hit the bar late on, and he’s hopeful that with more playing time he can make more of the chances he’s being given.
“I thought I hit it quite sweet, so I thought it was going to dip in but that’s the second game in a row that I’ve hit the crossbar,” he continued.
“But I’m happy to be a threat and causing chances and I’m getting closer. I know that eventually they’ll keep going in.
“I’m happy with the goal I got but it’s about improving and hopefully just trying to get more.
“The team want to continue to win and continue to improve. That’s the most important thing. We’ll see where we are come the end of the season.”
Nketiah kinda looks like Marlo from the Wire
Doesn’t take as many corners though.
That is a brilliant comment MrSymes
Incredible
yes!
I tried to watch the wire but got bored a few episodes into season 2. Kinda wish i stuck at now, I keep hearing good things about it
Season 2 was not very good if i remember correctly
Just want to point out on something. I know we are playing a lot of games, but we do high pressing in bits and pieces. We saw It yesterday with just a tiny bit of press from Guendouzi, which then saw Torreira bump it forward to Eddie for the crossbar shot. Forcing keepers and defenders into errors can be done to teams who are not used to playing out the back like opponents used to do against us when we were horrible at it under Emery.
Would love to see him succeed. He put in a great shift upfront yesterday and the goal was a lovely finish.
You could see he was knackered towards the end but he still managed to stand up to yerry mina, who towers over him, so glad to see him scoring an important goal
It would be a wonderful reputation for us to get, that we give young players the chance at succeeding at the highest level. It might make future talents around the world choose us ahead of clubs who might offer more money, but less propability at playing for the first team.
Just look at the young players we have now. The future looks bright.
Would love to have seen Wrighty’s face when he scored.
Wasn’t he commentating? I’m sure there must be some in-studio footage (like the one where he mocked Azpilichavta) of his reaction to Eddie’s goal! It was the first thing I thought of when he scored.
If you’re good enough you’re old enough
Imagine if he had got three goals in last two games instead of cross bar. He is literally inches away from becoming a superstar
Really interesting twitter thread on our new approach to managing young players:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Arsenalian6/status/1231276898476490755?s=09
Poll: will Nketiah score 50+ goals for Arsenal?
What about 100+?
Nketiah has always had predatory instincts. Akpom too showed this in youth/reserve set up and in pre-season but somehow could not translate it when given opportunity in first team. Hopefully Nketiah will continue to show results. BC as much as we want to blood new players, we are in the business end of things and we are in the results business. Thus far the signs are good this season (even before ARTETA it has to be said) with Emery utilising Saka and he has grabbed the opportunity by the balls and run a mile with it. 10 assist and 3… Read more »
I hope that nketiah, saka, martinelli and now Nelson can continue to grow which will allow the club to invest heavily in other areas. Still believe we need a more mobile DM and CM. Athletisicsm in the epl is such a key thing. If AMN steps up there’s a chance for him in there.
Reminds me of Wenger, he doesn’t care about passport or age, just ability and hard work. This phylosophy of giving young players a chance will be beneficial as all young stars will want to come to arsenal to develop. We used to be THE place to start a carrer along with Ajax. The only piece Wenger missed was winning trophies to prove to the young ones you don’t need to move. Arteta is on the right path
Impressed with him against Everton. There is much more to come from this kid. He can learn loads from Auba…