Eddie Nketiah spoke to Sky Sports after our 2-1 win over West Ham this evening. The striker scored the winner late on, with an assist from Dani Ceballos.
Here’s what he had to say.
You got the winner, was it your first touch?
Almost, I think it was the second maybe, but obviously it was nice to get on and help the team get the winner.
You and Ceballos were in harmony, after what happened before Fulham.
Obviously there was a coming together, I was a bit upset with the challenge he put in and obviously the reaction was there. But we made up quickly, apologised quickly and got on with it, that’s what happens in life. It was nice for him to make the assist for me today, so it’s all love now!
How much was down to the weight of pass?
It was a great pass, good vision from him, I just tried to stay onside behind the ball and it was an easy finish from there. A great ball from Dani.
All I want to do is keep improving as a player and to come on and get the winner is a great feeling, so I’m delighted with the three points.
Did Arsenal have to dig out a win?
West Ham made it very difficult, second half they came out strong, we had to keep going, had to keep patient, keep passing, and at the end the chances were there and thankfully we put it away.
Ceballos was terrible in this game. Couldn’t make a forward pass to save his life. I don’t understand his game he seems to think he has time to always make several touches on the ball and then twist and turn before he releases the ball. He slows down our play. Arteta needs to work on him. Somehow I missed Elneny in midfield today.
True. He’s a ball hoarder. Has always been a negative with his game. Slows it down and kills the flow.
Arsenal now have a solid plan to play big teams, it’s against the smaller teams we struggle to create. We definitely need improvements in the MF
Slows down our play? He’s easily one of the hardest workers in our midfield AND he got that crucial assist at the death. Quite a few moments today where he turned the possession for us and played a quick ball forward.
Yes he got the assist at the end, but he did that by doing something he only did once in the whole game – running through midfield. On the ball all game he was awful.
This was a pre-restart performance from Dani and while he deserves credit for the run and the assist for the winner, his overall game was quite poor.
He was probably our man of the match. He worked his socks off and put himself in harm’s way to block shots and press strongly. Going forward he was our only outlet. It was clear that we were missing Tierney’s long ball on the left, so Arteta had him moved to the left to play the long through ball to Aubameyang. He made an excellent run from the deep position he is asked to be in under our current system to pop up with the assist. A lot of players in his position would have opted to take a shot… Read more »
not agreeing with randy but would be very curious about the thumbs ups and doowns if it ended 1:1
We could point finger at the whole team if it ended 1:1 not only Ceballos. Very sluggish performance. Seemed like there was a lack of focus. They couldnt even make the simple pass right. Seems like players could only motivate them selves for the likes of Liverpool and City but thought Westham would be a easy picking. It’s hard to play every game like it’s cup final but that’s what makes you a Champion in this league.
i dont think he was as bad as you say, especially considering he has that ‘it’ factor that makes him a danger for the opposition at all times.
but i did miss elneny too and i hope he gets a shot again next game instead of dani
Harsh on dani, team were all below par, let’s not forget he pushed himself forward
in 85th minute of game and set up winner & earnd us 3 valuable points for that reason alone you should be thankful.
All three of saka, ceballos and Eddie showed their respective qualities in that goal…. loved it man… And loved the danni and Eddie pose for camera afterwards… ?
Great win, nice 3 points, delighted for Nketiah, but not a good performance. We looked shaky, passing was awful up front, leno was all over the place with the crosses, very, very, poor crossing by Hector and Kola. looks like we have a system for playing the top teams but with the weaker teams we have issues.
Spot on
United lost, one of Chelsea and liverpool will drop points tomorrow and hopefully spurs lose too so I won’t care about the bad performance for now at least.
Just keep getting the three points and let’s see where it gets us
Agreed. We can’t start acting like any points in this league are easy. There’s so much quality in every team in the Prem it’s ridiculous.
Yeah, the gap has really narrowed the last 5 years. It is an absolutely brilliant league, tbf.
To tell you guys the truth, every team in the EPL now has money to invest so any 3 points counts. It’s not easy to grab
For me, I’ve just accepted that if Hector and Sead aren’t crossing from inside the 18-yard box, the ball is not reaching its target.
Crossing is something the fullback is usually best at in the team. Just isn’t the case at Arsenal? for some of ours.
You forgot about Tierney’s consistently delicious crossing
Knowing how to win ugly is important too.
What a end to last week warm up saga.
Saka crucial for both the goal. It was his eye for the pass that made goals happen. Really have good hopes grom him and smith rowe to inject that creativity.
Yeah I agree. There’s a nice number 8/10 spot opening up that suits both of them. Maybe even Willock.
If we had to prioritise a CM signing in this window I’d prioritise Partey and give them a chance to show what they can do. They’ve got different styles but can all do a job moving the ball from the middle of the park to the final third.
Well done, Son. Martinez commands his box better than Leno, but I digress.
We should’ve kept him. But we cannot all have what we want, unfortunately.
This is going to be the theme all season isn’t it? Leno makes mistake and you’ll mention Martinez
Naturally. LIke any decision a club makes they will be judged on it. Hope he’s got those flaps out of his system now though.
I get that but Martinez is gone. I think he’ll be the new scape goat for this season whenever we lose or draw just like it was with xhaka
Xhaka is truly a slightly above average player at best. I don’t think he would get in any of the other top 6 sides.
They literally couldn’t wait to ask about the bust up last week.
You’d be surprised at the number of people who enjoy all that crap more than the actual game..
Yeah, they did him dirty. Asking about the quality of the assist instead of recognising him scoring a late winner in a London derby…away from home…
Players argue all the time. It’s 50% of all autobiographies. It’s a non-issue. They’re focused on all the wrong stuff.
He scored a hattrick for the u21s, he’s kept the faith of his club Manager and shows a talent for running the lines, getting into great spots and hitting the target when it really matters. I think he’ll turn into a big game player.
On a completely unrelated note, is David Luiz’s hair…smaller?
Perhaps his head is . . . bigger?
The truth is out there.
No, he was just further away.
Friendship
Leno handling was poor…
I miss Martinez there, dude has a safe pair of hands.
Even catches shots sometimes..
Move on already, he’s gone and isn’t coming back. Will you do this everytime we concede a goal
He’s right though, Leno was rubbish.
So was everyone
Easily one of our best players during the Emery saga, just came back from injury and always at his back
They’re the two best friends that anyone can have. 🙂
Schoolboy keffufle played up unnecessarily by typical media. Kiss and make up with a superb piece of adventurism from the Spaniard (Brilliantly found by Saka) and then composure to tee up the predaotry young striker. Good instincts from Nketiah. He has this half of the season to show his improvement and this is a really good start to build on. Worth noting as well Laca also scored again from Auba on the left clipping in a good ball. The pair have good instincts with each other and it is this intuition that is harder to replace if we should sell… Read more »
I don’t agree with the people giving Kolasinac stick in the match report thread. I think his performance was down to all the speculation surrounding him and the fact that he is down the pecking order now. Maybe he is short on confidence. A confident Kolasinac is a handful and is intimidating for the opposition. The same people who are complaining about kolasinac will say El neny is not fit to be in this club after 1 bad game.
None of Kola’s strengths suit a back 3
Pleased for Eddie. Hopefully that will give him the confidence to smashing them in.
Kudos to Ceballos as well, who worked hard and provided the assist for the winner. He’s no Ozil, but that’s not his fault.
If our midfield lacks creativity, that’s on the board. 1. – For banning our best creative midfielder for having the cojones to question their ridiculous pay cut and 2. – Not giving the manager more financial assistance in the pursuit of his targets that would help give the midfield the quality that it lacks.
In short, fuck you, Stan.
There is a lot of criticism of Ceballos here, but Tierney’s absence seems to reduce Arsenal’s effectiveness at both ends of the pitch. A better back up at left back is needed.