Eddie Nketiah scored a brace and was voted man of the match as Arsenal beat Oxford United 3-0 at the Kassam Stadium to tee up an FA Cup showdown with Manchester City at the end of the month.
Here’s what the striker had to say when he faced the ITV cameras….
He's @Arsenal's man of the moment and tonight was no different 🔴#EmiratesFACuppic.twitter.com/JJt0zPHP8g
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 9, 2023
On whether Arsenal were starting to get anxious at the hour mark…
We came here and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It’s tough ground, a good crowd and obviously, the pitch is tough to play on the way we want to play. It was a tough start, we had to stay patient, we had to up the level – it wasn’t good enough from us in the first half. We did that in the second half.
On what Arsenal needed to improve in the second half…
We just needed more quality with the ball, calmness, patience. They wanted us to be a rushed, a high-tempo game, we needed to slow it down and play at our pace. I think we did that in the second half and we got our reward.
On which of his goals he preferred…
[For the first] Fabio, to be fair, we’ve been talking about that about that little darting run and reverse pass. He’s got that in his locker. It was nice. I took the first one nice but the second one was a nice little dink so I think I probably enjoyed that a little bit more.
On a run in the side boosting his confidence…
It’s good. Every player wants to play whatever competition it is, I always want to push and help the team. I’m grateful for the opportunities and I want to keep improving and keep working and helping the team.
On facing Manchester City in the next round…
Obviously, it’s not the best draw but we’ll be up for it. We’ve got a lot of games in between so we’ll focus, recover, focus on Tottenham first and then after that we’ll take them as they come.
Arsenal showed Sp*rs how to win playing in a white kit! Fabio Vieira wooah. What a Baller! Plus ESR back LANS! COYRG! ❤
Hopefully we get forward reinforcement soon. Eddie is doing well to take his chances, but playing every minute of every game isn’t sustainable either.
Eddie u score goals bro!!!!! Same again against the spuds pls, lovely stuff
Vieira, he is the real playmaking deal. Most players would have played a straight pass to Eddie and hope he wins a foot race with the defender.
But no only did he pass into the defenders blind spot, making full use of Eddies body positioning, he knew that Eddie isn’t strong when the ball is on his left side and just made it a simple right footed affair.
Great job
Sorry I wasn’t clear. But playing straight down the channel vs a clever reverse pass diagonally behind the defender … a delicious meal for any striker
Thank you, Arsenal.
4 goals in 4 starts. Small sample size admittedly, but I would say that summer contract renewal is beginning to look like shrewd business.