Mikel Arteta says Arsenal will have to assess the seriousness of Jurrien Timber’s injury after the Holland international limped off just after half time of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
The defender, making his Premier League debut, picked up a knock at the end of the first half trying to make a tackle on Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson and he clearly hadn’t shaken off the problem, which appeared to be behind his right knee, when he twisted awkwardly four minutes after the break.
After undergoing treatment from the medical team for the second time in quick succession, Mikel Arteta made the sensible decision to replace him with Takehiro Tomiyasu. In his post-game press conference, the manager was pressed on whether he’d considered an earlier substitution.
“No, well the physios, the doctors, they looked at him and they were happy to continue and him as well,” he replied.
“But straight away in the second half, the first action, he made a movement and it was a bit funny.
“So, yeah, we took him straight after out and now we have to assess him and see what he has.”
The Gunners looked fluid and mobile with Timber playing as the left full-back and were good value for the two-nil advantage they held at half time.
Eddie Nketiah rifled the home side ahead on 26 minutes following a crafty turn by Gabriel Martinelli before Bukayo Saka curled home a stunning effort six minutes later.
After missing out on the starting lineup for last weekend’s Community Shield win over Manchester City, Arteta was particularly pleased for Nketiah.
“I’m delighted for him because he’s a role model,” said the boss.
“He’s a player that was so disappointed with the absence of Gabi not to play a final [last weekend]. And what he did is came on the field in the final and changed the game. That’s number one.
“And the second one, the way he trained this week, he was telling me, ‘Gaffer, if I don’t play, you are blind. You know?”
“A lot of players come and say, ‘Why am I not playing?’ And you have to try to explain.
“Other players, they tell you these are the reasons why I have to play. This is what exactly Eddie did. This is exactly what he did. He goes on the pitch and he performs that way. It’s a clear example and a very good example for everybody.”
After watching Saka grab the game by the scruff of the neck to produce a moment of magic, the boss was asked how good his winger can become.
“What I ask of him and all the players is to be the best version of themselves every single day and that’s the only thing they can do,” he said.
“How good that version is, it’s very hard to tell on any player because we don’t know. We didn’t know the Bukayo of two years ago and how he’d be today or now in two years’ time.
“But the same applies to the rest and they are so eager to do that every single day. When that happens they will evolve and for sure they will be better, they will compete better and they will understand the game better and they will be more efficient to make the right decisions.”
Meh, he scored an ok goal from a shot that Turner would have probably saved bar the wicked deflection. The striker they brought that scored on looked far more dangerous in about 15 minutes than Nketiah. Sorry, but he doesn’t do enough to lead the line at Arsenal. I still think we need another forward, we struggled to break down the worst team away from home last season. start Trossard next week please.
Jeez that was over the top from Arteta. Nketia really wasn’t that good today and is not that good full stop.
If a striker starts and scored than he has done well. End of story. Your comment betrays a weird bias against Eddie. The guy scores goals.
Scores goal? He’s a striker and he has scored about 15 goals in about 80 games or so. If he doesn’t score he does nothing. He’s not versatile either so I’m not really sure why you think he can lead the line for a team allegedly challenging for the Premier League and other cups. It’s not biased and I’m not he’s bad, he’s just not in the same league as the other top teams in the league.
https://footystats.org/players/england/edward-nketiah
According to this he scored 0.34 goals per 90mins which is in the 91st percentile in the PL, meaning only 9% of players were better than him in goal efficiency. I’d say that’s pretty good for a backup striker, but hey, why let facts get in the way.
as for “if he doesn’t score he does nothing” I don’t suppose you care much about the defensive side of the game or holdup play do you…
Well according to your stats he has 15 goals in 90 premier league games. He’s scored nearly as many in the Carabao cup. Diogo Jota is probably Liverpool’s back up striker and he has 31 goals in 76 games. plus he can play on the wing. That is an effective back up striker.
I specifically cited goals per minute because goals per game doesn’t take into account how many minutes a player played in those games. Most of Eddie’s games were off the bench playing 10-15mins, and many of those were when he was much younger and not the player he is today. But again, let’s not let objective analysis get in the way of our opinions…
Nketiah starts over Trossard for me for his hold up play. It can change though. Depends on what Arteta does with the rest of the team. Partey at RB was odd. So is Timber at LB. A lot of the game White and Partey swapped and that pushed Rice into an awkward position. Nketiah compensated by drifting LW and deep as if he was expecting Havertz or Martinelli to overlap but really he should be using his strength, first touch and pace to play off the defensive shoulder. His turn and goal against West Ham last season was sublime. I’d… Read more »
Great reply.
Plenty of fans with a weird bias against Eddie. I think it was Phil Costa that said recently on the pod that Eddie gives fans the opposite of “shiny new toy” syndrome, forgetting too easily he won us a bunch of points last season, and then there’s the usual impatience/failure to understand that like most young players he still might be improving
Listen he did ok for a few games last season when the team were buzzing. His last 5 consecutive games last season when we were up against it, he scored nine, assisted none, had not a single shot on target and created only one chance for odegarrd away at villa. But hey anyone not on the same page as you must have weird bias against Eddie.
Scored none not nine 😂 if it was nine i would be raving about him 😜
His last 5 games he came off the bench, played about 12 minutes a game on average in those games.
No the last 5 games he started last season before trossard replaced him
He had a fallow period after the ManU game, we all know that. He did have a shot cleared off the line vs City and then drew the foul that led to Saka’s penalty and our only goal in that game, so that’s a pretty significant contribution which is missing from the stats you presented for those 5 games. And otherwise we don’t know if he was already carrying the ankle issue that eventually made him miss 6 weeks shortly after. Or if maybe after doing spectacularly in January the pressure or fatigue got to him. Either way I’m sure… Read more »
They are stats that back up the eyes 👀
Exactly, bias is the right word. If Jesus had the very same performance, everyone would be saying “good job”. Seems that lots of fans on here suddenly know better than Arteta, very strange.
The football manager crowd who know better are always lurking. Try and enjoy a feckin win, can’t wait to see the comments when we lose. 😂😂😂
I thought so too but look up his stats. His numbers aren’t very good. He doesn’t pass the eye test which is an equally valuable metric.
The eye test is literally not a “metric” at all.
Absolutely the above – 14 goals in 16 starts at The Emirates. Get off his back and support the team.
Hopefully Timbers injury isn’t as bad as those no-one near you injuries often are. I remain Meh about Havertz at the moment and think Trossard gives us more. But a wins a win. The invincibles is still on.
Havertz will humble you – the professionals say this – joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand made this point pre match – but armchair fans know better
Just like the Rio who said White isn’t a good RB
It’s fine to have an opinion about a player. Just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean you have to describe them as ‘armchair fan’. I’m afraid to say we’re all armchair fans
Nice to see £6m of expenditure in the forward line securing results. That Martinelli assist 😍
Assist of the season?
Yes, so far.
Just listened to the recent Arsecast about injuries and interesting the doctor interviewed mentions most injuries occur towards the end of each half 😬 I guess Timber’s counts towards that if you consider when he initially got injured
I don’t think eddie changed the game in the community shield but while I’ve been on his case, he did have a decent game today. I find myself being heavily critical of him for all his loose touches and passes, sometimes his movement a lot more so than other players. There is just something about the way he plays that doesn’t sit right with me – similar to when I watched squillaci or denilson play but I hope eddie proves me wrong if we keep playing him. I was really hoping we gave Balogun a shot, because for me he… Read more »
I think FB attitudes is the reason he is being on the leftie of MA.
You can be the most talented player in the world, but without the right and humble attitude you will always have problem.
FB has to have the team interest at heart first.
Probably less important that Eddie ‘proves you wrong’ and more important that he continues to do what Arteta expects , no ?
as fans of the club i think it’s fair to have expectations from the club, players and the manager. the players play for the club, and for the fans as a result of that. they are not paid wages out of arteta’s pocket so that they only appease arteta or meet just his expectations. arteta isn’t the only person watching them play.
Timber: It’s unfortunate for him to get injured on his league debut and it look serious though. I think it safe to say he is very much making the position his own because Zinchenko just cant defend.
Nketiah: Look, he is not everyone’s cup of tea. But he delivered what he supposed to do. That’s it. We are quick to forget that he deputized well last season when Jesus was out. And I’m pretty sure not many backup strikers have his mentality.
Yeah, “Zinchenko can’t defend.” So, how did we do last season when Zinchenko played compared to when he didn’t.
if Nketiah was absolutely top drawer he would be our number one striker or, more likely, would have moved on.
Be is , we believe, happy to be a senior squad player getting regular minutes.
And I, for one, think he is excellent cover for Jesus.
Think he proved to be great cover for Jesus last season & great cover in general the season before that.
Strange that some still act as though he has something to prove.
I think Eddy did ok today and is a god back up stricker that always works hard. I prefer to play him when Jesus is injured than haverts that I really think is a midfielder with lots of talent given time he will come god.
I would love to see a bit more rotation this year with Nelson and row Smith aswell.
But really hard to see anyone getting a head of martinelly or saka at the moment
V few players in premier league get ahead of saka and nelli. Nobody ahead of saka
Trossard and ESR are better options than Kai. I’m not sure what they mean by Kai is a “technical player” ( is he some kind of electrician?). Trossard and ESR and Martinelli and Saka lifts and impact the team in aggression on and off the ball. Trossard won more balls and gave more passes in the short period he played than all Kai did in the entire match. I hope Arteta will not have a selection problem with his team. The material is there to challenge for the title. Yes. It’s 3 points but the second half left me a… Read more »
Early days. I’m sure they all have a part to play in the season &, personally, I’d rather just see what Arteta has planned than 2nd guess off the back of a single game.