Eddie Nketiah says it’s been tough not playing regularly in recent months but he accepts it’s important to put “ego to the side” to help the team.
The striker was elevated to the England senior squad after netting a hat-trick for Arsenal in the 5-0 win over Sheffield United in October but he’s not been on the scoresheet in the Premier League since and started just two games (against Newcastle and Fulham away) both of which the Gunners lost.
The fact Arsenal have had a near-clean bill of health in recent weeks hasn’t helped Nketiah’s cause. Like other fringe players, including Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira, he’s living off scraps at the end of games and clearly struggling for rhythm. It’s a situation that leads many to believe his days at the club are numbered.
For now, the 24-year-old is keeping his head down and doing his best for the manager at a crucial moment in the season.
“Everyone’s getting different opportunities,” he told Arsenal.com ahead of the north London derby.
“Obviously it’s tough for different players getting different minutes but at this stage of the season it’s just about putting your own personal preferences and ego to the side and doing whatever is best for the team.
“If you get one minute to come on, you’ve got to give your best minute. If you get ten minutes or you start, everyone’s got to be ready. We’re all going to be needed and have our moment to contribute.”
Despite the disappointment, Nketiah still views this season as one of positives.
“I think I’ve hit some really good highs,” he said. “When I was playing regularly I was really happy with my performances. Going to two England camps, making my debut, getting my first Premier League hat-trick and Champions League goal, I’ve achieved quite a few landmarks which I’ve set out.
He added: “Of course in the second half of the season I haven’t started as many games as I’d like, but these things happen and the team has been doing well so I’ve had to play a different role.
“That’s football and things change really quickly, but I think it’s a season to still be proud of and I’m only going to get better. All the experiences I’ve had this season are going to help me going forward.”
I love Eddie. He has a top, top mentality and attitude. I hope he is able to move somewhere in the summer where he can really show his mettle. He’d crush it with a mid-table team.
I’m hoping Nottingham Forest stay up, traditional team unlike Chavski, where both Eddie and Ramsdale would have a very positive impact – also arsenal got their shirt colours from Forest so gotta sort spot for them!!!
Great personality, outstanding physical tools, OK technically, good predatory instinct. Offers little in terms of combination play and subtlety on the ball (though he has the tools to do this better), does not take his man on (ditto), does not have a good weak foot finish, isn’t always switched on after play breaks down. Those are the things keeping him out of the team, especially that last piece. He doesn’t play in a transition based side so being at Arsenal does not highlight his strengths. Best used in “big” games that get stretched or in game states where we are… Read more »
He is at championship level.
He is better than that, he can score decent amount of goals for mid tabel premier league clubs, such as westham, CP, Fulham
Tell me one other decent quality of Nketiah. Technically poor, work rate poor, hold up play poor, finishing poor, playmaking abilities poor…and so on.
He was so dreadful that even the relegation threatened Leeds would not start him.
Arsenal started going toe to toe with city when Arteta finally gave up on him.
His only noteworthy contribution was scoring twice against Norwich in the 3rd round of Carabao cup(of whatever its name was back then).
What a refreshing outlook. Its a shame we cant play everyone.
Sometimes I wonder if football should be played with 12 players lol
How would that help?
I wonder what kind of an advantage it gives. For instance, if Sheffield could play with 12 players, do you think they would win the league ?
We can even play 20 in a game but not at the same time. This is different from using plenty of subs. I am talking about specialty units based on tactics. For example, Arteta may decide playing long balls for 20 minutes. Jesus, Martinelli and Saka out for long-ball unit (Havertz, Trossard, Nketiah) then Jesus, Martinelli and Saka back in for other tactics in the game.
You wouldn’t by any chance have grown up watching US sports would you Nacho de M?
Very difficult to show this kind of spirit in the face of so little playing time. Also the same for Ramsdale and a few others I guess.
The positives will be having a career many would do anything for and just maybe something to show for it at the end of the season.
Here here! Well said!
I think we all know Eddie is going after this season.
Exactly the right attitude from him, hopefully he has a special moment before the season is over.
I hope (and I am sure he does too) that special moment will be receiving his winner’s medal.
Well I was thinking more like scoring the 5th goal against Sp*rs or ManU but fair enough
Another different George was telling me the same the other day. Hope the difference you Georges see this season is bringing us those different medals.
I don’t know if he’ll go. It can be so hard to move players on and I think his wages are quite good? Homegrown will help. I hope we can get 25 million, dream of 35m, can imagine 15m on deadline day.
I love this guy, its why when some folks were getting down on him (during a season of very few downs) I was totally baffled, because he clearly loves this club and has the right attitude. Hope he goes somewhere suited to his style and starts banging in loadsa goals (except against us if he stays in the prem).
Can’t fault his attitude at all, and he might still have a significant part to play.
This entire Nketiah business is a bit sad, at the end of the day. It was obvious at least two years ago that Eddie wasn’t good enough to play in this current team. Both he and Arteta should have sat down and agreed that it was best for him to move on. Instead, he got the number 14 shirt and 100k a week! It’s obvious now that Arteta has given up on him. Good. Eddie can now move on to a mid-table Premier League team where he belongs, and we can spend his transfer fee and wages on a quality striker… Read more »
Bit harsh judging an Eddie and Arteta like that.
At the time of the contract signing, we were not the team we are today. Also Eddie was widely tipped to be hot shit. He might still go on and prove that with some consistent playing time.
But the rest of your post is fair.
The bar is high now.
Jesus, Jorginho and zinchenko need to be the absolute floor of this team, reduced to squad player status. That’s if we want to win the big cup.
In an interview, Laca stated that Arteta was very clear to him that he would have to leave at the end of the season, the year he left. This means that Arteta protects some players more than others. This is good for Eddie who will win the league before departing next year.
i agree with you almost entirely. i don’t think it was THAT obvious two years ago, he still had some potential to be a good squad player. but yes, it’s the same case than ozil, pepe, etc who should have been sold years before they actually did, but people in this blog still blindly support their inclusion in a team that is trying to win the champions league. you’ll probably still find many people in this blog who want nketiah and reiss nelson to stay next season, even when they have 23 PL goals shared between them in 7 seasons…… Read more »
Love Eddie. Will hate to see him go. But also will not hate it THAT much. But I’ll miss him. And also sort of not miss him. I guess I mean, I love the person, but maybe not as much the player? But i do love the player. Especially those few games this season where he was getting assists on clever through balls, scoring hat tricks and screams out of the box, and making really surprising runs with pace. He looked like he was really developing, but then he couldn’t keep it up. I’m relatively sure he will show those… Read more »
*screamers from outside the box (small sample size alert)
Good lad.
It’s difficult to see how he gets playing time in this team. He is an honest, hardworking guy but sadly the team has grown above the likes of him, Nelson and Elneny. The jury is still out on ESR – and my gut feeling is that he’ll be sold to raise funds.
Arsenal has arrived back at the big stage; even our bench must reflect that going forward.
Got to love Eddie, he’s played and scored at every level for Arsenal, top scorer for England u21’s who played at every level beneath and 2 picks for the full England squad, sadly the high notes he played last season when Jesus was out seems a distant memory, he started well this season but hasn’t grasped the opportunity, last season we were debating who to let go him or Balagon (remember him?) we let the former go for £35 mil, I think Eddie is a premier legue player but needs to find a club more suited to his attributes, Crystal… Read more »
Terrible player with super smart agent.
Great attitude