Former Arsenal striker Kevin Campbell has expressed his concerns over Eddie Nketiah.
A lack of regular goals is becoming a serious problem for Arsenal. The north London club have fallen to defeat in each of their last three games, across all competitions. In that time, they have only found the back of the net themselves once.
In the defeats against West Ham United and Liverpool, Arsenal did not struggle to create chances. Against the Hammers they had 30 shots, 8 of which were on target. Against the Reds, Arsenal produced 18 shots, 5 of which were on target. However, Mikel Arteta’s side failed to score in both matches.
The likes of Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Leandro Trossard, amongst others, have been guilty of wasting very presentable opportunities recently. For a side with title-winning ambitions, this kind of profligacy is unacceptable, and has cost them dearly already. Arsenal were top of the Premier League table on Christmas Day. With the new year just over one week old, they now find themselves in fourth, five points off of pole position.
Jesus, in particular, needs to step up his efforts in front of goal. As the Gunners’ first choice striker, the Brazilian’s return of 3 goals from 15 Premier League outings this season is simply not good enough.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that Arsenal have been linked with a number of big name forwards as potential transfer targets.
Arsenal have a problem with Eddie Nketiah
In the meantime, Eddie Nketiah is another player Arteta has turned to in an effort bring some end product to the team. The £100,000-per-week Hale End academy graduate was given the nod in the starting XI ahead of Jesus against Fulham.
However, the 24-year-old never really got into the game and he remains with a tally of 5 goals in 19 top flight appearances – with 3 of those strikes coming in one match as he hit a hat-trick against Sheffield United earlier in the campaign.
All too often, Nketiah struggles to impose himself on matches. Whilst he is a more natural finisher than Jesus, he lacks the 26-year-old’s ability to effectively drop deep and involve himself in the build up play. This makes him an awkward fit for Arteta’s preferred style of play, as Nketiah simply can’t get involved enough.
Kevin Campbell believes that this flaw in Nketiah’s game is a huge problem for Arsenal. Speaking on talkSPORT, he said, “if Jesus isn’t playing well, then you tend to find Arsenal don’t play well. I know Eddie sometimes gets put up there and does a good job against certain teams. But when it comes to the top teams, I don’t think Eddie’s game is geared to do what Gabriel Jesus does and that’s a problem, it really is a problem for Arsenal.”
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