Mikel Arteta needs to give £100k-a-week Arsenal player one more chance, he still has potential

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In line with all of the faith Mikel Arteta has shown in Eddie Nketiah at Arsenal, he now needs to give him one more extended chance.

That’s off the back of many pundits thinking Nketiah failed to live up to Arsenal’s elite standards against City.

Kai Havertz replaced the £100k-a-week player late on and then arguably had his best moment in an Arsenal shirt yet.

Moreover, with Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka likely to be back to full fitness after the international break, Nketiah may find chances hard to come by.

Gabriel Jesus is likely to be starting centrally again, a position he prefers.

And with Arsenal now linked to Ivan Toney in January, it does beg the question – has Nkeitah run out of chances under Arteta?

There will of course be a fair few cup games to come, and Arsenal may even need to rotate in the Champions League, but those aren’t the chances Nketiah wants.

Nketiah won’t be happy settling as a squad player, he wants to be Arteta’s leading man at Arsenal.

The 24-year-old will be delighted to be away with the England squad right now, and that may be hard to repeat if his minutes worsen. 

Arteta needs to give Nketiah one more chance to prove his worth at Arsenal

Although he’s been renowned for his finishing in both Arsenal and England youth categories, that is an area Nketiah now needs to improve.

Whilst David Raya looked like he was struggling under the pressure against City, the same could be said about the Arsenal striker.

Nketiah has done a ton of good work for Arteta over the season but is now snatching at his chances.

Moreover, his record of two goals in eight games isn’t a big enough improvement on his four goals in 30 games last season in the Premier League.

But that doesn’t mean Arteta should give up on Nketiah at Arsenal.

He’s clearly got a ton of talent, he just needs to believe he is the player who can lead the line at such a big club.

There’s a lot of talk that Arsenal will regret selling Folarin Balogun this summer, and the same might then be said about Nketiah.

It’ll be tough to take chances away from Jesus, but his persistent knee issues would probably benefit from some rotation.

Nketiah deserves one more chance, especially before any decision to sign Ivan Toney.