‘A fantastic player’: Eddie Nketiah so impressed by Arsenal teammate Arteta’s yet to start this season

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Eddie Nketiah has lauded Arsenal teammate Gabriel Jesus and suggested that the rivalry between the pair is pushing both to improve.

Nketiah was speaking in a press conference following his first call-up to the senior England squad, which also comes just days after his Gunners teammate opened his account in the Premier League for this season.

Gabriel Jesus certainly reminded everyone of what he can do at the weekend. The Brazilian scored a wonderful third goal to ensure that the points would be Arsenal’s, as they beat Manchester United 3-1 at the Emirates.

It was a moment of class from the former Manchester City man, who has definitely proved to be a game-changing signing for Mikel Arteta’s side.

Nketiah praises Arsenal teammate Gabriel Jesus

But someone who has really proved his doubters wrong over the last 12 months is Eddie Nketiah. It is easy to forget now, but there were plenty of concerns over whether Nketiah would be able to provide enough support if anything was to happen to Jesus.

But Nketiah was definitely up to the task when the time came last season. And he has made a really impressive start to this campaign, too.

His performances earned him that England call-up. So Jesus’ return has set up a really interesting dynamic for when Arsenal’s season resumes.

But Nketiah believes that both players are really benefitting from working together and rivalling each other for that number nine spot in the Arsenal team.

“Gabi’s a fantastic player, and obviously, a great guy off the pitch,” Nketiah said. “We get on really well. So it’s nice to compete with someone of that standard. It’s only going to do good things for myself and him.

“We both know that we both want to do the same thing, which is help the team, contribute, score goals. I think naturally we push each other in training, we push each other in games.”

It would have been fascinating to see what would have happened had Jesus been available for all of last season. His goalscoring record was not terrible considering that he had one really long run without a goal.

Certainly, he will want to regain that starting spot from Nketiah as soon as possible.

But the 24-year-old is clearly not going to give up his position without a strong fight.