LIVE
...

Follow us on

News

Ian Wright admits 24-year-old Arsenal player will be ‘disappointed’ despite Man City win

Add as preferred source on Google

Ian Wright has admitted that despite Arsenal’s fantastic win over Manchester City, Eddie Nketiah might be disappointed with his performance.

Speaking on the Wrighty’s House Podcast, the Arsenal legend was very much enjoying his side’s win at the weekend.

Mikel Arteta was forced into some difficult decisions when it came to his team selection on Sunday.

The one player he’s always been able to rely on is Bukayo Saka but he was missing due to injury.

That meant shifting Gabriel Jesus out wide, although Arteta could have called upon Reiss Nelson, Fabio Vieira or Emile Smith Rowe.

All three players remained on the bench for the entire match, presumably because Arteta was worried about their lack of physicality up against Josko Gvardiol.

Arsenal FC v Manchester City - Premier League
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Jesus did fine out wide but was never going to live up to replacing Bukayo Saka.

However, in his place Eddie Nketiah was given the nod up top, however, Ian Wright thinks he’ll be disappointed with the lack of chances he had against Manchester City.

He put in a brilliant shift out of possession, trying to close down the visitor’s defenders whenever they were on the ball.

It meant that he looked out of energy when Arsenal were in attack and the ball never quite fell to him in dangerous areas.

Wright thinks Nketiah will be disappointed with Man City’s outing

Speaking about Arsenal’s attacking options, Wright said: “I did like [Gabriel] Jesus on the right there, he caused them a lot of problems, he’s wriggly, what we need.

“It’s a situation where the only thing with Eddie [Nketiah], I thought he worked his socks off and it’s very tough.

“Against Manchester City, your chances are few and far between. If you do get one, you’ve got to make sure you do the very best you can with it.

“At the very least you’ve got to do a lot of running the other way, a lot of that kind of stuff.

“And I think that it maybe took its toll on him in this game and he’ll probably be feeling a little bit disappointed simply because he didn’t get too many chances.

“He did a lot of work and he got taken off in the end.”

Arsenal FC v Manchester City - Premier League
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Wright has suggested that Kai Havertz might need to be given the chance to start ahead of Nketiah after his performance against Man City.

The German recorded his first league assist of the season, setting up Gabriel Martinelli’s deflected strike.

Nketiah has retained his place in the England squad for the upcoming international break and will hope to make his debut against Australia.

However, he’s not been in the best form since flying out of the blocks before his initial call-up.