28 October 2023 , 18:08
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Eddie Nketiah would love to save Arsenal a few quid.
The prevailing wisdom is that Mikel Arteta will have to go into the market for a striker if the Gunners are going to take that final step to the title. Gabriel Jesus and Nketiah won’t score enough goals, apparently. Mikel will need an answer to Erling Haaland and Mo Salah - and Brentford’s Ivan Toney is the name in the frame.
Don’t bet on that just yet. Nketiah’s first Premier League hat-trick maintained the Gunners’ unbeaten start to the season and kept them breathing down the necks of early pacesetters Tottenham.
Okay, he took the match-ball away from a Sheffield United side that already reeks of relegation. But there was no doubting the quality of his finishing.
His first two, from close-range, were taken with a poacher's instinct that would have reminded the Emirates fans of Ian Wright. Nketiah’s third, a bludgeoned strike into the top corner from 25 yards, might have brought a nod of appreciation from Thierry Henry. That’s five for the season.
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And when referee Tim Robinson took a VAR check to see that substitute Fabio Vieira had been fouled just inside the box by Blades skipper Oliver Norwood, he wanted the chance to add to his tally. But Veira had won it and he wanted it. The Portuguese snatched the ball from the striker’s hands before sending United keeper Wes Foderingham the wrong way.
Eddie Nketiah holds up the match ball as he celebrates after scoring his third (AFP via Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Eddie Nketiah start regularly for Arsenal? Comment below.
The challenge is for Nketiah to find the back of the net with enough consistency to keep his manager happy. Gareth Southgate saw enough to hand Nketiah his first England cap earlier this month - and that recognition seems to have taken his game to another level.
It took the Londoners some time to go through the gears. Jesus was missing with a hamstring injury, while Arteta gave Martin Odegaard and Gabriel a watching brief from the bench. And while his team dominated possession as expected, they struggled to find a way beyond a grey-shirted wall of Sheffield defenders.
It was little wonder that Blades’ boss Paul Heckingbottom employed a gameplay that smacked of damage limitation. United’s return to the Premier League brought a fixture list that has included games against both Manchester clubs, Spurs, Newcastle and now Arsenal in their opening 10 matches.
They are rock bottom with just a single point - and the talk on the streets of the Steel City even before the clocks go back is that Heckingbottom’s reward for winning promotion and a place in the FA Cup semi-finals last season will be the sack. Former boss Chris Wilder is favourite to be handed the poisoned chalice.
After 27 minutes of failing to draw the massed ranks of the Blades brigade out of position with precision passes, Declan Rice decided to go more direct. When the £105million man picked up possession 35 yards from goal, his low ball into the box took Austun Trusty by such surprise that Nketiah had time and space to ease the ball down and shoot past Foderingham.
Nketiah’s second goal, five minutes after the break, saw him swivel like a dervish to smash the ball into the top corner from six yards. His treble strike, a beautifully struck drive that rose to find the top corner eight minutes later, will live long in his memory. Nketiah’s only previous senior hat-trick had been against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup two yeas ago.
It illustrated Arsenal’s superiority that the 3,000 visiting fans from Yorkshire celebrated wildly when their team won their first corner of the game in the second minute of injury-time. They were still singing when substitute Takehiro Tomiyasu completed the scoring with a scrambled goal less than 60 seconds later.