Eddie Nketiah sends warning to Spurs as he makes feelings clear on Arsenal role
Match ball slung over his shoulder, hat-trick hero Eddie Nketiah sent Tottenham a coded warning about the staying power required to sustain a title challenge.
Arsenal spent 248 days at the top of the Premier League last season – and it still wasn't enough for them to take the tickertape. If the Gunners were disconcerted by waking up to headlines about Spurs being five points clear at the top, they soon restored factory settings in north London.
After a five-goal romp, featuring Nketiah's first league treble, Arsenal were back within pecking range of the old enemy down the Seven Sisters Road like the parrot on a pirate's shoulder. Spurs have only been top for five minutes. Let's see if they can do it for eight months.
“It's a draining league,” warned Nketiah. “But we aim to be up there again. We want to be up there, to keep pushing.”
If Gunners fans were concerned about missing Gabriel Jesus with the hamstring injury he picked up in Seville, and with skipper Martin Odegaard nursing a nagging hip problem on the bench, there was no need to worry. Sheffield United dutifully folded like a paper plane.
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And it's time Nketiah was taken seriously as a front-line striker in his own right, not just the bloke who steps up when Jesus is unavailable. He insists he is neither frustrated nor affronted by the perception – and now he has an England cap, after his Three Lions debut against Australia earlier this month, to prove his worth.
Nketiah, 24, said: “That is not my persona at all. I just focus on being the best player I can and improving day in, day out.
Eddie Nketiah of Arsenal celebrates scoring the third goal (Getty Images)“I know how good I can be when I am on it, when I am working hard and my team-mates trust me and believe in me. That’s the most important thing for me - the rest is just noise. Sometimes you get the credit, sometimes you don’t. You just have to be consistent and keep pushing every day.
“I try to be in there and earn the manager's faith so when I come in he can trust me. It is just about good habits, improving every day, pushing yourself, in front of goal, back to goal, movements, pressing, and giving everything for the team.
“The more I am playing, the more I am learning - when things go wrong or go right - and making sure the next time I correct any mistakes. It is good to be playing regularly and I am improving with more game time.
“Whatever role I am given, whether it is five minutes, two minutes, 10 minutes, I just want to help the team and my main focus is to contribute and try to get the win.
“I’m a childhood supporter of the club, so to score a hat-trick in front of the fans, my friends, my family and my team-mates is an amazing feeling. It’s a day I’ll remember forever.”
Eddie Nketiah blasts home his third from distance (Sheffield United FC via Getty Im)Nketiah could have joined Thierry Henry and Andrey Arshavin as the only Arsenal players to score four in a Premier League game, but when he Fabio Vieira was clipped in the box to win a penalty, Eddie the Hot Rod stepped aside to let the Portugese sub open his account for the season.
Another sub, Takehiro Tomiyasu, completed the rout in stoppage time and Nketiah admitted: “I was going to take it - I wanted to take it. I always want to get more goals.
“But Fabio came to me and said he wanted to take it. He won the penalty as well. He’s expecting a little one and it was a really good moment for him to get on the scoresheet and dedicate it.
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“I’m a team player - I’d scored a hat-trick so I could allow other players to get in on the act. He took the penalty and scored, so we’re happy.”
One point from 10 games is rarely a basis for survival and the Blades look doomed.
After selling their two best players, Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye, a week before the season began, nobody should be surprised they are already up to their necks in quicksand. Up front they are more blunt than a pair of rusty garden shears. Three years ago they suffered an identical start under Chris Wilder and they never recovered.
The writing is not just on the wall – it's sprayed across every subway wall like horrid graffiti.
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