11 January 2023 , 17:39
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Former Arsenal ace Paul Merson appears to have contradicted himself in just a matter of weeks with a comment on in-form Gunners striker Eddie Nketiah.
The young striker has been thrust into the spotlight after Arsenal's first-choice £45million forward Gabriel Jesus was forced to undergo knee surgery, which in turn has left the Brazilian sidelined until late February at the earliest. As a result, Nketiah has been tasked with leading the Gunners' forward line in the meantime.
Upon hearing that Jesus would be ruled out for a lengthy period of time last month, Merson claimed that being forced to play Nketiah would derail Arsenal's title tilt and even leave their hopes of Champions League qualification under threat.
"It's a massive worry that they're now relying on out-of-form Eddie Nketiah," he wrote in the Daily Star before Arsenal's Boxing Day victory over West Ham, in which Nketiah scored in. "They could go eight points clear if they beat West Ham before Manchester City play a game and you still wouldn’t fancy them to win the title without Gabriel Jesus.
"It's hard because even though he doesn't score an awful lot of goals, he is still so effective. If he's out for three months, I'd be shocked if they got in the top four. I just don't see where the goals come from.
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"Without being horrible, what Premier League team does Eddie Nketiah get in? Wolves are bottom, for instance, they're desperate for a goal and they wouldn't go and get him.
Eddie Nketiah has been among the goals for Arsenal with four in four games (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! Can Arsenal stay in the title race with Nketiah leading the line? Comment below
"For me, it's really worrying. This is no disrespect to Nketiah or the other players but Jesus gels everything together. Nketiah might deliver for three games but I just don’t see him doing it for 10 or more matches."
It was a particularly brutal assessment and one that prompted plenty of backlash from Arsenal fans leaping to the defence of their young forward.
However, it didn't take Merson long to eat his words as just two games and two Nketiah strikes later, the former England international told Sky Sports how the forward was bagging goals that Jesus couldn't.
Nketiah capitalised on a goalkeeping error to prod home his second league goal of the season during Arsenal's 4-2 away win over Brighton on New Year's Eve, which inspired a change of heart from Merson.
He said: "He [Nketiah] will grow into that position, he'll get more and more confident - Jesus doesn't score that goal, he doesn't it's as simple as that, he's not that type of player."
Merson went on to analyse Nketiah, adding: "He's scored two goals now, both in the penalty box, put the ball in the penalty box, put him in there and he will score you goals."