Best Nketiah not enough as Gabriel Jesus mimicry required in two games to define Arsenal future

Will Ford
Arsenal pair Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah celebrate a win

The very best version of Eddie Nketiah may not be enough; the Arsenal star faces two massive games in which a Gabriel Jesus imitation may be the only way to prevent a new striker signing in January.

The first thought of almost everyone as Gabriel Jesus’ injury came to light was: Arsenal need to sign a striker in January. After they let Champions League qualification slip from their grasp through inaction a year ago, they can’t afford to make the same mistake in a title race.

Poor old Eddie Nketiah. He signed a new five-year contract in June, two weeks before the Gunners signed Jesus. Nketiah was almost certainly aware when he signed his new deal that the club would be bringing in competition for his position, and he’s not stupid – he will have known that the new signing would likely be first choice ahead of him. But he will have agreed to stay at the club on the proviso that he was the next cab up on the rank. He would play cup games and the odd Premier League fixture; more than that if Jesus suffered a dip in form, or indeed picked up an injury.

Nketiah probably wasn’t aware that his opportunity would be governed by the severity of that injury. How long a Jesus lay-off would it take for the club to turn to the transfer market? As it turns out, three months of Nketiah is too much.

Asked how Arsenal would cope without Jesus, Mikel Arteta said Nketiah has “incredible qualities for the way we want to play,” but insisted they will be “active” in the market as Jesus “brings something very different to the team”. And unfortunately for Nketiah, that “something different” has proved to be exactly what they’ve needed, and has reduced him to 12 substitute appearances in the Premier League totalling 140 minutes, with no starts.

Nketiah secured his future at Arsenal through his five goals in seven games at the end of last season. But the next few weeks – possibly just the next two games before the January transfer window opens – could determine what that future will look like.

The 23-year-old will likely start the Boxing Day clash against West Ham and their New Year’s Eve trip to Brighton. If he doesn’t, and Arteta plays Gabriel Martinelli down the middle as he’s already hinted at, Nketiah will be cursing his life choices. He may as well engrave his name on his place on the Emirates bench.

If he’s in the XI, these two games are huge for Nketiah. How well does he need to play to prevent a new striker arriving in January? Is it about how well he plays or more how he plays? Goals would be great – and is the sort of “quality” that even Jesus has struggled to provide more recently – but Arteta is clearly looking for more than that. He covets a striker that hassles defenders, holds the ball up, runs with it, provides space for others and brings those others into play.

Nketiah is very different to Jesus. The question is, for the sake of his career, does he need to try to be more like him? Jesus, despite being a striker who’s scored just five goals, has made Arsenal tick this season – according to WhoScored, he’s been their best player.

Poor Arsenal performances against West Ham or Brighton – even if Nketiah scores in a win – will lead to further feathers in Jesus’ cap (not that he needs more), a blot on Nketiah’s copybook and to director Edu scouring the market for a more suitable Premier League starter.

Arteta probably doesn’t, or didn’t, want Nketiah to be like Jesus. Up until the Brazilian’s injury, the Gunners boss will likely have seen the variation in their styles of play as a plus point. It makes sense to have different options to change the course of a game or adapt the style of play if necessary. Having a proper goalscorer to come off the bench is always good.

But with the back-up striker set to start, the Arsenal boss will now be wishing he had more of a Jesus understudy, such has his impact been. Arteta would likely take an inferior striker to Nketiah if that striker was closer in style to his stricken star.

His very best version may not be enough for Arteta and Arsenal in the title race. Poor Eddie Nketiah.