Taking his chance: Eddie Nketiah impressed again for Arsenal in the Europa League on Thursday
(Picture: REUTERS)Given Gabriel Jesus’ flying start to life at Arsenal, Eddie Nketiah knows his chances to impress this season will be few and far between.
It was a similar story for much of last year, when Nketiah was playing second fiddle to Alexandre Lacazette, but the striker is making the most of the opportunities he gets.
He certainly did his push for minutes no harm against Bodo/Glimt, opening the scoring in the 23rd minute and setting the Gunners on their way to a comfortable 3-0 win.
That was Nketiah’s 12th goal in his last 15 starts, but the most impressive part of his performance on Thursday night was his all-round game.
The striker has always been renowned as a poacher, and he showed that with his well-taken finish here, but his ability to lead the line is improving with every game he plays.
The 22-year-old linked play well against Bodo, holding the ball up and giving Arsenal a focal point. Nketiah looks bigger and stronger than he has in the past, and more than once he left Bodo defenders in a heap on the floor as he brushed them to one side.
The trouble for Nketiah is that Jesus is blocking his path to minutes in the Premier League and it is telling that his only starts this season have come in Europe. But if he is to give Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta any sort of selection headache then he must continue to take his chances on nights like this.
The glimmer of hope for Nketiah is that he could play alongside Jesus, with Arteta floating that idea on Wednesday before this game. And that was the case for the final 30 minutes of this match as Jesus came on to play out left, with Nketiah staying in the middle.
That will boost Nketiah’s confidence and make him believe that promising performances like this one are not in vain. He isn’t the only one looking to use the Europa League as a chance to shine and Fabio Vieira and Kieran Tierney also did their hopes of getting more minutes no harm.
Tierney, who suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of last season, looked much more like his usual self against Bodo. The left-back bombed up and down his flank well, playing a hand in the first-half goal by having an effort thump off the post. Nketiah was on hand to tuck home the rebound.
Like Tierney, Vieira was bright and particularly in the first half he demonstrated why Arsenal spent £34million on him this summer. The midfielder had some lovely touches and passes, with his cross for Rob Holding’s goal just before the half-hour mark an example of his quality.
Vieira got the goal his performance deserved late on as he fired home following great work by Jesus out wide. The challenge now for Vieira - and the likes of Nketiah and Tierney - is to break into Arsenal’s starting XI in the Premier League. That XI looks very settled right now but, given how busy October is, their time could come sooner rather than later.
