Arsenal legend Ian Wright has slammed Eddie Nketiah for not grabbing the chance to lead the Gunners line following the departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Arsenal are in the midst of a two-game losing run in the Premier League and have shown little threat going forward.
Alexandre Lacazette has been the man tasked with leading Mikel Arteta's attack but has scored just one Premier League goals since the turn of the year, a penalty against Leicester. Nketiah's future remains up in the air with his contract set to expire at the end of the season and there appears to be little chance of a new deal being struck.
This season has seen the Hale End graduate make 13 top-flight appearances but score zero goals, although he did score five times in five Carabao Cup games. But Wright has been left bitterly disappointed by the lack of fight shown by Nketiah, insisting that Arteta should have a stern talk with him ahead of the final games of the season.
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"For the last [however] many games we’ve got left, I would probably sit Eddie Nketiah down and say: 'Listen, I don’t know what the f*** is going on in your head, but we’ve got rid of Aubameyang, you’re an up-and-coming striker, you were here in the spell when he wasn’t scoring, you’re here now when Alexandre Lacazette isn’t scoring, you’re a centre-forward and when you’re coming on I’m not seeing it,'" Wright said on the Arsecast.
"He needs that talk to say there is an opening as a No.9 at Arsenal for someone who can do this job, and he’s young enough to do that job and get in the box. If someone has had that chat with him [it does not show] because when he comes on – he came on against Palace and looked okay – but he is not enough of a goal threat.
"And I’m thinking to myself, when I was coming through, I remember at Crystal Palace I had Trevor Aylott, Andy Gray, and all I was thinking was: 'If I could just have one f***ing chance to have a run in this team'.
"And it does seem to me, when you look at Eddie as a striker who we thought of as the box striker that we need, I was thinking we had a replacement for Aubameyang and Lacazette – but what has happened to Eddie in [that] respect? Your job as a No.9 is to take over from these guys! So that’s one of the most frustrating things for me, to see that there’s a striker there, I don’t know if he’s going to leave or not, it doesn’t seem like there’s any contract talks going on, maybe he’s made his mind up."
