Mikel Arteta admitted that he may have got it wrong with Eddie Nketiah as his goalscoring heroics reignited Arsenal's faltering Champions League bid.
Nkeitah has been made to wait for his chance in the Gunners first team this season, despite Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s exit and Alexandre Lacazette struggles in front of goal. But with the latter ruled out of the defeat to Southampton at the weekend, Nketiah was finally given a go from the start.
And although they lost 1-0 on the south coast, the 22-year-old retained his place in the starting XI against Chelsea, scoring twice in a 4-2 victory which puts their Champions League destiny back in their own hands. Nketiah, who spent time in the Chelsea academy before moving across the capital, admitted he had a chip on his shoulder playing the Blues and channelled that to perfection - scoring his first Premier League goals of the season.
And as well as sending a message to Chelsea, Nketiah had extra motivation to prove his current manager wrong, admitting earlier this season that he had been frustrated by a lack of opportunities. He told the Beautiful Game Podcast: “There have talks and offers of a new contract but at the moment my aim is to play football and play regularly.
“I feel like I’m at the stage where I’ve signed a contract for five years when I was 18 and in that five years, how many starts have I had here? I went on loan for six months and been here for the rest and I have probably started about 30 games maybe in all competitions.”
And Arteta has now accepted that he perhaps didn’t have the courage to play him more, a decision which can now be deemed as an error of judgement.
“If there is one player that I have been unfair with I think it’s him,” Arteta explained. “He has given me every right to do something different, and if Eddie doesn’t play more, it’s my fault and because as a manager I missed something or I haven’t had the courage to play him more. Today he showed me more how wrong I was.”
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He added: “What Eddie has done tonight is because of what he has done for the last 10 months and no-one has noticed," he told the BBC. "I said to him I haven’t been fair. I should have been playing him more. We have other issues as well and that has not been easy. But he deserved completely what happened to him tonight."
"When you look at him in training and how humble and hungry he is, good things happen to good people. If I’m happy for anyone it is especially him because I know what he has been through.”
Arsenal face Manchester United on Saturday in the lunchtime kick-off and the Gunners know that should they avoid defeat, they will leapfrog Tottenham and put all the pressure on their north London rivals.
