Arsenal: 3 improvements Eddie Nketiah must make to be starting quality

1. Presence in the box

When the goals don’t come—and there will always be times when the goals don’t come—one thing a striker can provide regularly is presence in the box so the goals can flow around him. It’s why we need to be more interested in replacing Alexandre Lacazette than Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Aubameyang has goals on his side, but does better in open spaces.

Lacazette, meanwhile, is a tight-space kind of guy. And that being the case, Nketiah would be a hard transition up top unless he can learn to establish a presence in the box as well. It looks like he has the instincts for it, he just needs to find a softer touch and learn better how to play with his back to the goal.

Not even that he has to be an expert, just have it factored into his game. Nketiah tends to disappear in the box more times than not and while that isn’t a complete disqualifier to his game, it would help his stickiness at the level that he wants to be at.

All in time, right? Nketiah has to be given his shot because the more shots he takes, the more goals we see.