Arsenal: 3 areas Eddie Nketiah has to improve to aid top four push

Arsenal have been staring down the barrel of a striker issue for longer than just the January transfer window. It’s been bubbling in the background and has now reached boiling point.

There is no two ways about it: it’s a mess.

Boasting a fine chance of returning to the Champions League via the top four positions this season, Arsenal have left themselves with two strikers to see them through the final 17 matches of the Premier League season.

Two strikers who have scored a combined two goals from open play this campaign. After going through all five matches in January with just one goal scored across the whole team, that figure becomes even more alarming.

Arsenal: 3 areas Eddie Nketiah has to improve to help Mikel Arteta’s side secure a top four finish in the Premier League this season

But that is what the club have left themselves with. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was allowed to leave Arsenal on a free transfer to Barcelona, a move that simply had to happen. The relationship between all parties was too fractured and there was no chance of reintegration where the striker would be anything other than a shadow of his former self. He already was.

Equally, not signing anyone with even a modicum of goalscoring pedigree has left Arsenal dicing with their hopes of returning among Europe’s elite.

As much as we’d like Alexandre Lacazette to complete the 90 minutes each week between now and May, his increasingly deteriorating fitness levels ensure that Nketiah will be called upon, likely off the bench, on more than one occasion.

That is concerning, because he has not, at any point, looked like ‘the answer’.

These are the cards Arsenal have dealt themselves though, and in a bid to reach the promised land, Nketiah will have to improve aspects of his game to keep the Gunners’ chances alive.

1. Nketiah Has to Show Greater Composure

As with all areas of his game that need improving, the chances of Arsenal seeing that between now and the end of the season with Nketiah already planning his next move become slimmer.

But if he is to attract the calibre of club he hopes to play for in the summer then he has to begin showing composure in high pressure situations. All he’s come up with the goods in this season as been the Carabao Cup. That is not enough.

Such performances cloud judgement, and then as soon as the level of opposition increases he reverts to form and fluffs his lines. That miss at Goodison Park is a fine example. Were that Sunderland at home in front of his own fans he would have had the net rippling.

Given he is more likely to be coming off the benches in matches either to chase a goal or just give Lacazette a breather, he will not have the time to settle into matches. Footballers playing at this level have to show greater focus and composure at all moments of matches if they wish to succeed. Nketiah has not delivered that on the bigger stages.

Under pressure he crumbles. He will never forge the career he’s desperate for away from north London unless he fixes that.

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2. Nketiah Has to Show Greater Engagement

Will Arsenal see any improvement from Nketiah for the remainder of his Arsenal career? If we’re being totally honest, and realistic, then no.

But Arteta has repeatedly noted how much of an excellent trainer he is and how hard to he works to improve, and all things considered he doesn’t appear to be a bad egg in the group. Everyone likes him and there are no hard feelings.

However, as much as elements like body language can be soft factors that there shouldn’t be too much drawn from, it has looked ever so slightly in his recent outings that Nketiah isn’t as engaged.

A lot of that is stylistic, however. Nketiah, being the poacher he is, can be guilty of drifting out of matches and becoming a passenger. He isn’t as engaged as normal, and when the ball isn’t finding its way to his feet he gradually loses any influence. Supporters talk about Arsenal playing with ten men with Lacazette but that rings truer with his teammate.

Nketiah can be serviceable, even without boasting the quality everyone would desire. There have been matches in the not too distant past where he is constantly running the channels, pressing opposition defences and winning the ball back even without impacting the game in possession.

While he was hooked early doors – which won’t have done him any favours – there were signs of this in the first leg draw against Liverpool back in January. Arsenal need more of that, whether it’s from the start or off the bench.

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3. Nketiah Must Impose Himself Physically

If Nketiah does make it onto the pitch over the remaining matches then the most likely person he will replace in the team is Lacazette. Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli will battle it out for the left side, Martin Odegaard is a vital component to the team his fitness is excellent, while Saka will stay out on the right of Arsenal’s attack until he’s 63 years old.

The majority of introductions for Nketiah will therefore be for the only other striker in the squad.

And when Lacazette does leave the field of play Arsenal will lose crucial physicality in central areas. While Nketiah and the Frenchman are different players with different skillsets, a lack of physical presence is something that the 22-year-old needs to nonetheless improve on. There are few better centre-forwards to learn off.

Nketiah, like all of the Gunners’ youngsters, has bulked up over the last 8-12 months. But his prospects of becoming a regular starter for a top-flight side won’t be realised unless he can impose himself on matches in a physical sense.

His poacher style reflects across other aspects of his game: a poacher nibbles at chances when they come but rarely gets involved otherwise, and Nketiah equally never fully invests himself in physically. Too keen to be floating around people, he has to put his stamp on matches more and let defenders know they won’t have easy afternoon.

As the striker, particularly in this young team where the fellow forward don’t dominate physically, he has to stand up and inject that element from his side. He stand no chance of making it as a Premier League football unless he does.