Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has suggested that he might well recall Eddie Nketiah to his first XI for a Premier League game.
The 21-year-old was on target for the Gunners in Thursday night’s 4-2 win away to Dundalk in the Europa League.
In doing so, Nketiah is now Arsenal’s leading goalscorer across all competitions this season, with five.
Alexandre Lacazette has been spearheading Arteta’s attack for much of the season as far as Premier League football goes.
But the Frenchman, like so many of his team-mates, is enduring a difficult campaign, netting only three times since August.
And when asked on Arsenal’s official website if he could start Nketiah – who has made the Spaniard’s first XI in the Premier League just once this season – instead, Arteta admitted that he was definitely ‘an option’.
He said: “He has started and he has the possibility to start again.
“As you said, he’s a goal threat and he’s a player that’s always very close in every action that is around the box. He’s lively, he’s got the hunger and he’s only satisfied when he scores, and that’s what we need now, so he’s an option for sure.”
Next up for Arteta’s side domestically is a visit of Burnley on Sunday.
And really, the Arsenal boss does need to change it up as far as the number nine spot goes.
The only way Lacazette’s going to get better is if there’s somebody breathing down his neck and unless Arteta starts Nketiah, the former Lyon star has little motivation to improve.
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