Lee Dixon has spoken about Eddie Nketiah in glowing terms on the Handbrake Off Podcast by claiming that ‘you cannot teach’ the movement and instinctive nature he has in the penalty box.
The former Arsenal defender compared Nketiah to Ian Wright and stated that the Highbury legend sees a bit of himself in the 21-year-old.
Nketiah has scored in back-to-back games for Mikel Arteta – the winning goal off the bench against West Ham in the Premier League and then another late goal to book his side’s place in the next round of the League Cup when they beat Leicester City in midweek.
Dixon, who would have worked with some great Arsenal number 9’s during his days at the club from Alan Smith to Wrighty, lauded Nketiah’s qualities.
“With Eddie, if you listen to Ian Wright talk about him,” Dixon told the Handbrake Off Podcast. “I think Ian sees an awful lot of himself in Eddie and sees those little opportunities. The positions he’s in [like against Leicester in the League Cup].
“That’s why you will hear Wrighty talk about him in such favourable terms – you’ll learn other parts of your game [such as hold up play]. [But] that seems a natural thing for him to be in the right place.
“You cannot teach that. You can suggest making this run or that run. But the instinctiveness of goalscorers that I put him in the bracket of they almost work it out for themselves.
“You teach them the other bits of the game. When maybe to go into different areas of the pitch. They will always go back to that six-yard box and in front of the two posts position.”
Nketiah is one of a number of players who is thriving under Arteta and not many would have predicted he would have been in this position many, many months ago.
At the start of of the year, he returned back early from his loan spell at then-Championship side Leeds United because he wasn’t getting enough game time.
Given that he was struggling for minutes at Elland Road, many fans would have thought that he would be shipped back on-loan again and to a club where he could showcase his talents more regularly
But Arteta made the bold move and kept him on board, and it’s paying off.
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