LIVE
...

Follow us on

Soccer News

‘I thought’: Gary Neville says Arsenal man has been the PL’s most surprising player this season

Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images
Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images
Follow us on Google Discover

Speaking on The Overlap, Gary Neville has been reviewing the Premier League season so far and he’s reserved some special praise for Eddie Nketiah.

Neville was asked to name the player that has surprised him the most so far this season, and he says that the Arsenal star has been the English top-flight’s surprise package this time around.

Neville says that he thought Arsenal could have been in a spot of bother when Gabriel Jesus went down with an injury over the World Cup break, but Nketiah has stepped in and taken up the mantel brilliantly.

Eddie Nketiah
Photo by Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

Nketiah the surprise package

Neville discussed the Arsenal youngster.

“Which player has surprised you most this season?” Neville was asked.

“I’m going to go with Nketiah. I thought that when Jesus got injured it could be a problem, but I think he’s played really well for Arsenal,” Neville said.

Stepped up

Let’s be honest, not many saw this coming from Nketiah.

When Jesus went down injured there were calls for Arsenal to go out and sign a striker in January or even to play Gabriel Martinelli up front.

However, Nketiah has stepped in, scored bags of goals and turned up in the important moments.

Now, Mikel Arteta has been left with a decision to make. Does Jesus come straight back into the team? Or does Nketiah now become the number one striker going forward?

Yes, it sounds preposterous in a way, but Nketiah does only have one fewer league goal to his name this season despite playing almost half the number of minutes.

Nketiah has made himself a star this season, and an England call-up may not be too far away at this point.