A star is born

Arsenal 2-1 Norwich

“Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!” This infectious chant rang around the Emirates Stadium for the very first time on Tuesday night as a young star announced himself on the big stage with a wonderful performance from the bench which dramatically turned the game in Arsenal’s favour.

Few had heard of Eddie Nketiah before the League Cup match against Norwich, but by the final whistle he had certainly made a name for himself with those who had witnessed his display of courage, commitment and determination.

Nketiah has been spoken of around the club as one to watch for a few seasons now given his impressive scoring rate at youth level, however few would have expected him to have such an impact from the bench, although Thierry Henry, who worked with Nketiah while coaching the youth team at Arsenal, did say after the match that he was amongst the few who weren’t so surprised.

Nketiah proclaimed his night’s work a dream come true and it really was. Entering the field as an 86^th minute substitute with his side a goal down and staring elimination in the face, the youngster poked home his first senior Arsenal goal only 15 seconds later. It was the type of goal that appears to be a simple tap in but in actual fact shows great natural goal scoring ability. When in and around the box, the best strikers have the ability to anticipate correctly and therefore can more often than not react first to a mistake, a rebound, or in this case a flick on. The goal was reminiscent of the old corner routine from the George Graham era when the ball would be delivered to the near post, where Steve Bould would flick it on towards the back post catching everybody out and allowing the Arsenal man on the back post the opportunity to get to the ball first and score. On this occasion it is dubious whether this was a carefully worked corner routine, painstaking practised on the training field or a slice of sheer improvisation. What cannot be doubted however is the fact that Nketiah reacted first to the flick on and was unopposed as he stuck he foot out to steer the ball home and send the tie into extra time.

If his first goal was down to brilliant anticipation and being in the right place at the right time, the second owed much to sheer determination. Nketiah is not the tallest player, standing at 5ft 8 and having been released by Chelsea earlier in his career as a result of their concerns over his height. However 6 minutes into extra time he leapt like a salmon, rising above those around him and straining every sinew to connect to Mohammad Elneny’s corner delivery, powering a header into the corner of the net to give his side the lead.

Yet although the goals and the way they were scored were impressive, Nketiah’s youthful exuberance was also a joy to behold. He harried the opposition and ran back to help out his defence, making several timely interventions to help break up Norwich’s attacking play. He also served as an outlet for his side whenever the team had won back possession and was in fact unfortunate not to have sealed a hat trick by the time the final whistle blew. One opportunity in particular would have brought the house down had he scored. Faced with the Norwich defender, Nketiah pushed the ball forward and then used his searing pace to break clear of the defender and bear down on goal before launching a fearsome shot which the goalkeeper did well to bat away.

Given his huge impact on the game it was understandable that several comments were made amongst those leaving the stadium that Nketiah had done more in those 34 minutes than the likes of Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain had in their entire Arsenal careers. While this can be seen as a harsh assessment, it is difficult to see just what Walcott offers the side anymore. Against Norwich he was handed the captain’s armband but did very little to influence the game and in fact he ended up causing more problems for the linesman than the Norwich defence as he was constantly caught offside.

However Walcott wasn’t the only senior player to disappoint as Olivier Giroud and Alex Iwobi also offered very little in attack. While the Frenchman rarely held the ball up, Iwobi was attempting to do too much with the ball and ended up squandering possession time and time again. This could also be said of Francis Coquelin, whose passing on the night was atrocious, as he began to misplace even the most simplest of passes.

Mohammed Elneny was another player who largely endured a night to forget as he was deployed at the heart of the back three alongside Holding and Debuchy who performed well in their own right. Elneny was fortunate not to be sent off in the second half for a foul on Nelson Oliveira when he was the last man and was also caught out for Norwich’s goal as the Egyptian was out of position when the ball was threaded through to Murphy who clipped the ball beyond the onrushing Macey and into the net.

Jack Wilshere also found it difficult to impose himself on proceedings with Norwich attempting to crowd him out of the game and ensuring that whenever he received the ball he also had plenty of yellow shirts around him. However Arsenal did still look to Wilshere whenever they entered the final third and he did still manage to produce moments of creativity.

In the end it was the youngsters who rose to the fore with the likes of Reiss Nelson impressing once again and Macey in the Arsenal goal producing a number of fine stops as he deputised for the injured David Ospina. However this was one man’s night alone, Eddie Nketiah, remember the name.