‘What a player’: Jermain Defoe blown away by £100k-a-week Arsenal star who he really likes
Jermain Defoe has shared that he is a fan of Arsenal’s hat-trick hero Eddie Nketiah after Mikel Arteta’s side thrashed sorry Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday.
With Gabriel Jesus out injured, it put more of a spotlight on Eddie Nketiah after he hadn’t scored a Premier League goal for Arsenal since August.
But against bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United, the Hale-End academy product punished the newly-promoted side, with Defoe adding ‘what a player’, as he told Premier League Productions (29/10/23 at 9:20 pm).
With 163 Premier League goals to Jermain Defoe’s name and a player who is the stature of Eddie Nketiah, even though he reps Tottenham Hotspur, he is somebody worth listening to when he is praising you.
And the current Tottenham academy coach liked what he saw from Arsenal’s £100k-a-week star (Spotrac) recently and how he ‘absolutely killed’ his opposition defender when scoring his opening goal over the weekend.
That hat trick is going to do Eddie Nketiah the world of good because he knows that he will be starting on a regular basis now – despite that Garth Crooks ‘isn’t convinced’ by the player.
Eddie Nketiah hat-trick
“I love him,” said Defoe. “What a player. Someone who I like. I think all the stuff you want your centre-forwards to do, he does. He always gets into those areas where he is going to score.
“This touch (for his first goal v Sheffield United), it makes the goal. He absolutely kills the defender. A good centre-forward is the first one to come alive (for his second goal). Confident and conviction. Smashes it into the roof of the net.
“But this goal here (hat-trick goal). The three touches. The first, then the second to set himself up, then not much back lift and straight into the top corner. What a performance.”
Can Nketiah overtake Jesus?
It’s a muscle injury that is keeping Jesus out of action for now and this is Nketiah’s time to make that centre-forward role his own.
In truth, ever since the Brazil international entered the Arsenal building, he has been the main starter for Mikel Arteta and the England international has only come into the XI when his teammate has been injured.
But given that Nketiah is pushing for a regular place on the international set-up, then he needs to keep Jesus out of the XI by the time he gets back.
And the only way to do that is to continue putting the ball into the back of the net, or else, he will be back on the bench sooner rather than later.
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