Harry Redknapp has praised Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah after he scored a hat-trick against Sheffield United.
The forward wears the same shirt number as Thierry Henry and Redknapp told BetVictor that Nketiah played like the Gunners legend at the weekend:
“My star man this week is Eddie Nketiah. There’s been a lot of pressure on him this season, but he was superb at the weekend. I know people will say it was Sheffield United at home, but he took his goals like a natural striker.”
“The third one in particular, wow what a goal. With that number 14 on his back, it was like watching Thierry Henry. Well, almost!”
Nketiah has a long way to go before he can be seriously compared to Henry
Although Redknapp was being somewhat flippant with his remarks, it’s probably not wise to draw comparisons between Nketiah and Henry at the moment.
Nketiah had a great game on Saturday but his 37 goals in 145 appearances for Arsenal means he averages a goal every 3.92 matches. Henry’s goals-to-game ratio, in contrast, was 1 in every 1.65 games.
There are mitigating circumstances in that plenty of Nketiah’s appearances have come from the bench, but the records of the two players are not in the same ballpark.
Arsenal will need to rely on Nketiah with Gabriel Jesus out injured
Jesus is expected to be out for several weeks with a hamstring problem he picked up in the 2-1 win over Sevilla last week. It means that manager Mikel Arteta will be placing his trust in Nketiah to score goals in upcoming fixtures against the likes of West Ham (in the Carabao Cup), Newcastle, Sevilla (in the reverse Champions League group match) and Burnley.
If the England international’s 3 goals at the weekend are a sign of things to come then the Gunners will be in safe hands.
