Eddie Nketiah has opened up about his decision to leave his boyhood club Arsenal during the summer transfer window, citing the need for more regular playing time as the main reason.

After joining Arsenal in 2015 and progressing through the youth ranks to the first team, Nketiah made his debut in a Europa League match against BATE Borisov.

Despite his early promise, the forward found himself primarily used as a backup option under manager Mikel Arteta in his later years at the club. In the 2023/24 season, 17 of his 27 Premier League appearances were from the bench, limiting his opportunities to make a significant impact.

Recognizing the need for more consistent minutes, Nketiah opted to leave Arsenal and signed with Crystal Palace in a deal reportedly worth £30 million.

In an interview with “The Independent,” he explained that his desire for regular game time was the driving force behind his move.

“I have a real belief in myself as a player, and I think I just needed to go somewhere I felt I would have opportunities to be on the pitch and improve,” said Nketiah.

“I know it’s not always going to click straight away, but everyone needs a platform to progress, trial and error on the pitch to learn. That was the main reason behind leaving Arsenal.

“Obviously Arsenal are challenging for the league and Palace will be in a different situation, but we’ve got a lot of talented players and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have aspirations to keep climbing up the table.

“I think it’s a great project here. It’s a different project, but it’s definitely a great project that will allow me a platform to showcase my talents.”

Nketiah’s move to Crystal Palace offers him a fresh start and the chance to establish himself as a key player, something that had become increasingly difficult during his time at Arsenal.

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Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has completed a permanent transfer to Crystal Palace on deadline day.

The move comes after Arsenal struggled to finalize previous deals for Nketiah, with Marseille failing to meet the asking price and Bournemouth unable to agree on personal terms.

Crystal Palace have secured Nketiah for £30 million, making him their second signing of the day following Maxence Lacroix’s arrival from Wolfsburg.

Original South London Material.

Nketiah is Palace.#CPFC pic.twitter.com/x5RiDJLeQ6

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) August 30, 2024

With limited opportunities at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, Nketiah’s transfer to Selhurst Park offers him the chance for regular first-team football.

South London.#CPFC pic.twitter.com/1vKfU8R1O6

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) August 30, 2024

Despite his hopes to become Arsenal’s starting striker, he started only 10 Premier League games last season as Kai Havertz emerged as Arteta’s preferred option.

“It’s amazing to sign for Crystal Palace – I’m excited to get going. Every time I come back to South London, it always puts a smile on my face, so it’s good to be back home,” Nketiah said.

From Hale End to the first team, 62 to the hallowed 14.

Making memories throughout – good luck, Eddie ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wrxCgMKeZV

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 30, 2024

Nketiah will not be registered in time to feature in Crystal Palace’s match against Chelsea this weekend, so he will have to wait until after the international break to make his debut for the Eagles.

Back South.

Welcome to Palace, Eddie Nketiah 🤙#CPFC

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) August 30, 2024

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In the recent North London derby stalemate with Tottenham Hotspur, both Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus received criticism for their lacklustre performances. However, top scorer Bukayo Saka ultimately delivered yet again.

Nketiah has scored twice so far this season while normal starter Jesus has only scored once, and Arteta acknowledged that his team hasn’t performed at their best.

“There’s various ways to score goals and we are scoring goals,” he said. “But we should have scored many more with the chances we have created.”

As part of their effort to win the Premier League, Arsenal is reportedly open to getting a new striker. Ivan Toney of Brentford is being pursued by a number of teams, including the Gunners and Chelsea.

This year, Arsenal officials have also kept an eye on Santiago Gimenez of Feyenoord due to his explosive Eredivisie debut.

Arteta, however, did his best to back Jesus and Nketiah and insisted a new signing is not currently under consideration.

“We’re not thinking at all about that,” Arteta continued. “We have really good players up front. It’s true that right now we have some injuries. We will continue with the players we have.”

Asked whether the idea of a traditional striker was disappearing from football, Arteta did namecheck Toney as proof that out-and-out goalscorers still succeed in the modern game.

“It’s coming back,” Arteta exclaimed. “There are a few players, when you look at Harry Kane, [Erling] Halaand, Ivan Toney, [Aleksandar] Mitrovic. You have examples of players who score a lot of goals.”

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Eddie Nketiah has given a stern message to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, vowing to step up following the injury to Gabriel Jesus.

The Brazilian striker had to have “a little procedure” after he “had some discomfort in his knee that caused him some issues” during the previous season, which dealt a significant blow to the London club. Jesus was unable to compete in the Emirates Cup final against Monaco and faces “a few weeks” on the sidelines.

Nketiah started against Monaco without the star striker and was given the captain’s armband because Martin Odegaard was put on the bench. He demonstrated his tenacity by tying the score early on, and the Premier League team went on to win 5-4 on penalties.

The 24-year-old promised to maintain his form if given the chance to lead the line after putting up a powerful display.

“Obviously I believe in my abilities, I know I can contribute. The manager has a tough decision, but whenever he calls me, he knows I can deliver,” he stated.

Nketiah called Jesus a “big player” and emphasized how crucial he is to this Arsenal squad.

“We want [Jesus] back as soon as possible. We need him, he’s a big player for us. I don’t think I’m here to fill in for anyone. I’m here to play and contribute to the team,” he stated.

Nketiah will probably be expected to score goals when Arsenal plays Manchester City in the Community Shield on August 6 and then faces Nottingham Forest in the Premier League opener on August 12.

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Mikel Arteta is anxious to highlight that Arsenal will not “rush” Gabriel Jesus back into action after seeing him sit out three months through injury.

While serving as a World Cup representative for Brazil in 2022, the player unluckily had a knee issue, necessitating surgery.

He hasn’t played a single minute for the Gunners since November 12, although he did return to full training before the Premier League leaders’ 2-2 draw with Sporting in the Europa League’s round of 16.

Jesus was not included in Arsenal’s matchday squad for the outing in Portugal, with Arteta telling football London afterwards on when the 25-year-old striker could be seen again: “We will try not to rush him back. We will try to make a fair assessment between what he needs and when is comfortable and as well giving the team a boost that it’s going to need in the next few weeks for sure.

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Everything is going well, he needs time as well to get himself that confidence and that physical state that is necessary to compete with a free mind and once he’s free to do that, we will throw him in.”

Jesus, who has scored five goals for the Gunners so far in his rookie season, participated in the post-game warm-down following Arsenal’s thrilling 3-2 victory against Bournemouth, which left them five points ahead at the top of the Premier League standings.

Since Eddie Nketiah also sustained an injury recently, Arsenal has been forced to utilize Gabriel Martinelli as a No. 9 and will return to domestic play on Sunday as they travel just a short distance across London to face Fulham.

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Martin Odegaard acknowledges that Arsenal’s offensive play in a 3-1 loss to Manchester City “wasn’t good enough,” and they also made mistakes defensively.

The Gunners knew that a win of any type would be sufficient to retain them at the top of the standings going into a big match against the defending Premier League champions at Emirates Stadium.

However, Mikel Arteta’s team would put up a fragmented performance against the Blues, with Eddie Nketiah missing a few great chances that might have drastically changed the game’s outcome and Takehiro Tomiyasu having a forgettable evening in goal.

Gunners captain Odegaard told the club’s official website on the back of a demoralising setback for title hopefuls: “It was a good game [between] two good teams, an unbelievable atmosphere. It was nice to play in, but it was of course a frustrating result.

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I think we did a lot of good things but in front of goal, we weren’t good enough. That’s frustrating but at the same time, we did a lot of good things, so we have to take those.

“I think everyone had a feeling that we were doing well [at half-time], that we had a lot of space to play [in]. We needed a few adjustments to improve a few things. In general, I thought the game we played was pretty okay, but in front of goal it wasn’t good enough.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and for everything they did to help us today. We’ll work very hard to give them something to hopefully be happy about on Saturday.”

Due to their defeat against City, Arsenal has dropped to second place in the Premier League, although they still have a game in hand and are only behind Pep Guardiola’s team on goal differential.

On Saturday, Arteta’s club will return to action when they travel to Aston Villa to play a game against former Gunners manager Unai Emery.

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The Premier League leaders at Arsenal have received a major boost with the signing of Gabriel Martinelli to a new contract.

The Brazilian has reached an agreement on a new four-and-a-half-year contract that will keep him with the Emirates through the summer of 2027.

The winger’s previous deal was due to expire at the end of next season, though the club did have the option to extend that for a further two years.

Martinelli has been an integral part of Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing team this season. And the club is eager to safeguard the future of a number of other young players, including him.

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Centre-back William Saliba and winger Bukayo Saka are both in talks about new and improved contracts, too.

Since signing from Brazilian team Ituano in July 2019, Martinelli has scored 25 goals in 111 games across all competitions, including seven in 19 Premier League appearances this season.

For the Brazilian, Martinelli’s new contract comes at an opportune moment as robust competition appears to be on the rise in the Emirates.

Following a strong start to the season, lead scorer and fellow Brazilian Gabriel Jesus will be hoping to make a comeback soon.

His replacement Eddie Nketiah has scored seven goals in his last eight matches for the Gunners.

Gabriel Martinelli 🤝 The Arsenal

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 3, 2023

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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag acknowledged that in order for his team to have any chance of taking home trophies, they must make one crucial alteration.

The Red Devils were in hot form ahead of two trips to London in the last few days, knowing victories against Crystal Palace and the Gunners could ignite a title challenge.

While Eddie Nketiah scored late to give Arsenal a dramatic 3-2 victory in north London, United could only manage a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park after Michael Olise’s injury-time free-kick saved a point for Palace.

United now sit 11 points behind Arsenal having played a game more.

After Sunday’s defeat in north London, Ten Hag lamented the “mistakes” that allowed Mikel Arteta’s team to score three goals and acknowledged that United must make changes if they hope to win trophies.

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“Maybe that will come in the next couple of hours, that we will realise we are in a good position, realise we are in a good development and a good process,” Ten Hag said.

‘But in this moment I am annoyed and I also told the players: ‘If you want to win trophies, titles, you have to change our mentality, because it’s not possible that you are in a top game making three such big mistakes where you concede.

“Then especially the last goal, you have to feel the game. At that point, a point was the maximum.

“Then you have to take the point and you can’t give such a goal away like we did. And on top level, you can’t win trophies. It was like a pack of cards with the goals we concede.

“Two starting with a corner and then obviously we make mistakes, we didn’t show the discipline in the rules we have there. Then you concede goals.”

He added: “Two games back-to-back have been really close. It’s hard to accept when you lose in the last stage of the game.

“Today we have to accept it. We are not satisfied with this performance because we can do better. You start well and you have to take benefit from that situation. It can’t happen that you concede like we did.

“This is one game. Last week we did very well. We kept them away from our box better and when they were in our box, we defended better.”

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Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard claims that his team is not concerned about Manchester City’s challenge in the Premier League title battle, but rather about their own advancement.

Odegaard’s Gunners defeated Manchester United in an exciting Emirates match on Sunday, with Eddie Nketiah scoring twice, including the game-winning goal. Arsenal now leads United by 11 points.

City remain Arsenal’s major title rivals, and the two sides will face three times this season, the first in the FA Cup on Friday, followed by league meetings in February and April.

After City’s victory against Wolves earlier in the day, Arsenal defeated United to re-establish a five-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s team.

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The two teams are the front-runners for the title, but Norway’s Odegaard emphasized that Arsenal is keeping its attention in north London first and foremost.

Asked about City’s presence, Odegaard said: “No, honestly, we don’t care about City or any other team. We expected them to win so that was not a big surprise and we just focused on our game, to come here and win and that’s what we did. The way we won this game gives us a special feeling that will help as well.”

Marcus Rashford had given United the lead with a strike from distance in the 17th minute but Nketiah converted Granit Xhaka’s equaliser before Bukayo Saka struck home brilliantly in the second half.

Lisandro Martinez equalized for United with a header from a scruffy set piece, but Nketiah’s late goal ensured Arsenal maintained their Premier League advantage heading into the FA Cup weekend.

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After Manchester United’s tenuous title aspirations were destroyed with a loss to Arsenal, Roy Keane questioned the competence of four of the team’s stars.

Eddie Nketiah scored his second of the game in the 89th minute to put Arsenal five points clear at the top of the table.

United were without Casemiro for the game at the Emirates which saw Scott McTominay come into the side, while Aaron-Wan Bissaka was playing in place of the injured Diogo Dalot.

McTominay’s inclusion came at the expense of Fred, who had been expected to start after excelling against Manchester City last weekend.

Before the hour mark, Arsenal took the lead thanks to Bukayo Saka, who terrorized Luke Shaw the whole game.

Even though United put up a strong fight in north London, according to Keane, the presence of Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Fred, and McTominay demonstrated that the team is still “far short” of being a title contender.

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‘The last few days have been difficult with dropping points at Palace and obviously the defeat today but that’s what the game does to you.

‘United weren’t at their best but you think: ‘Can you hang on for a draw?’ Take the point and move on.

‘But it goes back to United, they’ve made progress but at the end of the game I’m looking at Shaw at left-back, there’s questions over him. Wan-Bissaka, Fred is back in midfield, McTominay. It’s like United haven’t moved on from the problems of the past.

‘I’m not just blaming those players because it was a tough game and credit to Arsenal but this is a reality check. I’ve been saying for the last few weeks I still think United are well short.

‘I know they’re missing some important players today but that’s the game, you’re going to be missing players. A squad like Manchester United should be able to deal with it.When the going gets tough in the last 20 minutes you’re looking at the options off the bench and it wasn’t great.

‘For all the money United have spent they’re still well short. We saw that today against an Arsenal side that are flying.’

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Following his team’s victory over Manchester United on Sunday, Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, declined to comment on the notion that the Gunners are now the favorites to win the Premier League title this season.

Arsenal came from behind against a United team that had only been defeated once in all competitions since early October before getting pegged back. However, Eddie Nketiah scored his second goal of the game late in the game to win it 3-2.

With a game yet to play, the outcome puts Arteta’s club five points ahead of second-place Manchester City with half the season still to play. Additionally, they have only lost once all season in the Premier League and have displayed great mental toughness to achieve victories.

When questioned about being referred to be title favorites, Arteta said he had no opinion. However, the Spaniard seems to be aware that others are openly stating it because he refers to it as “perception.”

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“I don’t have an opinion, it can be a perception,” he commented, via Arsenal.com.

“I know my team so well. I know where we are, I know we are here and I know where we want to be, and we are still far from that. I know the level of the other teams, especially one that has won everything in the last five or six years, and we are not there yet.”

Regardless of your perspective, Arsenal hasn’t been in this situation for 15 years. In contrast, the ‘Invincibles’ generation of the 2003–04 season is still the last Gunners team to win the Premier League title. Their last significant title challenge came in 2007–08, a long time ago.

“Extraordinary, I would say!” Arteta said of the first half of the season.

“It doesn’t get much better than that, that’s the reality. I think we deserve the points that we have, I think we have played well enough to win most of the matches, but the reality as well is that we still have a lot of things that we can get much better at, attacking and defending in transitions, in set-pieces and that’s the aim.”

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Arsenal vs. Manchester United games lost their luster in 2011 when the Gunners arrived at Old Trafford for a Premier League game and were thrashed 8-2.

By that point, Arsenal had dropped out of the elite division of English football. At the same time, they continued to qualify for the Champions League consistently, they had not mounted a serious title push since 2008 and had not won a trophy since the FA Cup in 2005.

United were still at the peak of its powers then. Only a Didier Drogba goal that should have been flagged offside in 2010 and a late collapse against Everton in 2012 denied them what would have been an unprecedented five English titles in a row. As such, their games against an increasingly uncompetitive Arsenal became decreasingly meaningful.

Then came United’s own demise. Sir Alex Ferguson’s resignation in 2013 cleared the stage for nearly a decade of false dawns of new eras, wasteful spending, and underperformance.

Erik ten Hag’s arrival in 2022 was the first time identity and mental toughness were restored. Mikel Arteta, of course, has had a similar impact at Arsenal over a little longer period of time.

But in the intervening years, people cared less and less about Arsenal and Manchester United as a fixture. Not when Manchester City and Liverpool were starting to set new standards in the Premier League and Chelsea continued to be there or thereabouts most of the time.

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In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Premier League game was the one that everyone sought on the schedule. Both would invariably be contending for the title, and each meeting would have a significant impact on how a given season played out.

Furthermore, many of the best matches in the Premier League and/or the most memorable moments occurred when Arsenal and Manchester United competed because of the stakes involved when they joined forces.

The five-goal thriller played this past Sunday at the Emirates Stadium served as a much-needed reminder to the rest of football of what Arsenal vs. Manchester United matches should be about.

To begin with, it had value within the wider context of the season. The league leaders, who are also the favourites to win the title, were facing a quickly developing team that had been defeated just once since the beginning of October in all competitions.

The players on the pitch didn’t disappoint either. Both vibrant teams wanted to win the game and win it in the right way. They each attacked and it swung back and forth to keep both sets of fans and neutrals on the edge of their seats.

Marcus Rashford gave United the lead, but Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead back with two of their own. Big players put on big performances. Lisandro Martinez’s goal for the Red Devils brought them to a point of parity, but Nketiah’s second goal for the Gunners at the very end of the game gave them the victory and brought them one step closer to the title.

It was about time that the games between them brought some of the old spice back, and long may it continue given the trips both teams had been on.

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