"He’s got to stick one of them chances away" - Darren Bent unhappy with Arsenal man's performance in loss to Manchester City
Pundit and former Tottenham Hotspur forward Darren Bent believes Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah should've converted at least one of his changes against Manchester City.
Nketiah received two golden opportunities to score during the two teams' high-voltage Premier League encounter at the Emirates on February 15. He headed wide from Oleksandr Zinchenko's cross in the first half before City opened the scoring through Kevin De Bruyne in the 24th minute.
The Englishman missed another header late in the game with the Gunners trailing 3-1. Had he converted that chance, Mikel Arteta's side would've had a chance to claw level in injury time.
Bent, an Arsenal fan, indicated that Nketiah needed to finish one of those chances in a game of such fine margins. The former England international also referenced Erling Haaland, who scored with a splendid finish in the 82nd minute to make it 3-1 to Manchester City. Bent said on talkSPORT (as quoted by TBR Football):
“It’s fine margins when you look at games like that. Haaland doesn’t really have a kick all game. He gets half a chance, he sticks it away.”
He continued:
“Now listen, I love Eddie Nketiah. I think he’s done really well in Gabriel Jesus’s absence. But he’s got to stick one of them chances away."
Bent added:
“In that type of game where you might not get that amount of opportunities because Manchester City are a great side, you have to stick that away. So that was a, I’m trying to think of the word, that was an eye-opener.”
'Eye-opener': Darren Bent says 23-year-old Arsenal player he loves needed to do better against Manchester City dlvr.it/SjXQpP
Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah had missed big chances prior to the match against Manchester City as well
Eddie Nketiah has filled in quite well for Arsenal in the absence of Gabriel Jesus. Jesus notably picked up a knee injury that required surgery while turning out for Brazil in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Nketiah scored four goals in the Gunners' first five Premier League games after the conclusion of the World Cup to help his team remain atop the standings. However, it's also worth noting that he has missed quite a few big chances over the course of the season.
In 20 league matches, the Englishman has scored four goals from an expected goals (xG) figure of 6.15. Nketiah has also missed seven big chances and has a conversion rate of just 12%.
📸 - Nketiah with a great chance but the header is off target! https://t.co/CdjByR1Yt0
Meanwhile, prior to his injury, Jesus, signed from Manchester City last summer and scored only five times in 14 Premier League matches from an xG of 7.90. He also missed 11 big chances and had a conversion rate of just 10%.
However, the Brazilian also provided five assists, which somewhat compensated for the issues with his finishing. Nketiah, on the other hand, is yet to record an assist in the league this term and many believe he is in Arsenal's XI solely to score goals.
Consequently, he will need to improve on his finishing if he is to remain a starter when Jesus is fit again.