“He Is A Born Finisher…”Michael Owen Lavishes Praise On One Arsenal Player

Premier League legend Michael Owen has praised Eddie Nketiah’s finishing after his goal in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over West Ham.

There was a lot of pressure on the striker to fill in for Gabriel Jesus, with the Brazilian currently sidelined with a knee injury, but Owen believes that, while the two players are very different, Nketiah’s goalscoring ability makes him an excellent replacement:

“He’s a very good finisher and I thought his goal was absolutely brilliant the way he rolled his man. But he is all about goals, whereas Jesus helps the team, even if he’s not scoring. I think Nketiah is very much a goalscorer and it will help his confidence. Good attitude. When he gets in that position, we said before the game, this guy can finish. This guy does finish. He is a born finisher.”

“You can see, you can just tell in front of goal. He just looks like a finisher. He is calm and he is collected. His goal was absolutely brilliant, I love the way he felt for his man. I wasn’t a player that did that. I didn’t want to get into a tussle with the centre-back because I wasn’t strong enough. But he just felt where he was, he knew where he was and I just thought it was a brilliant goal. He’s gone for power, yes, but a lot of accuracy as well, and it’s a really good finish.”

Nketiah’s goal was truly something to savour. It was a superb swivel and shot that sealed victory versus the Hammers on Boxing Day and, if he puts in similar performances in upcoming fixtures, any doubts about the forward deserving a place in the team will vanish.

Of course, there will be more difficult challenges ahead for the 23-year-old. The Gunners travel to Brighton on Saturday, and they then face Newcastle, Tottenham and Manchester United over the course of next month which will be a true test of their title credentials.