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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has praised Eddie Nketiah’s professionalism in training despite not getting enough playing time this season.
Nketiah was linked with an exit in the summer transfer window, but stayed put as Arsenal could not offload him. The forward is now behind the pecking order at Arsenal, with Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette ahead of him.
Folarin Balogun has also added more competition for the stiker position this season, so Nketiah’s playing time might come in the domestic cup competitions.
Nketiah started for Arsenal in their third-round EFL Cup game against AFC Wimbledon and scored the third goal for the Gunners.
Arteta has revealed that Nketiah trains harder than anyone else at Arsenal, and is a model professional.
"Eddie is a lesson every day on how a professional should be in his job in the circumstances. There has been a lot of speculation around him. He puts his head down, he trains harder than everybody else. He supports every teammate no matter the circumstances,” Arteta said.
"So, I am so happy for him that could perform at that level and physically how he managed that game because he trains like the best every day. So I am delighted for him," he added.
Nketiah’s future at Arsenal looking bleak
Despite doing well against Wimbledon, Nketiah’s future at Arsenal is pretty bleak. The forward has not been able to impress in the Premier League, which is where he needs to step up his game to feature more regularly.
The 22-year old featured 17 times for Arsenal in the Premier League last season, and scored just twice in the process. His strike rate in the Europa league was better, however, as he scored three times in eight games.
Without European football this season, Nketiah’s only hope of playing regularly is if Arsenal do well in domestic cup competitions.
However, he will have to take his chances, as he did against Wimbledon, by getting on the score-sheet. He needs to perform consistently to have any possibility of starting ahead of Aubameyang and Lacazette in the Premier League.
Nketiah is yet to feature in the Premier League this season and will hope to feature in upcoming games.
