Eddie Nketiah’s return to fitness could leave Mikel Arteta with a selection dilemma for Arsenal’s Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
The 23-year-old – who filled in superbly for Gabriel Jesus after the World Cup – had been an ever-present in the Gunners’ matchday squads across all competitions this season up until the beginning of March when he suffered an ankle injury during the closing stages of the 4-0 win over Everton and has been sidelined ever since.
In Nketiah’s absence, Arsenal still managed to beat Bournemouth, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Leeds United in the league, secure a 2-2 draw against Liverpool at Anfield last weekend, although they were dumped out of the Europa League at the round of 16 stage at the hands of Sporting CP on penalties.
But heading into Sunday’s London derby against West Ham, Arteta has confirmed that he will be in a position to call upon Nketiah for the first time in almost seven weeks: “Eddie is back,” the Spaniard revealed in his pre-match press conference. “He’s fully fit now and he’s back.”
Now, having not played for over a month and taking the Arsenal manager’s cautious approach with regard to players coming back from injury into consideration, it effectively guarantees Nketiah won’t be leading the line over Gabriel Jesus or Leandro Trossard at the London Stadium.
Therefore, assuming the Gunners no.14 doesn’t suffer a setback in the final training session, he should be fine to take his place on the substitutes bench in the hope of making his first appearance since the win over Everton and perhaps score against the Hammers for a second time this season.
This particular scenario could very well mean highly-rated youngster Reuell Walters drops out of the matchday squad altogether having been an unused substitute against Palace, Leeds and Liverpool. Although, if the teenager is needed as extra defensive cover then an attacker could make way
Alternatively, Nketiah might be among the four senior stars to miss the West Ham clash as per Premier League rules regarding a 20-man matchday squad if Arteta decides to keep the centre-forward fresh for upcoming games against Southampton and Manchester City
With Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu already ruled out and Karl Hein set to lose out to Matt Turner as the back-up goalkeeper against West Ham, Arsenal’s fourth senior absentee against the Hammers is William Saliba but Arteta is hopeful of having the Frenchman available for selection very soon.
“William [Saliba] is still not available. He’s progressing well and we’re hopeful that we’ll have him available in the next few weeks. We’ll have to see,” the Spaniard added. “He’s not far off starting to do that [being back on grass]. Obviously, we need to be cautious because of the injury but he’s evolving well.”
