'You can see’: Ian Wright impressed as Arsenal 24-year-old has ‘bulked up’

Nketiah has ‘bulked up’ at Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has shown ‘a lot of faith’ in the Hale-End academy product and Wright thinks that he is ‘paying it off’.

The Arsenal legend also feels that Eddie Nketiah has ‘bulked up’ throughout the summer and it has helped improve his game, as he told Premier League Productions (03/09/23 at 4:15 pm)

With Gabriel Jesus returning from injury, it has seen Nketiah start three Premier League games, including the win over Manchester United.

Whilst Nketiah has two goals to his name, Jesus did score from the bench on Sunday, so it will be interesting to see what Arteta does from here – it has been claimed that Premier League teams are now ‘scared’ of the Arsenal man.

Either way, Wright is loving the progress the 24-year-old is making after recently earning his maiden England call-up.

“Mikel has a lot of faith in Nketiah,” said Wright. “I think Eddie is paying it off now. Capable of scoring against anyone.

“We know that he is, somebody in the box, who is very dangerous. But you can see, especially through this summer. He has bulked himself up. He looks sharper. More intense in what he is doing. His work outside of the box has improved no-end.”

At Manchester City, Jesus used to play out wide and he has proven he can play in those positions, but Arsenal have Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka running riot from the flanks.

Therefore, both Jesus and Nketiah have to compete for one spot and Arteta will have a big call to make after the international break.

In truth, given that Jesus is still working his way back to fitness, he might still start Nketiah, but the English star surely knows that it’s Jesus who is number one when both are fit.