Eddie Nketiah fires hat-trick in Arsenal’s rout of Sheffield United

So much for Arsenal missing Gabriel Jesus. With the captain’s armband round his bicep and a first Premier League hat-trick of his career, this was a spectacular manner for Eddie Nketiah to banish any thoughts of the absent Brazilian.

“I’m here,” said Nketiah, while jabbing his finger at the Emirates turf after his thunderbolt third goal. He has been a fixture of this part of north London for some time and is clearly not prepared to relinquish control yet.

Before this game, some fans had bemoaned his inclusion in place of the injured Jesus, who has been ruled out for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury picked up during his inspirational performance against Sevilla on Tuesday night. By the end, they were singing Nketiah’s name.

Sure, it was only Sheffield United. But what a show from one of their own. That Bukayo Saka gave him the armband when departing in the second half merely added to his pride as he carried the match ball off after the final whistle.

The only minor disappointment came in his denial of a fourth, when substitute Fabio Vieira was allowed to take – and score – the late penalty he had earned. Takehiro Tomiyasu then added a fifth deep in stoppage time. Mikel Arteta’s side are up to second and the title quest continues.

Reports had emerged this week that poor Paul Heckingbottom might imminently be relieved of his duties to be replaced by former Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder. If his time does come to an end, one wonders what anyone else could do with a squad palpably inadequate for this level of football – and one that has suffered a horror run of injuries to further deplete the weapons at his disposal.

Sheffield United have now picked up just one point from 10 games – the same tally they managed at the start of a 2020/21 season in which they claimed only two points from their first 17 fixtures (a Premier League record) and were relegated. How they can possibly avoid the same fate this campaign is a mystery.

This trip to the Emirates was something of a shot to nothing for Heckingbottom, who knows his side will not be judged on how they perform against the division’s elite. “Our league is not Manchester United,” he had said after the previous defeat. “It is about the rest of the bottom six.”

A measure of the visitors’ desperation was evident as early as the 15th minute when Gustavo Hamer carried the ball over halfway and shanked an attempted 50-yard shot (an effort so lacking in threat that it ranked an impotent 0.01 on expected goals) so badly that it only just managed to dribble over the line, albeit it nearer the corner flag than the goal.

Yet for almost half an hour, Sheffield United did what they were capable of – namely, defending – with aplomb. They frustrated Arsenal, organising themselves diligently and restricting the home side to distant views of Wes Foderingham’s goal. But no sooner had the first impatient whistles begun to emanate from Arsenal’s supporters than the home side went ahead and never looked back.

With time to identify his target, Declan Rice’s fizzed pass found the feet of Nketiah, whose first touch near the penalty spot took the ball past Auston Trusty and second fired it into the back of the net.

Any hope that the visitors could cling on and find a route back into the game dissolved just five minutes into the second half when Foderingham flapped at an Arsenal corner, palming the ball straight to Nketiah, who lashed home from inside the six-yard box. As the Sheffield United outfield players surrounded the referee to complain that Foderingham had been fouled, the goalkeeper was conspicuous by his absence and the video assistant referee spotted no infringement.

Eight minutes later, Nketiah had his thunderous third, turning on the ball 25 yards out and crashing a powerful drive high into the top corner; a sublime strike that sent the Emirates into raptures.

There was still time for two more late Arsenal goals. Referee Tim Robinson initially decided there was nothing wrong with Oliver Norwood’s lunge on Vieira, but the VAR advised him to have another look and he pointed to the penalty spot after viewing replays. The Arsenal substitute stroked it home.

Fellow substitute Tomiyasu completed the rout by crashing in a bouncing ball from close range for his first Arsenal goal.