Arsenal 5-0 Sheffield: Nketiah the hero

Goal

Arsenal: Nketiah (28', 50', 58'), Vieira (88'-pen), Tomiyasu (90'+6)

Due to the tight schedule, coach Mikel Arteta has arranged Arsenal's squad with many substitutes. Captain Martin Odegaard, midfielder Thomas Partey and centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes were not named in the starting lineup. Jakub Kwior, Kai Havertz and Emile Smith Rowe were trusted to play from the start.

With not the strongest squad, Arsenal had some difficulty in the first minutes but then gradually regained control of the game.

And from there, one name was continuously announced over the loudspeakers at Emirates Stadium. That was striker Eddie Nketiah. The 24-year-old star had a great day with an excellent hat-trick. First, he received the ball in the penalty area, handled it skillfully before finishing to open the score in the 28th minute.

In the 50th minute, Nketiah took advantage of the chaos in Sheffield's penalty area to quickly shoot close to the goal to double the gap. And then just 8 minutes later, he completed his hat-trick. Receiving the ball from Smith Rowe, Nketiah turned and fired a long-range shot into the Sheffield net.

This was Nketiah's first hat-trick for Arsenal in the Premier League. He is also the first Gunners player to score a hat-trick since the start of the 2023/24 season. The striker has also risen to the top of Arsenal's Premier League scoring charts this season with 5 goals, surpassing Bukayo Saka (4 goals).

Notably, before scoring three goals against Sheffield, Nketiah had failed to score in nine matches against Arsenal. In fact, he had only scored two goals in his previous 27 matches for the Gunners. Clearly, he has “opened the barrel” in the most impressive way.

Nketiah's rise set the stage for a big Arsenal win. But he wasn't the Gunners' first ever memorable debutant. Fabio Vieira scored his first goal of the season after converting an 88th-minute penalty of his own.

And in the 6th minute of injury time, Takehiro Tomiyasu also got his name on the scoresheet with a quick finish in the penalty area after a corner kick. This was the Japanese player's first goal for Arsenal since joining.

With a 5-0 win over Sheffield, Arsenal temporarily took second place in the rankings before Man City entered the Manchester derby with MU.

Arsenal vs Sheffield line-up

Arsenal:Raya, White (Tomiyasu 66'), Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Havertz, Smith Rowe (Vieira 73'), Rice (Elneny 89'), Saka (Nelson 73'), Nketiah, Martinelli (Trossard 66')
Sheffield:Foderingham, Bogle (Baldock 71'), Trusty, Robinson, Thomas, Souza, Slimane (Osborn 59'), Norwood, Hamer (Ryan One 83'), McAtee (Fleck 71'), Brewster (Archer 59')