LONDON — One is an academy graduate without a Premier League goal to his name all season, the other is a £97.5million striker signed to win his team the title. Both are out of favour and may well be playing their football at different clubs next season after publicly voicing concerns about how they are being utilised, yet Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah — the 22-year-old making only his 13th top-flight start — outshone pedigree heavyweight Romelu Lukaku to breathe fresh life into the Gunners’ top-four hopes with a brace in Wednesday’s 4-2 win at Chelsea.
A day after Nketiah gave an interview in which he explained the reasons behind turning down multiple offers to extend his Arsenal contract that expires at the end of the season, he was given a chance to lead the attack with Alexandre Lacazette still not fully recovered from Covid-19. How he seized his moment.
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Nketiah capped a fine all-round display with two goals — one in each half amounting to his first Premier League brace — to become the first Arsenal player to score twice in this fixture for almost 11 years and reinvigorate the Gunners’ campaign after three consecutive defeats. Contrast that with Lukaku, who gave a more incendiary interview in December that prompted Blues boss Thomas Tuchel to drop the Belgium international in a move from which his individual form has never recovered.
This was Lukaku’s first league start since Feb. 19, a decision partly informed by his outing in the first fixture, his triumphant second coming last August, a goal-scoring debut that appeared to signal he would take English football by storm after two years honing his craft in Serie A with Inter Milan. He touched the ball just 22 times — fewer than any other outfield player on either team — before being substituted on the hour mark to a mixed reception that contained a few boos from some Chelsea supporters.
Lukaku looked off the pace in attack and…
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