TUNE EDDIE NETS DREAM
EDDIE NKETIAH admits hearing the Emirates crowd chant his name was a “dream come true” after a double on his Arsenal home debut.
The 18-year-old striker scored his first senior goals as the Gunners came from behind to beat Norwich 2-1 after extra-time in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup last-16 tie.
Arsene Wenger threw Nketiah on five minutes from time with the ex-Chelsea kid taking just 15 seconds to repay him by cancelling out Josh Murphy’s shock opener.
That set up an extra half-hour as the England Under-19 star headed home the winner.
Nketiah, whose exploits earned praise from Gunners legend Thierry Henry, said: “I’m delighted to get two goals and win the match for the team. I’m very thankful to the boss for giving me that opportunity to come on and show what I can do.
“I’m really happy the fans welcomed me into the team like that and to hear your name at such a young age is a dream come true and hopefully it is the first of many.
“I came on with full focus to help the team win. I believe in myself and believe I can always get goals so I just tried to get in goalscoring opportunities and thankfully they went in.”
Wenger said he “knew” the hitman, who made his debut in the Europa League last month, could get a goal.
But City should not have given Nketiah the chance to steal the show as the Championship side wasted chances to double their lead.
Daniel Farke reckons Mohamed Elneny should have been sent off after hauling down Nelson Oliveira as he bared down on goal. The City boss had a point but Murphy also rued misses from himself, Oliveira and Mario Vrancic.
He said: “The manager can’t fault anyone for how well we did and played. After 85 minutes we did it and we probably could have put the game to bed with my chance, Mario’s chance and Nelson’s chance. But it wasn’t to be.”
Meanwhile, Norwich have vowed to ban anyone found to have subjected boxer Anthony Ogogo to racial abuse.
The Olympic bronze medallist was in the home section using the ticket of a friend and had stayed behind to clap City off when he believes he was mistaken for an Arsenal fan.
Ogogo, who had a spell in City’s youth squad, said he felt “utterly disgusted” by the alleged abuse.
And a City statement read: “We are very concerned by reports from Anthony Ogogo that he suffered racial abuse from a supporter in the Norwich section.
“As a club we have a zero-tolerance policy on racism and all other forms of discrimination and we have contacted Anthony this morning.
“As always, any supporter found to be guilty of discriminatory abuse will be banned indefinitely by Norwich City and face possible criminal investigation.”
Ogogo tweeted: “Classy phone call with @NorwichCityFC this afternoon regarding the abuse I received from a bigoted (so called) fan last night. Thank you.” THE only rebuilding job on Edmiston Drive that Rangers fans can see these days is by Glasgow Housing Association.
A new range of flats is taking shape across the road from the stadium but Pedro Caixinha is struggling to convince that Ibrox is a show home for his talents.
The roof controversially came in on Rangers against last night against a backdrop of more shameful indiscipline from Ryan Jack, a reflection of the plot being lost across this increasingly volatile Ibrox squad.
The vision of Caixinha’s new project is toiling to translate from drawing board to construction stages and the flimsy foundations thrown up in the last few months will not surely survive howling winds of outrage from Ibrox fans.
The Light Blues legions have been remarkably tolerant with the Portuguese boss and his name received a warm ripple of applause as his photo flashed on the giants screen around the stadium before kick-off.
But the jeers that accompanied ref Alan Muir and fourth official Scott Millar as they walked off the park at the end were echoed in the increasing disaffection being shown towards their team.
Caixinha’s utterances are often eccentric but he remains a fundamentally decent human being. But Govan is the historical home of George Young and John Greig not Mahatma Gandhi.
He has done too much talking off the park, his team have woefully failed to express his philosophies on football on it and he has become a master of contradictions.
He insisted recently what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas – then promptly revealed he’d told his players after the cup defeat to Motherwell they’d embarrassed themselves and the club. They should have been red-faced again last night at the manner they allowed Killie to come back to snatch a draw when the game was there to be finished off just minutes earlier.
Parallels were drawn after Motherwell with the public dressing down given by his countryman Jose Mourinho after Man United’s shock defeat against Huddersfield.
The difference is Mourinho is dealing from a position of strength, the winner of major honours in every significant league in Europe. Comparisons between the strength of their messages is like judging Ardrossan against the Algarve.
On a night in which Broxi, Roxi and Boris Bear strolled around the pitch wearing black capes for Hallowe’en, Caixinha’s message called to mind a kid rifling in a box of costumes, throwing everything in the air in the hope of finding something that provokes a colourful reaction.
He expressed a desire to list the same starting line-up that lost to Motherwell and for the most part kept his word as cup keeper Jak Alnwick dropped out and Carlos Pena and Fabio Cardoso were both injured.
Bruno Alves was in the centre of defence but faces a two-game ban, one in the Premiership, which will is likely to kick in at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Clearly, Rangers felt they
BY GARY RALSTON