Eddie Nketiah helped Arsenal undo their recent goalscoring trouble with his first Premier League hat-trick as the Gunners thumped Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Entering the game, Mikel Arteta’s men had scored fewer goals than any other side in the top seven and were without frontman Gabriel Jesus, but displayed their offensive capabilities regardless with a confident win over the bottom-placed Blades.
Nketiah opened his account in the 28th-minute, adding a second and third just eight minutes apart in the second half, with the final strike an eye-catching effort on the spin from 20 yards out.
He became the first Englishman to score a Premier League hat-trick for Arsenal since Theo Walcott in May 2015, calling the moment an “amazing feeling”.
The Gunners made it four when Oliver Norwood felled Fabio Vieira just inside the box close to full-time and the Portuguese midfielder converted from 12 yards, before Takehiro Tomiyasu rounded off the scoring in the 96th minute.
Speaking to Sky Sports post-match, Nketiah revealed why he could have had a fourth but instead stepped aside for his team-mate: “I was on [the penalty], I was going to take it. But Fabio, it's a special moment for him: I think he’s expecting a baby and he won the penalty, so he asked if he could take it. I said: ‘Of course.’ It’s a team sport and I’ve got three.”
The forward picked out the third strike as his favourite, explaining what went right for him on a personal afternoon to savour.
“In games like this where it’s tight and it’s low it’s about staying patient, staying in the right areas, arriving in the right areas,” he said. “My team-mates found me today and I was able to finish my chances.”
The win pushes Arsenal into second, above Manchester City at least temporarily, and sustains the pressure on top-placed Tottenham Hotspur by narrowing the gap to two points.
Sheffield United, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the table with just one point from 10 games.
Manager Paul Heckingbottom’s future was in doubt before the game and his position will only come under greater pressure following the heavy defeat. By way of comparison, Derby County had six points at this stage of their 2007/08 campaign – the worst Premier League campaign by any club to date.
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