Crystal Palace coach Oliver Glasner has expressed confidence that the goals will come for Eddie Nketiah ahead of his return to the Emirates Stadium with Crystal Palace tomorrow night.
England striker Nketiah came through Arsenal's academy and spent seven years at the club before moving from north London to south London over the summer for a fee reported to be £25m.
He found it difficult at Selhurst Park, scoring just one goal in 13 appearances.
Nketiah made a good impression after coming on as a second-half substitute in Sunday's 3-1 win over rivals Brighton and Glasner will be hoping he can kick-start his career with Palace.
He said: “He is very ambitious and works hard. He was brought back due to injury and while he was injured the team started winning matches and started playing better and better.
“He had a really positive impact at Brighton alongside Daichi Kamada because we struggled badly at the start of the second half, not pressing the ball. Once they came in, they put in a great effort and we controlled the game more.
“He got an assist for (Ismaila) Sarr and had a big chance as well.
“You can see that maybe he doesn't have the highest levels of confidence and that's quite normal when you're a striker because he wants to score. My experience is that if a player works as hard as he does, he will get his reward.
“It will be a great story if he scores at the Emirates Stadium.”
Adam Wharton remains sidelined with a thigh injury, Daniel Munoz is suspended, while Eberechi Eze will be assessed ahead of Crystal Palace's League Cup quarter-final against Arsenal 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Xnn6gwbDMm
– Sky Sports News (SkySportsNews) December 17, 2024
Nketiah will play a role tomorrow
Although he did not commit to starting Benketiah in tomorrow's EFL Cup quarter-final, Glasner said he would be involved, adding: “I don't know who will play and who will start. We have two or three decisions to make. We don't know if Ebs (Eze) will play.” Able to play and with one or two players a little tired – we still have time to make a decision. I'm sure Eddie will get minutes in his old stadium.
Palace overcame a slow start to the season and were unbeaten in five matches.
The Eagles are full of confidence, but Glasner accepts that a trip to Arsenal is always a difficult task.
“We still have many matches to play, but it will be a huge achievement for all of us to win at the Emirates Stadium,” he said.
“It's not a place where Crystal Palace wins every year, so it will be a huge achievement.
“It will be a difficult and intense 90 minutes, but we have confidence, we feel ready, we are in good shape and in a good mood in the dressing room.
“Everything we need before the game, we have, but the most important thing is to show it tomorrow on the pitch.”
Palace will certainly be without Adam Wharton while Daniel Munoz is suspended.
