Arsenal beat Sheffield United 5-0 in an excellent performance by Eddie Nketiah.

In the Premier League’s tenth round, Arsenal did not field their best team. Sheffield United, the team at the bottom of the standings with just one point after the first nine matches, is their lone opponent when they play at home. Coach Mikel Arteta’s troops won three points with little difficulty.

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Arsenal’s possession rate in the first half was twice as high as their opponent’s. However, when Sheffield proactively played deep defense, the home team did not create many opportunities. Arsenal players played slowly, persistently finding space.

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The Gunners had 3 chances to finish and scored 1 goal in the first half. Declan Rice made a surprising pass that caused Sheffield United’s defenders to miss a beat. Eddie Nketiah caught the ball neatly and scored accurately in a situation facing the goalkeeper. The English striker ended a streak of 9 consecutive matches without scoring.

Nketiah’s goal made it easier for Arsenal to kick. The home team completely controlled the match despite not attacking aggressively. After the break between the two halves, the away team’s ball retention rate dropped below 30%.

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The main character of the second half is Nketiah. The 24-year-old striker seized the opportunity to score from close range to double the gap in the 50th minute when the away team’s goalkeeper made a mistake in a corner kick. Less than 10 minutes later, Nketiah created a superb long-range shot to increase the score to 3-0.

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This is the first time this player has scored a hat trick in an Arsenal shirt. During the last 20 minutes of the match, Nketiah was given the captain’s armband after Bukayo Saka left the field.

Sheffield soon lost the match and no longer had the spirit to compete. The away team could not create any threatening situations, causing difficulties for Arsenal’s defense.

In the final minutes of the match, Arsenal received a penalty after the referee reviewed the video and determined that Fabio Vieira had been fouled. Nketiah gave the ball to his Portuguese teammate, denying him the opportunity to score the fourth goal in the match. Vieira successfully took the penalty kick.

That was still not the last goal of the match. In the corner kick in the 6th minute of injury time, Takehiro Tomiyasu scored his first goal in the Premier League to seal a 5-0 victory for Arsenal.