As we edge closer to the 2023/24 Premier League campaign getting underway, Arsenal need to decide who will be their second striker behind Gabriel Jesus.
Jesus is once again set to be Arsenal’s main no.9 this coming season, meaning the Gunners will again need to look elsewhere for a lot of their goals.
During his time in the Premier League, Jesus has accumulated a total of 83.6 expected goals. However, he has scored just 69 for those chances and since his first season at Manchester City in 2016/17, no player has underperformed their expected goals tally by a larger margin.
However, whilst his lack of goals is often used as a stick to beat Jesus with, his off the ball work has proven invaluable to Mikel Arteta’s system.
So, it makes sense that whoever is coming off the bench to replace the South American will need to bring something different, namely goals.
And this is where Balogun very much outshines Nketiah. The former played a lot more matches than Nketiah last season, so it would be unfair to compare their overall totals from 2022/23. But even when looking at stats per 90, Balogun dominates.
Eddie Nketiah 2022/23 Premier League attacking
Balogun still largely outshines Nketiah when looking at the pair’s ability to link up play as well:
Folarin Balogun 2022/23 Ligue 1 passing
Eddie Nketiah 2022/23 Premier League passing
*All stats taken from Wyscout
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