Nketiah: Our supporters pushed us to the end
Eddie Nketiah says Crystal Palace were driven on by their supporters in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium.
The former Gunner, who came through the youth system in North London, made a goal-scoring return as a second-half substitute in Wednesday night’s 3-2 defeat.
With time running out and Palace 3-1 down, Nketiah – in front of 6,000 vocal Palace fans, who did not stop singing from the first minute to the last – leapt high to meet a Nathaniel Clyne cross and give his team a chance of staying in the competition.
While that did not happen, Nketiah was full of praise for the Palace supporters, who he hopes will make a similar impact when the two teams meet again on Saturday at Selhurst Park in the Premier League.
“Obviously it’s disappointing – we’d have like to have progressed,” Nketiah told Palace TV. “I think the boys gave everything today against a tough opponent.
“But, you know, we've got them again in three days, so we've got an opportunity to bounce back and hopefully get a result at Selhurst.
“It was a close game. It was fine margins at the end of the day. Obviously, it just went their way. But we're going to keep pushing, keep fighting, and we have a lovely opportunity to go back to our home place and get three points.”
On his goal, he added: “It was a nice header [and] a good cross from Clyney. [I’m] happy to get back on the scoresheet.
“It was disappointing not to get through, but I think the travelling fans were excellent. We could feel their support and they really pushed us to the end. That's why we almost came back and equalised.
“All the boys [must now] recover. We've put a lot of effort out there, a lot of impact out there, so we’ll just try to recover as quickly as possible, keep working hard, keep training and be focused to come back.
“We’re going to have all our fans at home so we know how difficult it can be [for opponents] when we’re on it. We’re going to make it a difficult game and hopefully get the three points.”
With matches set to come thick and fast over the festive season, Nketiah is looking forward to throwing himself into Premier League action in the coming weeks.
The forward said: “I think we want to be more consistent, and get those performances in against any side.
“We're always up for the big games. Everyone wants to play in the big games and test yourself against good teams, and I think we've done really well in those sort of games, so I think now we're starting to pick up a bit of consistency, and it's just about getting the three points and pushing and climbing up the table. That’s what we want to do, and to do it for our fans.
“That’s what we want as players, you know, to have a lot of games, and to be on the pitch as much as possible for myself as well, so I'm really excited.
“I'm obviously looking forward to playing in front of the fans on Saturday, and hopefully going on a run.”