Emile Smith Rowe sends two-word message to ex-Arsenal star Mikel Arteta regrets selling

Emile Smith Rowe has congratulated his former Arsenal teammate Eddie Nketiah after he scored his first Premier League goal for Crystal Palace.

Nketiah and Smith Rowe both came through Arsenal's academy together, but left the club permanently last summer in search of more regular first-team football at Palace and Fulham respectively.

Smith Rowe has impressed for Fulham so far, missing just three league games this season, while Nketiah has largely been used off the bench by Palace. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was a big fan of Nketiah, but the forward found his game time limited at the Emirates with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus ahead of him in the pecking order.

However, with both Havertz and Jesus now sidelined through injury for the rest of the season, Arsenal could certainly do with Nketiah. Although the 25-year-old has not been at his best since joining Palace, he did find the back of the net for the first time in the league on Tuesday as they upset Aston Villa.

Nketiah netted Palace's final goal as they beat Villa 4-1 at Selhurst Park and a number of his current and former teammates were quick to congratulate him. After posting a series of images of his goal on Instagram with the caption "All in God's timing", Smith Rowe replied: "the truth".

Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta responded with a series of fire emojis, while defender Chris Richards added: "my boys hotline blinging so happy for you". Ex-Arsenal players Joe Willock, Tyreece John-Jules and Jordi Osei-Tutu also commented on the post.

"It's nice to get the win and get my first one in the Premier League [for Palace]," Nketiah said after the game. "It's a good feeling, and nice to obviously share that moment with my family and friends and teammates, so I'm really delighted.

"[The manager said] at half-time to keep going. Obviously, we had moments, obviously slight tactical tweaks we had to make, but yeah, it was really just to be decisive and ruthless in the boxes.

"I think we defended really well at most times and limited them, but we had chances we didn't probably take in the first-half. I thought it was a good performance, first- and second-half. Obviously, we reacted really well when they [Villa] did score, but I think it was a really dominant performance.

"Obviously, we missed a few chances in the first-half, but we were really clinical in the second-half. It was just about being clinical in the second half – and we were able to do that. It's nice to obviously have an effect, win at home and kind of put that little losing run at home to bed."

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