Andy Johnson says Southgate is irreplaceable and details Smith Rowe’s best route back into Gunners first team

In an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes, former Birmingham, Crystal Palace, Everton and Fulham striker Andy Johnson discusses Arsenal duo Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe, plus his experience of being called up by England.

It’d be great to see Nketiah play against Scotland tonight

I really like Eddie Nketiah, I think he’s a really good striker. He’s very lively, quick, stretches teams and runs in behind… he offers something we haven’t actually had for a while.

His performances for Arsenal have been brilliant, and the manager has made it clear how important he is to the team. He’s scored a lot of goals at Under-21 level for England, and I think he thoroughly deserves his call-up to the senior squad.

I’m an Arsenal fan, so I watch quite a lot of this team, and I thought Eddie did a really good job of stepping in to fill that gap in Gabriel Jesus’ absence last season. He filled it with unbelievable confidence and scored some really important goals for the team. Last season was the making of him. I just feel that, as a youngster, you need that bit of luck sometimes, being in the right place at the right time. Jesus got injured and Nketiah stepped up and delivered. He wouldn’t have wished that injury on his team-mate, of course, but he got his break because of it, and he’s proved himself to be a really important part of that Arsenal side.

This call-up is going to be great for his confidence. There will be other Arsenal players in that camp, the likes of Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice…it’ll be a great experience for him. He’ll know his development is going in the right direction.

He won’t be fazed by the call-up, at all, because I don’t think he’s that kind of player. That transition from the Under-21s to the senior squad feels natural because of the philosophies those managers are trying to implement across all age groups. It’s only going to help Eddie’s confidence.

It’d be good to see him get some minutes against Scotland. He’s been called up for a reason, so I’d love to see him play in that game. I’m going to go with a 3-0 win… for England, obviously.

Patience is the key for Emile Smith Rowe

Obviously Emile Smith Rowe is in an unfortunate position for Arsenal right now, because those players in the starting line-up have been performing really well. He just needs to be patient because he’s still really young. I’m sure there’s frustration there within the individual, but that’s natural for any human being who wants to be successful. He just needs to bide his time and his opportunity will come. There are so many games coming up, with Arsenal back in Europe and cup games coming up.. He’s going to get a chance to impress the manager, and then it’ll be down to him to be fit, sharp and ready like Eddie Nketiah did last season.

There is no guarantee in the Premier League in general that you’re going to be starting week in, week out, but in particular in those top six or seven teams in the division. You’ve got to be consistently performing, but Emile is still young, he’s still developing and learning, so he’s got plenty of time to impact this team. I’ve got no concerns about him, he’s a top player who adds a really good dimension to Arsenal, but he’s surrounded by healthy competition, which is only a good thing.

Who replaces Southgate? No one can…

I don’t see anyone stepping in and replacing Gareth Southgate, despite rumours suggesting his last tournament will be Euro 2024. When you look at what he’s done with this team over the last few years, and the overall structure, the togetherness and integration he’s created throughout the England squad is incredible. I think it’s a completely different environment now, going to play for England, than what it was, say 10, 15 or 20 years ago. There’s a sense of togetherness there, there’s no divide within the camp, and it feels like we’re on the edge of winning something special. But there are some other great countries in the world who have got some fantastic teams, so it’s really tough.

But if you had to think of a manager now to come in and replace Gareth, and do a better job than him, there’s no one I can think of. He’s done a great job.

I felt out of my depth with England

Getting the call-up to play for England was a real emotional rollercoaster, to be honest. You’re proud, happy, excited and looking forward to the challenge ahead. You’re looking forward to training with world-class players, and seeing exactly where you’re at currently, to where your development could take you.

My first call-up was a really proud moment for myself, obviously. It’s something I’ll never forget.

I’d have been around 24 at the time, I think. Did I feel out of my depth? Yeah, I think so. There was definitely fear there, for sure. Fear of making a mistake, fear of not being up to scratch, or up to that level, bearing in mind I was playing for Crystal Palace at the time, and of course we’d go on to get relegated that season.

I was in a minority in that England camp at the time, because I wasn’t an established Premier League player. If you look back at the squad back then, most of the lads were coming from Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man United… 95% of the squad was made up of those big teams. Then there was myself, and the likes of Stewart Downing, who crept in there.

It’s a life experience I’ll never forget. It was definitely a nervous few days for me at first, but once you get into training, and you remember the reason why you got called up, it doesn’t really take you long to settle in. Because I’d played through the youth set-ups, as well, I knew a few of the lads anyway: Crouchy [Peter Crouch], [Jermain] Defoe, Ashley Cole… all of those lads were in my Under-19s squad, so I already knew quite a few of the lads prior to going in. It always feels a little more nerve-racking when you’re coming from a club like Palace, though.

I thought I could have been England’s wildcard at 2006 World Cup

Sven-Goran Eriksson was the complete gentleman. He was easy to work with and had great communication with his players. He spoke to me personally when I first came into the set-up, and we talked about where I played, and all of the things I was doing at Crystal Palace.

Obviously, Steve McClaren was the main first-team coach, who took all of the sessions from day to day, so there was a lot of communication with him. They were a fantastic group of people to work under. Steve’s one of the best coaches around, working on the training field. His training sessions were really good, really sharp, and that was what my game was all about, so I loved it.

I didn’t really think too much about the pressure from the media and the supporters, and that kind of thing the England team at the time had to deal with. Obviously, I understood the severity of it, but it’s not something which I really thought about. Every call-up was a case-by-case scenario for me. There was never a guarantee that I’d be called up to a squad. So, for me, it was about taking each camp, one by one. I never really thought about much else, I just wanted to learn from each experience, and get the most out of my time with those top players, then take that back to my club, whether that was at Crystal Palace or Everton.

I was on standby for the 2006 World Cup, so I went out to the training camp in Portugal with the rest of the lads, before they whittled it down to the final squad. A few of us missed out, I think it was myself, Defoe, and a couple of the others. But it was a great experience to go away and train, and even be in consideration for a call-up to a major tournament.

Of course I was gutted when I didn’t make it, especially when you go so far, and you’re out there training with the lads. You feel like there’s a real opportunity for you to go and have an impact…especially that season, where I’d scored a lot of goals. I felt like I had half a chance of maybe going along as a wildcard, but things didn’t pan out that way.