Football fans are finally starting to realise why it's called a 'nutmeg'

10 April 2023 , 10:00

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Trent Alexander-Arnold nutmegged Oleksandr Zinchenko before Liverpool's equaliser (Image: Sky Sports)

Oleksandr Zinchenko was pictured looking distraught on the Arsenal bench after being 'nutmegged' by Trent Alexander-Arnold moments earlier in the build up to Liverpool's equaliser at Anfield.

It appeared that the Ukrainian defender was bearing the full weight of responsibility for the mistake that allowed Roberto Firmino to head home and deny the Gunners a potentially-defining victory in the Premier League title race. Alexander-Arnold made up for his own defensive lapses to skip past Zinchenko and float an inch-perfect cross to substitute Firmino, who broke Arsenal hearts late on.

Zinchenko was too easily beaten by his Liverpool counterpart and was clearly affected as he was immediately replaced by Kieran Tierney in the closing stages on Merseyside. But the 26-year-old was not the first, and certainly won't be the last to feel the embarrassment of having the ball kicked through his legs on the biggest stage.

The nutmeg is a timeless trick that can be considered one of the most disrespectful yet mesmerising in the game.

When pulled off, it is a guaranteed crowd pleaser and viral clip in the making, but not all are as effective as Alexander-Arnold's redeeming skill before his inviting cross at Anfield.

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Anyhow, the nutmeg is a staple for tricksters across all levels of football worldwide. But where does the name for this hugely popular skill - that shares its name with a ground spice - actually come from?

The origin for the term nutmeg has been rumoured to be the 1940s cockney rhyming slang for leg. But according to Peter Seddon's book 'Football Talk- The Language and Folklore Of The World's Greatest Game', the term dates all the way back to the late 1800s.

There are links between the popular football skill and the nutmeg trade (Getty Images)

Seddon notes that the term derives from the exportation of nutmeg between North America and England in the 1800s, writing: “Nutmegs were such a valuable commodity that unscrupulous exporters were to pull a fast one by mixing a helping of wooden replicas into the sacks being shipped to England."

The verb "nutmegged" has made its way into the Oxford English dictionary, which is described as: "Arising in the 1870s which in Victorian slang came to mean 'to be tricked or deceived, especially in a manner which makes the victim look foolish'."

And Seddon confirms the term's relevancy in football vernacular because: "Being nutmegged soon came to imply stupidity on the part of the duped victim and cleverness on the part of the trickster."

Ben Parsons