GTECH COMMUNITY STADIUM – Under the harshest light, in the title-dampening drizzle, another Eberechi Eze moment slipped quietly away.
Eze was taken off at half time in the 1-1 draw with Brentford after creating no chances, winning none of his duels, and completing just nine passes. Mikel Arteta said he substituted him because he needed “another kind of profile” who would “generate many more problems”.
On a night when Manchester City zoomed into Arsenal’s rearview mirror, Eze came to epitomise that sense of wasted opportunity. With Martin Odegaard only fit enough for the bench, the chance of a first goal contribution since 26 November knocked.
It is strange to think now that three days before that date, Eze was the toast of north London, the hat-trick against Spurs confirming cult status after his 11th-hour transfer U-turn to join the Gunners.
And yet that is when the goals dried up. Arteta also hooked him at half time in December’s defeat to Aston Villa. Increasingly, were it not for Odegaard’s fitness issues Eze would look unlikely to add significantly to his 12 league starts this season.
The very thing that was supposed to make this title tilt different from the last three was that finally, Arsenal had paid ahead. The £67.5m deal to sign Eze from Crystal Palace was some of the best business of the lot. So the theory went, Arteta would finally have the depth to withstand absences from Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba or Kai Havertz.
Defensively at Brentford, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie filled in ably – in fact more so even than Gabriel, who was fortunate to stay on after fouling Dango Ouattara while on a booking and making two botched backpasses to David Raya.
At the other end Eze was by no means the only attacker who failed to step up. Prior to his headed goal, Noni Madueke was just as guilty.
There is an argument to be had that this was simply not the night for a player like Eze. The odd paradox of the England international is that the elastic moves, the gracefulness, the lightness of touch, are precisely what made him look out of place against Keith Andrews’ Champions League-chasing powerhouses. The hard yards of QPR, Millwall and Crystal Palace might have had the opposite effect but he was alarmingly outfought.
At Selhurst Park there was certainly another dimension to his game. He could be explosive – that may have convinced Arteta, at some level, that it would make him an able “finisher” for Odegaard.
Eze’s issues need not be overdramatised. His debut season in north London is still more likely than not to yield at least one major trophy, though that is not all he is playing for. Without a late-season surge that would belie the opening six months of his Arsenal career, it is difficult to see Thomas Tuchel picking him for England at the World Cup – especially with Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, Marcus Rashford and Jarrod Bowen all jostling for spots.
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At club level both Eze and Madueke find themselves in a curious position, unlikely to unseat Odegaard and Saka permanently and accordingly unable to build up meaningful rhythm. It should not necessarily be an open-and-shut case; it was not as if Odegaard was able to transform Arsenal after coming on.
What sets him apart from Eze for now is that even half-fit, he is still an upgrade currently because his pressing is superior. Odegaard still bore some responsibility with the rest of his teammates for the two dropped points – too cautious, too safe.
It still remains a pinch point in Arteta’s set-up, the extent to which the central position neuters the whole operation, not helped by Eze’s visible lack of confidence. Sooner or later he is going to have to seize these nights when they present themselves, or risk slipping from the forefront of Tuchel’s thoughts.
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