Mikel Arteta believes Eberechi Eze still has plenty more to bring to Arsenal’s attacking play after watching him score his first goal for the club in Wednesday’s 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Port Vale.
Eze struck just eight minutes into the match at Vale Park but, despite that early strike, Arsenal struggled to create clear opportunities against their League One hosts, not killing the game off until substitute Leandro Trossard struck in the 86th minute.
But Eze’s goal – his first since he returned to the club in a £60million move from Crystal Palace – already looked like being enough for Arsenal on a night when the 27-year-old was the brightest of Arsenal’s attacking players.
“He played very centrally against a team that went 5-4-1, super-compact inside, it’s not easy to find the space but he’s very capable with the goal and with another three or four actions that he is completely through and (playing) people through.
“He needs to still play more time a little bit with those guys to understand the timings, especially the things that he needs to do, and then actions like that will be more consistent and better for us. In general very good, there is still a lot more to give I think.”
Eze started on the left of Arsenal’s attack for this match but has already lined up in a number of different positions for Arteta in his five appearances to date.
“At the end what we want to do with him is to get him in positions, in spaces that he can create his magic moments,” Arteta said. “Some of that will be from the wide areas, some of that will be from the right or left in relation to the opposition as well.”
Arsenal spent the summer looking to add greater depth to the squad as they aim to compete on multiple fronts this term and that showed on the team sheet here as Arteta made nine changes from Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City but still fielded a strong side.
Kepa Arrizabalaga made his debut in goal, Christian Norgaard got a first start in midfield and Bukayo Saka clocked up an hour as he returns from a hamstring injury, with Arteta saying he now had a number of decisions to make ahead of Sunday’s trip to Newcastle.
“What we need to do… is generate the performances that we want with the players that haven’t really played together, with a completely different midfield than they’ve played together before, with a front line that is different as well,” he said.
“Max [Dowman] came in as well and connect(ed) immediately with the team. It’s a lot of positives to take from the game…
“That’s exactly what we want, that they’re giving us and me those headaches because that means that they are so connected with the team, that they really want to help the team. Everybody will play a lot of minutes.”
