Eberechi Eze will always have the glorious hat-trick against Tottenham. And he will not complain if he adds to his medal collection at the end of the season, but his dream move to Arsenal has fallen off script.
Eze has not scored a goal since clinching his place in north London folklore with those three against Spurs in November and, here on what was his first Premier League start in almost two months, he was entirely anonymous and hauled off at half-time.
It is becoming an unwanted trend. On his previous league start he lasted only 57 minutes against Wolverhampton Wanderers. And in the one before that, at Aston Villa, he did not make it past the interval.
He has become peripheral to this Arsenal title challenge at a time when he is needed most, with Kai Havertz injured again and Martin Odegaard struggling for fitness.
At this rate, he will not make the cut for England’s World Cup squad. Not only are his rhythm and form lost but he is also jostling for a place in the most competitive area. Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers are at the front of the race to play in behind Harry Kane.
Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Morgan Gibbs-White have eyes on the same spot. Eze can operate from wide on the left as he did to such effect at Palace, but so can those mentioned, and Tuchel seems to prefer the electric pace of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon in that role.
Eberechi Eze’s debut season at Arsenal hit a new bump in the road after being hooked at half-time in their 1-1 draw at Brentford on Thursday night
At this rate, Eze is unlikely to be picked for Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad
At 27, this should be his World Cup. Instead, the light is in danger of going out on Eze.
Arsenal found it heavy going at Brentford and within that struggle they failed to get their No 10 on the ball in the first half in the areas where he likes to create and conjure.
It didn’t help that Viktor Gyokeres was dominated by centre-halves Sepp van den Berg and Kristoffer Ajer. A centre-forward holding up the ball might have linked him into the play facing the goal. Also, perhaps he was not at his sharpest at this level.
He has been used so sparingly in recent weeks, and it seems to have eaten away at his confidence. He is a shadow of the player who lit up English football last year and sparked a race for his signature.
Here, Eze was easily restricted to 17 touches. Only one of them came inside Brentford’s penalty area. Ten were in his own half of the pitch because, as half-time approached, he was forced further back towards his own goal in search of the ball.
He did not return for the second half. Brentford can take much credit for forcing the change. Their industry and organisation is excellent. With his abundance of talent, Eze is a threat, so they jump onto him quickly. Usually, it was Mathias Jensen crowding out his creative space.
Eze though looks low on confidence, as if unsure how and where to influence the game in this tightly strung Arteta team or against opponents prepared to drop deep in numbers, crowd him out and go direct on the break.
Eze managed just 17 touches during his first-half outing before he was substituted at the break
‘It’s not easy when you move to a new club,’ said Arteta. ‘It’s always like this and when you play against a team that is like this and the ball is a lot of times not on the floor, and you have to be constantly breaking the play and do that, especially for attacking and creative players, it’s more difficult.’
Odegaard came off the bench to replace Eze and made Arsenal tick with more urgency.
‘We needed another kind of profile to generate many more problems,’ said Arteta. ‘He came on and did really well and the team had another gear and more threat to arrive to the areas we wanted.’
Odegaard had 23 touches and Arsenal played for a while at a quicker tempo. All but two of his touches were in Brentford’s half of the pitch.
Operating to the right of a midfield trio, he linked up with Noni Madueke and Jurrien Timber in search of overloads around the fringes of the box. He fired a shot over before he too faded.
Arsenal’s captain is also low on match sharpness. He was also hurt as he tried in vain to prevent Keane Lewis-Potter heading in the equaliser and looked as if he was out of steam by the final whistle as the Bees finished strongest.
The thing is, Arsenal could really do with some Eze magic through these difficult final furlongs of the season. Kai Havertz is out with another injury and almost every team they face will defend deep and in numbers.
It was spring last year when Eze found his groove for Crystal Palace with nine in 13 appearances at the end of the season, including the winner in the FA Cup final against Manchester City.
Eze looks shot of confidence under Mikel Arteta – a shadow of his former self at Crystal Palace
Oliver Glasner found a way to make him effective but within a very different system, in a counter attacking team, built to break into space with the quick forward passes of Adam Wharton and a target man of a centre forward in Jean-Phillipe Mateta.
Eze often played off the left for Palace, not overburdened with defensive duties and able to drift into the pockets of spaces created by the swirl of the game and threaten the goal.
Arteta however demands different things from his wide players. He wants them to be quick and busy, looking to sprint in behind and working back to protect the full backs.
This is not for Eze, and he does not seem to be enjoying himself. Gone is the beaming smile and the free spirit that illuminated London football at the end of last season. Arsenal could do with finding a way to bring it back. Maybe the North London derby on Sunday week will do the trick.
