Mikel Arteta says how Eberechi Eze really feels about playing on the left wing at Arsenal
Eberechi Eze’s main role at Arsenal has changed this season.
The England international mostly played as an attacking midfielder in his debut season under Mikel Arteta, and he produced a few magical moments there.
However, following the departures of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, Eze has been pushed out wide and is currently the only backup to Christos Tzolis on the left flank.
Many Arsenal fans don’t like that move, but how does Eze feel? Arteta has had his say.
Mikel Arteta says Eberechi Eze feels ‘very comfortable’ as a left winger
Eberechi Eze is a very special footballer who is capable of producing magical moments on the pitch, irrespective of where he plays.
However, you would ideally want a player of that ability to be facing the goal from a central position, so that he can have a direct impact as an attacking midfielder.
Eze excelled in that role at times last season – just ask Tottenham fans how good he was in the two games against them. He was incredible against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League as well.
This season, all of Eze’s performances have come on the left wing, because Arsenal sold Trossard and Martinelli, and only signed Tzolis as a replacement.
That, in our opinion, is not Eze’s best position, but Arteta has highlighted how the biggest moments of his career came in that role.
He said, as per Arsenal.com: “He has always played there in his career. That’s where all the biggest moments in his career and the highlights have come, and I think it’s a place that he feels very, very, very comfortable in.
“He can occupy different spaces through them, but that’s the space where he has generally created big moments for previous clubs as well to win matches.”
Eberechi Eze needs to do more at Arsenal
Even though we prefer Eze in a number 10 role, we have no doubt that he can produce the goods as a left winger. He was fantastic in that role against Aston Villa earlier this season.
However, his performances since have not been good enough.
Eze was really poor against Napoli and Ipswich. He didn’t do enough with the ball, didn’t come close to scoring, and even his dribbling looked off.
That is not good enough. Eze needs to step it up in the coming months if he wants to play more games at Arsenal. If he doesn’t, we won’t be surprised at all if he falls further down the pecking order.