Playmaker, out of favour under Mikel Arteta, has scored 18 of his 38 Premier League goals at business end of the season
Eberechi Eze was asked in an interview this week if there is a motto that he lives by and his answer was most revealing given how things have been going for him at Arsenal recently. “It’s not about now. It’s the long game,” he told the Men in Blazers podcast before Sunday’s north London derby.
Remaining patient has been a recurring theme throughout Eze’s career ever since he was released by Arsenal at 13 and then rejected by several other clubs before finding a home at Queens Park Rangers. Yet having made an immediate impression after a £67.5m dream move back to his boyhood club from Crystal Palace that peaked with a memorable hat-trick against Tottenham at the end of November, the goals have dried up completely as Mikel Arteta has seemingly lost faith in the England forward.
Eze has made 18 appearances in all competitions without scoring since the 4-1 victory over Spurs and found himself restricted to a bit-part role in the Premier League. He was substituted at half-time after an ineffective display against Brentford last week – a first league start for almost two months – while Bukayo Saka was preferred in the No 10 role against Wolves in midweek. With Arteta confirming on Friday that Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard are both back in contention for the weekend following injury, Eze faces another challenge to force his way back into the team as also he attempts to earn a place in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad.
