Arsenal: Arteta must accept Eberechi Eze mistake in Havertz repeat

Unless you’re a Tottenham fan, it would take quite the steely-hearted individual not to feel all warm a fuzzy inside while watching Eberechi Eze walk out at the Emirates after re-signing for his boyhood club and smile at those chats with Ian Wright and the message of support from idol Thierry Henry. It was lovely.

But having been heavily linked with Nico Williams and then Rodrygo before plumping for Eze on the back of Kai Havertz’s injury, and after Gabriel Martinelli came on to change the game and secure victory over Athletic Club in Arsenal’s opening Champions League game of the season, you’ve got to wonder whether Arsenal may indeed have been better off signing a proper left winger.

If Martinelli can maintain form and become a starter again rather than such an effective “finisher” (Mikel Arteta’s word not ours, because this isn’t rugby, no matter how much he wants it to be) then there’s no problem. But we’ve been here before and there have been far too many false Martinelli dawns in the last couple of seasons to grant any sort of confidence that he can perform at that level consistently.

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But he is definitely a winger. He hugs the touchline, beats full-backs on the outside and delivers crosses. Much like Noni Madueke on the right, who has stormed out of the traps at the start of his Arsenal career while Eze is yet to truly hit his stride.

He delivered a lovely cross for Viktor Gyokeres to score against Nottingham Forest and we’re in no way suggesting he’s not good enough for Arsenal, just wholly unsuited to playing on the wing in Mikel Arteta’s system, as Ally McCoist hinted at on commentary in the 2-0 win over Athletic Club.

“My point is that the position [Riccardo] Calafiori takes up, when he moves into that left side, that’s where Eze should be, I think, he’s more suited to picking the ball up there on the half turn.”

You will very rarely catch an Arsenal full-back, whether it’s Calafiori or Myles Lewis-Skelly operating behind Eze on the left, making the overlapping runs necessary for Eze to have the space to drift inside and affect the game from a more central position. It’s those inverted full-backs who are in those positions when Arsenal are attacking.

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That’s perfect for Martinelli and Madueke, but means Arsenal aren’t currently seeing the very best of Eze in those tight spaces between the opposition defence and midfield, where he can find cute passes or get shots away.

It’s been claimed by some that Eze might end up taking the place of Martin Odegaard, who was well below his best last season, but Mikel Merino taking the Arsenal captain’s spot when injured this term suggests Arteta either doesn’t see that as the role for Eze, or – more likely – is for the time-being looking to force the England international as a square peg into that round hole on the left wing before accepting defeat and playing him in his best position.

It feels very like what he did with Havertz, when he played him as an ineffective midfielder when he first arrived at the club before Arteta got  the best out of him having moved him further forward.

Eze’s move into the No.10 role would of course mean that Arsenal need a left winger. And short of Madueke swapping sides when Bukayo Saka returns, which might work but also probably won’t he’s always looked far less dangerous on that side, after a £250m, widely applauded summer transfer haul, we could shortly see the return of Saka and Martinelli hugging the Gunners flanks.