Arteta sees more from Eze after his first goal with Arsenal in Carabao Cup

Arteta highlights Eberechi Eze’s potential after his first goal with Arsenal

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed his confidence that Eberechi Eze has much more to offer to the team’s attacking play. This, after witnessing the player’s first goal for the club in the 2-0 victory over Port Vale in the Carabao Cup. Eze scored eight minutes into the match at Vale Park. Despite this early goal, Arsenal struggled to create clear chances against their League One rivals, securing the victory until Leandro Trossard scored in the 86th minute.

• Carabao Cup: Current champions Newcastle will host Tottenham.
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Eze’s goal, his first since returning to the club after a £60 million transfer from Crystal Palace, already seemed to be enough for Arsenal on a night where the 27-year-old was the most outstanding in attack.

He played very focused against a team that retreated with a 5-4-1, very compact inside. It’s not easy to find space, but he is very capable with the goal and with three or four other actions in which he was completely involved and assisting other players. He still needs to play a little more with those teammates to understand the timings, especially the things he needs to do, and then actions like that will be more consistent and better for us. Overall, very good, I think he still has a lot more to give.

Mikel Arteta

Eze started on the left side of Arsenal’s attack in this match, but he has already played in several different positions for Arteta in his five appearances to date.

In the end, what we want to do with him is to put him in positions, in spaces where he can create his magic moments. Some will be from the wings, others from the right or left, also in relation to the opponent.

Mikel Arteta

Arsenal sought to add more depth to the squad during the summer with the aim of competing on multiple fronts this season, and that was reflected in the lineup. Arteta made nine changes from Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City, but still fielded a strong team. Kepa Arrizabalaga made his debut in goal, Christian Nørgaard had his first start in midfield, and Bukayo Saka played an hour while recovering from a hamstring injury. Arteta stated that he now had several decisions to make ahead of Sunday’s trip to Newcastle. “What we need to do… is to generate the performances we want with players who haven’t really played together, with a midfield completely different from the one they’ve played before, with an attacking line that is also different,” he said. “Max [Dowman] also came in and immediately connected with the team. There are many positive things to take away from the match… That’s exactly what we want, for them to give us and give me those headaches because that means they are so connected to the team, that they really want to help the team. Everyone will play many minutes.”