Eberechi Eze: Can Arsenal’s new No 10 assist finish the Gunners’ lengthy look ahead to a Premier League title?

Eberechi Eze’s journey to turning into an Arsenal participant was one which started with the tears of a 13-year-old and one which culminated in an on-pitch unveiling on the Emirates.

For a sum of £67.5m, Arsenal signed a participant they let go from their academy over a decade in the past. When he discovered he could be launched by Arsenal as a teen, Eze remembers having to coach whereas crying all through the session as his dream of representing the Gunners was crushed.

Having sat down with Eze in Might, after his FA Cup heroics clinched Crystal Palace’s first main honour, it was clear that religion and a family-borne resilience stored him going.

It wasn’t the one setback a younger Eze needed to face. Fulham, Studying, and Millwall additionally missed him, unable to unlock and foresee the skills of the now England worldwide because the 27-year-old was pressured to take the good distance house.

Queens Park Rangers provided Eze a chance, earlier than Crystal Palace took a punt on one of many Championship’s most interesting and offered a stage within the prime flight.

And now, after etching his identify into folklore at Selhurst Park, the Emirates lastly awaits because the redemption arc nears realisation in Arsenal’s new-look assault.

The good distance house

Palace’s unlikely but historic FA Cup triumph confirmed what followers of the membership already believed – Eze could possibly be relied upon to guide the membership to nice issues.

Eze himself knew that it could occur. For him, it was solely a matter of timing.

On the day of Palace’s trophy parade, he sat with the identical confidence he takes to the pitch.

When Eze signed for the membership from QPR, he walked right into a dressing room that had the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Andros Townsend and Christian Benteke.

All three, in their very own proper, contribute to a group able to surviving within the Premier League. Turning into Palace’s marquee man shaped the premise of any overarching ambition Eze had, nevertheless it needed to start with humbly studying from his elders. It was these function fashions who Eze paid homage to as the inspiration of Palace’s present success.

The groundwork was laid for a brand new Palace participant to spearhead the aspect as all of them moved onto pastures new, and it was a mantle Eze picked up with each palms.

With Premier League survival persevering with to be the Palace’s major aim below each Roy Hodgson and Patrick Vieira, Eze initially struggled for consistency, with accidents offering an impediment.

Nonetheless, the FA Cup proved to be Eze’s coming of age. He spurred Palace on, scoring in each the semi-final and remaining. The again finish to the 2024/25 season noticed Eze carry out at his best, displaying a consistency that may have impressed Mikel Arteta and Arsenal.

How will Eze slot in at Arsenal?

What made Eze a pleasure to observe was the unpredictability he dropped at SE25. It is that x-factor Arsenal have maybe lacked, developing brief of their makes an attempt to fend off the competitors for the Premier League title.

Arsenal have been stated to have developed an overreliance on Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, who’ve proved reliable sources of objectives and assists. That is mirrored closely on the pitch with Arsenal’s biasing the right-hand aspect throughout assaults.

Whereas varied patterns born out of this space have unravelled defences and produced key assaults, an apparent foil for opposition defences is to gamble and double up in that space of the pitch.

Conscious of this, Arsenal have negotiated technique of guaranteeing Saka stays a menace; nevertheless, the predictability in assault means Arteta’s free-flowing attacking aspect of maybe a few seasons in the past has change into a group counseled for his or her sturdy foundations, however at instances failing to excite in assault.

As one of many league’s chief creators from his favoured left-hand aspect, Eze provides a brand new dynamic to Arsenal assaults. Ought to Eze fill in on the left, which many have predicted, he’ll change into one other vessel for Arsenal assaults, making a steadiness that would unnerve the staunchest of defences.

It is also necessary to notice, although, that at Palace, Eze was seldom used as a standard touchline winger. In Glasner’s system, he was what’s greatest described as a ‘left 10’ when in possession. As a left 10, Eze presents Arsenal what they do not have in any of their present choices off the left.

In assault, Eze’s athleticism, alongside along with his need to get and keep on the ball and function primarily within the half area, frees up additional alternatives for a left-back to maraud ahead to create overloads. However his distinct confidence on the ball means beating gamers one-on-one can be an possibility.

Defensively, the self-discipline of Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 can have readied Eze for the calls for of Arteta’s fluid 4-3-3. As along with his Austrian counterpart, a willingness to take up defensive positions off the ball, cowl area and assist your full-back are amongst Arteta’s non-negotiables. Eze suits that invoice too, as one among final season’s main attacking gamers when it got here to successful the ball again within the defensive and center third of the pitch.

And so the title?…

The redemption story up to now seems far too good for Eze’s story to shut with merely signing a deal at Arsenal. Rejection was only the start with Eze intentionally navigating himself again to the place he felt he belonged.

He stated he’d do “anything possible to win the Premier League” again in Might. The FA Cup win simply whetted his urge for food for extra.

The Emirates is primed and prepared for Arsenal’s new No 10. However whether or not he would be the distinction maker in Arteta’s long-awaited hunt for a league title stays to be seen.