All posts tagged: Eberechi

Eberechi Eze torments Tottenham again as Arsenal bounce back in title race

Eberechi Eze torments Tottenham again as Arsenal bounce back in title race

Mikel Arteta believes his Arsenal side showed “what we are made of” by hammering Tottenham four days after the draw at Wolves left the Spaniard feeling “ashamed”. Arsenal threw away a 2-0 lead at Wolves, which led to concerns they would again throw away their advantage at the top of the table. But the Arsenal manager said he and his team were determined to use the result as a “turning point” and put their faltering Premier League title challenge back on track. Arsenal will believe they achieved that with this convincing 4-1 victory over Tottenham, which re-established their lead over Manchester City at the top of the table to five points, having played a game more. Afterwards, Arteta also offered some insight into how it felt for him, the players and staff following the Wolves game and declared that everyone needed a little “love”. “After what happened against Wolves and the manner that we lost two points in the last kick of the game, it was tough,” he said. “But that’s the beauty of this …

Eberechi Eze shows Mikel Arteta how Arsenal can unlock his best in Wigan demolition

Eberechi Eze shows Mikel Arteta how Arsenal can unlock his best in Wigan demolition

It should be stressed that Arsenal and Eze were doing this against highly accommodating opponents. Few teams in world football can cope when Arsenal play with the beautiful ferocity of their opening half hour and it was fathoms above the capabilities of the team 22nd in League One, who have conceded 14 goals in their past five matches. The match felt ripe to be seized by Eze for one of those Gareth Bale vs Inter Milan-type performances. Instead his moments of genius were matched by needless losses of possession, which might have been punished by a better counter-attacking team. His defensive contributions do not lack effort, but he is clearly more effective with time and space on the ball than when out of possession. Certainly he seems unlikely to thrive when his average position is deeper than anyone other than Declan Rice and Arsenal’s two centre-backs among their outfielders, as it was against Brentford. Even as the main man at Palace he could go quiet during games, but would often provide a defining moment from …