AFTER another goalless draw for Arsenal, it would be easy to point the finger at Viktor Gyokeres.
The striker was once again quiet on Saturday as Nottingham Forest battled well to keep Arsenal at bay.
The Gunners have now had two goalless draws in a row in the Prem – which last happened at the start of the 2012-13 season.
The frustration for Mikel Arteta’s side is that neither Forest nor Liverpool managed a single shot on target across the two games.
Arsenal’s defence was rock solid – but the attack misfired. The gap to Manchester City could easily be 11 points, instead e seven.
A penny for Eberechi Eze’s thoughts right now.
At the City Ground on Saturday – and against Liverpool the week before – Arsenal were in need of a moment of magic.
Eze was signed to be that player, the joker in the pack that could pull a rabbit out of the hat when needed.
The attacking midfielder got just 11 minutes off the bench at Forest, though, and 12 against Liverpool.
That has been the theme of the past few months.
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Eze has struggled for action ever since Gunners captain Martin Odegaard returned from injury at the end of November.
Arsenal have had 10 Prem games since then and Eze has played just 226 minutes. In four of those matches, he was an unused substitute.
Gyokeres has been in the spotlight for all of this season after his move from Sporting, but Eze is yet to get going, too.
The attacking midfielder’s hat-trick against Tottenham in November was superb, however it makes up three of his five goals this season.
Eze has created just eight chances in 17 Prem games this season and is way off his tally of 58 from the previous campaign with Crystal Palace.
Arsenal splashed an initial £60million to sign Eze and should be seeing much more from their return.
Arteta has stressed he is not worried and argued that the best is yet to come.
He said: “I am very confident we are going to see a great version of Ebs in the coming months.”
Arteta must find a solution to get the best out of Eze, but it is hard to know where he fits into this Arsenal team.
Eze’s best run came when Odegaard was out injured and he could play as a No10.
Arteta has tried him on the left flank, but his most recent start there was at Aston Villa last month.
Eze allowed Matty Cash to run off him for Villa’s opening goal and was hooked at half time.
I am very confident we are going to see a great version of Ebs in the coming months.”
Mikel Arteta on Eberechi Eze
Arteta has been reluctant to start Eze and Odegaard together in midfield, doing so just once this season.
The Arsenal boss may argue that such a setup lacks balance, as one of Declan Rice or Martin Zubimendi would have to drop out of the team.
It all points towards Eze being one of Arteta’s “finishers” off the bench – which makes his lack of minutes in the last two games even harder to understand.
And the wider worry for Eze will be how all of this impacts his chances of going to the World Cup this summer.
He has performed well under Thomas Tuchel, scoring against Serbia in November and Latvia the month before.
But the forward places for England are so competitive – especially as Cole Palmer is back on the scene.
Tuchel is a big fan of Palmer. In his voting for the FIFA Best Awards, Tuchel picked Palmer as the second best player of 2025 behind Harry Kane.
The concern for Eze will be whether he can get the minutes at Arsenal to show why he should be on the plane to the USA.
He could be handed a start against Inter Milan tomorrow as Arteta needs to rotate his team for what is their fourth away game in a row.
Right now, Eze must seize every chance he gets.
