Eberechi Eze scored Arsenal’s opener in their 2-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday (DeFodi via Getty)
Eberechi Eze has played down his injury concerns after Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The 27-year-old scored a brilliant goal in the first half to open the scoring for Arsenal before Declan Rice struck in the second half to secure the victory for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Arsenal will now play Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-final after they overturned a 3-0 defeat to Bodo/Glimt in the first leg with a 5-0 win in the return fixture in Portugal.
Eze, meanwhile, went down injured in the second half and was replaced in the 69th minute by Kai Havertz.
When asked about his injury after the match, Eze replied: ‘Yeah, I’m alright. I’ll be okay.’
Arsenal will now play Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.
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Arteta has a big decision to make in midfield this weekend (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal legend Ray Parlour believes Eberechi Eze will get the nod again this weekend against Chelsea ahead of club captain Martin Odegaard.
Eze, a £60million signing from Crystal Palace last summer, scored twice against Tottenham in last Sunday’s derby as the Gunners inflicted more misery on their neighbours. Having scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture in November, five of his seven goals for Arsenal have come against their arch-rivals.
But there was a worrying lull for the England international between those two north London derbies. Eze was hauled off at half-time against Aston Villa in December and would start just two of his side’s next league 11 matches – failing to make it beyond the hour mark on both those occasions.
Eze started ahead of Odegaard at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the captain back on the bench after a recent knock that ruled him out of the last two games.
The Norway international has picked up various injury issues this season that have contributed to his influence on the side waning – even prompting suggestions his days at the club could be numbered.
Mikel Arteta’s biggest dilemma ahead of the visit of Chelsea is perhaps who starts alongside Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice in midfield.
Former Gunners star Parlour, who won three Premier League titles with the club, was impressed with Eze’s reaction to falling out of favour and believes Arteta will stick with the player who delivered last time out.
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Eze tormented Spurs again on Sunday (Picture: Getty)
‘Odegaard has gone through a tough time this season with a few injuries. But he really has that quality in those little areas of the pitch he can get out of trouble,’ Parlour told Metro via BetMGM
‘On his day he is different class. But Eze has bided his time. It’s disappointing when you don’t play but you have to keep working hard an show desire in training and showing the right attitude. It’s easy to come in and start sulking.
‘He didn’t play for quite a while but it is all about attitude beyond that. Being in training first, being ready to go. That’s what I would I have done and managers notice that.
He got his opportunity again against Spurs and scored two good goals. But now he has to get his head down.
Odegaard returned from injury last week (Picture: Getty)
‘I don’t know what the team is going to be at the weekend because we know Chelsea are very strong in midfield. Palmer, Caicedo and Fernandez are all very good players. We know Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice will play.
‘I think Eze will probably start. But Arteta will have been assessing things in training this week. And you can’t rest players when you are going for the title, you need your best team.
‘But momentum is so important when you are winning. He will assess that but I think Eze might keep his place.’
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Ex-Premier League and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp (Picture: Getty)
Jamie Redknapp accused Mikel Arteta of ‘mismanaging’ Eberechi Eze before he played a starring role in Arsenal’s north London derby win over Tottenham.
Eze scored a hat-trick in the first north London derby of the season and produced another impressive performance in Sunday’s 4-1 win at Spurs.
The former Crystal Palace attacker, who was close to joining Tottenham last summer, gave Arsenal the lead midway through the first half with a superb finish.
Spurs went up the other end and equalised through Randal Kolo Muani but Arsenal quickly reasserted their dominance over their north London rivals.
Viktor Gyokeres restored Arsenal’s lead straight after half-time with a thumping strike before Eze added a third on the hour mark.
Gyokeres rounded off an impressive derby win over Tottenham with his second and Arsenal’s fourth as the Gunners restored their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Five of Eze’s six league goals for Arsenal have come against Spurs and Redknapp described his performance as ‘wonderful’.
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Eberechi Eze starred in both north London derbies (Picture: Getty)
Eze’s underwhelming form was once again a talking point before the north London derby and Redknapp believes Arteta ‘mismanaged’ his £67.5m summer signing earlier in the season.
‘Eberechi Eze made a mistake against Aston Villa at one point and came out of the team a bit after that,’ Redknapp said before Sunday’s derby.
‘But I do think the manager has mismanaged him. He’s a player who needs confidence, we saw that at Crystal Palace where he was great.’
Speaking after Arsenal’s derby win, Redknapp added on Sky Sports: ‘They were magnificent today. You just felt there was control about this Arsenal side.
‘It was a complete mismatch. They were in different leagues, Arsenal were so classy. They were so much better than Tottenham, it was like two different leagues.
‘If Tottenham aren’t careful, they might be in a different league. They cannot keep performing like this.
Mikel Arteta after Arsenal beat Tottenham (Picture: Getty)
‘Gyokeres led the line brilliantly, Eze was wonderful. It was a brilliant performance. Arsenal were fantastic, far too good for Tottenham.’
Eze was delighted with both his and Arsenal’s performance against Tottenham and said the Gunners ‘dominated’ their north London rivals.
‘We played with dominance today,’ Eze said. ‘We played with confidence and just the connection that we had on the pitch.
‘I think it was a special performance from us and something that we can continue to build on and something to work towards our goals.
‘We know what these types of games are. We know the energy that the fans are bringing and how we need to be emotionally ready for the games as well.
‘I think we’ve done so well with that and we took advantage of that for sure. These games are all about momentum and being in the moment.
‘I’m just thankful to God for the opportunities that we took today. We worked so hard, we gave everything and when we perform like this it motivates us.’
