Eberechi Eze was too busy spotting the run of Viktor Gyokeres up ahead of him to notice Mikel Arteta stood over his right shoulder with both palms in the air.
Arsenal were a goal to the good against Fulham when Eze received the ball just inside his own half.
Take it easy, lads. Don’t try anything too ridiculous. Stay in control.
Eze could have knocked it backwards to recycle the ball and keep possession. He could even have popped a little pass forward to Ben White just ahead of him. But Gyokeres was about to set off behind the defensive line. That was too much to resist. Down the line Eze’s pass went to Gyokeres, who held it up, knocked it inside to Bukayo Saka, and he did the rest: 2-0.
Arteta may need a drop of that bravery on Tuesday night as Arsenal welcome Atletico Madrid with a place in the Champions League final at stake.
One thing’s for sure, he’s been given some huge decisions to make, ones that will define Arsenal’s season.
Eberechi Eze’s creative instincts were on show against Fulham – when he played in Viktor Gyokeres for Arsenal’s second goal despite Mikel Arteta urging his team to play things safe
Bukayo Saka scored after some impressive hold-up play from Gyokeres. Arsenal having their star winger back from injury for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final with Atletico Madrid is a major boost
EZE DOES IT
Right when it matters the most, Eze is starting to look at home in his Arsenal shirt. The former Crystal Palace talisman struggled to live up to his £68million price tag in the first part of the season but is now finding his rhythm.
In the first leg, usual creator-in-chief Martin Odegaard was too deep and too wide to feed Gyokeres. Declan Rice was sitting in the holding role, often between the centre backs, but too often Odegaard dropped in as well, leaving too much space between Arsenal’s midfield and front line.
When Eze replaced him just before the hour-mark, he immediately got on the ball higher and more central and was much keener to move the ball forwards.
Just have a look at both players’ pass maps from the 1-1 draw. Arsenal are attacking left to right, but you’d struggle to realise looking at Odegaard’s passing range.
Martin Odegaard is normally Arsenal’s creator-in-chief but in the first leg in Madrid his passing was too safe, too often
Eze was more ambitious in his play at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano
Eze wants to be courageous on the ball as he showed in the build-up to Saka’s goal – even if that sometimes appears to be against the desires of his manager.
TWO’S COMPANY?
Atletico Madrid are not the rigid, defensive unit they once were, the one that caused Jurgen Klopp to rage against their style of play after his Liverpool side suffered defeat at the hands of Diego Simeone’s men.
‘We attack better than we defend,’ admitted the Atletico boss recently. It was the Spanish side that had more possession, and shots, than Arsenal in the first leg.
They are the third highest scorers in the Champions League this campaign but have also shipped the second most, behind only Azerbaijani side Qarabag.
That said, they still like to drop into a back five when put under pressure with Simeone’s son Giuliano dropping into the defensive line.
When they do that, Arteta will need players with the ability – and courage – to try to find what few holes there are to pick.
Gyokeres, too, is showing his ability to step up but is still, for all the runs he makes, so often not picked out by team-mates. Against Fulham, despite his goal and assist, the player who made the joint-most passes to him all game was goalkeeper David Raya with three.
Viktor Gyokeres (second from left) makes countless dangerous runs in games which his team-mates struggle to pick out. Eze can help with that
To have two creative hubs in the space behind him, with the scintillating Saka from the right, will help feed him.
Eze must be one of them but the question remains who plays alongside him. If Odegaard is to start, then it’s folly to shift Eze out to the left flank. He’s struggled to have any influence there during his time at Arsenal with just a single goal and assist to his name.
If Odegaard is to join him through the middle it will mean Martin Zubimendi would likely have to sit out. Rice isn’t going to miss the game, he’s far too important in the deeper number six role.
Odegaard wasn’t spotted in training ahead of the game, however. Not to worry, though, there’s another Arsenal starlet who could be the perfect match…
MYLES BETTER!
If Arsenal need a midfielder who can penetrate Atletico’s defence while also boasting the rough-and-tumble to help Rice deal with the free-roaming Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann, then few put in a better audition against Fulham than Myles Lewis-Skelly.
The 19-year-old made his first-ever start in midfield and dominated the game. Even Arteta admitted he’d clearly waited too long to give him that chance. Well, how about Tuesday night for the next one?
Myles Lewis-Skelly starred against Atletico in the group stage, with a trademark driving run to set up Gabriel Martinelli’s goal in a 4-0 win
The 19-year-old proved his capabilities in midfield on his first start for the club in that position, against Fulham
Zubimendi played in one of those advanced midfield roles in the first leg and did play the ball to Gyokeres to earn Arsenal their penalty. But the Spaniard has struggled in recent months and that forward-thinking style is not his natural game.
Against Fulham, Lewis-Skelly did the lot. Third-most touches behind the Arsenal centre backs, more than Rice, the second-most progressive carries, the most tackles.
He completed 64 of his 66 passes, the highest accuracy of any starter, and they were not all simple ones sideways and backwards but ones that split the line.
Even though Zubimendi was in the advanced role against Atletico, Lewis-Skelly touched the ball both higher and deeper against Fulham and carried the ball nearly twice as often.
Lewis-Skelly’s touch map from the Fulham game, which demonstrates just how often he got on the ball
Zubimendi played in a more advanced role in the first leg against Atletico, but struggled to have the same influence on the game in either half of the pitch
To thrust a player who has started just one game in central midfield for Arsenal into the firepit of a Champions League semi-final is a huge risk but Lewis-Skelly has already shown in his blossoming career that he’s made for the big occasion. It was Lewis-Skelly who dominated Real Madrid in a famous night in the Bernabeu last season.
He showed what he could do in Arsenal’s thumping 4-0 home victory over Atletico in the group stage, too. Even though he was nominally playing at left back, he often drifted into central areas and carried the ball forward with purpose.
For the Gunners’ second, he drove impressively through the middle of a sea of blue shirts to slip in Gabriel Martinelli.
Lewis-Skelly showed his technical ability in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico back in October, receiving the ball under pressure before embarking on a mazy run up the pitch
The youngster shrugged off the attention of four Atletico players as he drove towards their box
He also showed off his creative instincts, playing in Gabriel Martinelli for the Brazilian to score Arsenal’s second goal
Once again, that bravery on the ball in central areas is likely to be key in a position where Arsenal have sorely lacked any creativity this season.
Since the new year in the Premier League, not a single assist has come from outside the box between the width of the six-yard area.
The easy call for Arteta is just to bring Zubimendi straight back in. That’s what he planned to do, giving him a rest against Fulham and, if we’re being honest, what he’ll still do.
The Arsenal boss is not one to take risks at the best of times, let alone when it’s all on the line. But sometimes you have to. Go on, Mikel, be brave.
