Mikel Arteta told to make “difficult decision” at Arsenal with Odegaard and Eze

Mikel Arteta has been told to decide the best position of summer signing Eberechi Eze in the team.

With Martin Odegaard out with an injury for a large part this season, Eze has played through the middle regularly.

However, with club captain Odegaard returning after getting fit, Eze was made to play on the left-wing, a position where he has not played his best football.

At Crystal Palace, Eze had the freedom to play in attack and change positions constantly.

But that has not been the case at Arsenal. The Gunners are more structured with their playing style and Arteta likes his players to follow a certain set of rules.

Against Aston Villa at Villa Park, Eze played on the left-wing and failed to make any impact on the game.

In fact when Villa opened the scoring with Matty Cash, it was Eze who switched off defensively and failed to do his job.

Mick Brown has told Football Insider that Arteta has to make a decision on how to fit Eze and Odegaard together in the same team and get the best out of them.

“There have been some questions about Eze in this Arsenal team.

“We spoke before this move happened about what his best position is, because at Palace he was allowed to be a bit of a free spirit and to drift around.

“Then, they had other players in the team who were prepared to work hard on the other side and get the ball to him in areas where he could pose a threat to the opposition.

“When he was in midfield for Arsenal, he had that to an extend, because Declan Rice and Zubimendi would do the dirty work and let him do his bit going forward.

“Now Odegaard has come back in, he’s been put out on the wing, but everybody knows Eze isn’t an out-and-out winger, that’s not his position.

“So there’s a huge call for Arteta to make, do you put Eze back into midfield and accept there are limitations to what he gives, or play him out of position?

“There’s even the option of him being somebody who fills in where he’s needed, and he can do that, but it’s not going to get the best out of him.

“It’s a difficult decision to make but the manager has to do something because questions are being asked after that defeat against Villa.”

Odegaard and Eze are both better when they are playing centrally and allowed to attack from behind the striker.

Can Arteta accomodate two players in the team who both play in the same position? If he cannot, was it justified for Arsenal to spend a huge amount of money on Eze in the summer?

These are the questions Arteta and his staff will have to address now.

If the performance at Villa Park is considered, Eze cannot play out wide and there should be no doubt about this.

Sometimes having a big squad becomes a headache for a manager and that could also happen with Arteta at Arsenal this season.

The next few weeks are going to give us a better idea about the plans of the Spanish manager and how we decides to accomodate two attacking midfielders in the same team.

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