What Arsenal away end did after 10 minutes speaks volumes as forgotten £63m man causes issue

Mikel Arteta was delighted with the response his Arsenal side showed at Bournemouth but Eberechi Eze's role in the side is growing more puzzling each week

Arsenal might be able to beat Aston Villa without Declan Rice, but the midfielder was absolutely critical to the Gunners’ victory over Bournemouth on Saturday. Scoring his first Premier League brace, Rice’s two goals helped Arsenal move seven points clear of their main rivals for the title, Manchester City.

It was another heart-in-mouth end to the game as Mikel Arteta oversaw another one-goal margin victory, the fourth in the last five matches. It would be fair to say that if they are to go on to win the league in this fashion, the nerves of the fans will be shredded come May.

That said when you look at the game more broadly, the scoreline tells a different story to the reality. A gifted goal and an amazing strike from range, amongst a couple of half-chances for The Cherries, were offset by three deserved strikes, with other opportunities going to waste.

When Gabriel Magalhaes’ misplaced pass found it's way to a grateful Evanilson, there was a chance of the game turning into a very long night for Arsenal. However, to respond so quickly showed great resilience, and Arteta certainly agreed when asked about it.

“It's part of football and it's about how you react to the next action,” he said. “You need to have a very short memory to be at the very top constantly.

“With a positive action it happens the same because there's another one that is the most important one. But today, especially when you concede a goal after that, it's really tough to do it mentally, especially with what is at stake in every game. So I'm very, very impressed with what he's done.”

It is not the first time Gabriel has done something like this. In August 2022, after losing the ball to Aleksandar Mitrovic against Fulham, the Brazilian scored a late winner to atone for his mistake, which almost cost the team points.

It was also telling the reaction from the travelling fans. As soon as the players were walking back to the centre circle following the mistake on 10 minutes, Gabriel’s chant was being sung loudly by the fans who would be singing it for very different reasons soon after.

Rice, on the other hand, seems almost superhuman in how his body has gone from being impossible to play against Aston Villa to completing the full game against Bournemouth. Arteta detailed the story and process behind what had changed to allow this to happen.

“Well, because he was so disappointed not to play against Villa,” Arteta said. “He really wanted it. He tried in the morning, he was nowhere near a possibility.

“He wanted to train the next day, it wasn't a possibility. Until the last minute, I asked him, How are you feeling? He said, ‘I'm in.’ And he showed that he was big time in.”

Big time indeed, scoring two goals and the first coming courtesy of Martin Odegaard who was also involved in the build-up for the second. Three goal contributions in three games for him with Martin Zubimendi also scoring against Villa, the Arsenal midfield appears to have found it’s shape.

Rice revealed afterwards to Sky Sports that he had to shout for the pass and his skipper responded: "Martin, he was going to shoot but he heard me shout. I have not scored many from outside the box this season. I was happy with that.”

However, for the fourth Premier League match in a row, Eberechi Eze is nowhere to be seen. Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli were both given starts, but the £63million summer signing was left on the bench.

Arteta was asked about it before the match, and whether he had spoken to the former Crystal Palace player about his downturn in exposure on the field.

“Yes, I speak to every player,” he replied. “And the players always need to understand and the manager needs to understand how each one is feeling.

“Ebs has played more games and more minutes than ever at this time. He has played 22 games out of 28 or something like this. He has never played that much football.”

Liverpool are up next and the fixture is exactly why you spend a significant fee on a player like Eze, but the likelihood is that he will again be on the bench with the other players in such good form. Gabriel Jesus came off the bench again and again looked more spritely than Viktor Gyokeres and now Arteta has a big decision to make for Thursday.

If Arsenal manage to beat the Reds, they will again have overturned one of their poor results from last season. A potential fifth in a row and it will firmly position them ahead of the final five months of the season.