When Eberechi Eze scored Crystal Palace\u2019s winner in the FA Cup final at Wembley in May, his stock was at an all-time high.<\/p>\n
He was essential to Palace, he was coveted by bigger clubs and he was entrenched in Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England set-up. Eze had arrived.<\/p>\n
He earned his dream move to Arsenal following the season of his life. Palace finished with a record points total and their first major trophy, and Eze scored seven goals in his final seven games for the south London club.<\/p>\n
But it hasn\u2019t been smooth sailing since his \u00a367.5million (\u00a391m) move to the Emirates Stadium. While Eze was used to playing every game at Palace, there have been frustrations for the 27-year-old during his first season at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta.<\/p>\n
But there have been special moments too. When ingratiating yourself with a new fanbase, scoring a hat-trick in the north London derby against Arsenal\u2019s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur helps no end. He backed that up with a double in the return game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n
![\"Eberechi](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/02\/23092808\/GettyImages-2247562023-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n Eberechi Eze completes his hat-trick against Tottenham in November (Ben Stansall\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Since making the move north across the River Thames, Eze started the World Cup qualifier against Andorra at Villa Park last September and the victory in Albania in November. He has also made goalscoring cameos off the bench in Latvia and at home against Serbia, but he was an unused substitute in Serbia and in the home friendly against Wales.<\/p>\n Eze has been called up by England 25 times and of his 16 caps so far, he has started four matches.<\/p>\n Yet despite being part of an Arsenal side hunting down a first Premier League title in 22 years, his England prospects haven\u2019t significantly advanced.<\/p>\n It raises the age-old argument: is it better to be a big fish in a smaller pond or swimming with the bigger fish in a lake? Eze has certainly stepped out of his comfort zone at Arsenal, which is key to development.<\/p>\n That is exactly where Arteta wants him to be, in the belief he will become a better player for the experience, having learned how to deliver consistently on bigger stages and under the increased pressure of a club the size of Arsenal. That can only benefit Tuchel and England in the long term.<\/p>\n \n Eberechi Eze scores his third England goal against Serbia at Wembley (Julian Finney\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Sky Sports pundit and former England and Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp suggested that Eze\u2019s inconsistencies this season haven\u2019t been completely his fault.<\/p>\n \u201cEberechi Eze made a mistake against Aston Villa at one point and came out of the team a bit after that,\u201d Redknapp said before Sunday\u2019s derby.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I do think the manager has mismanaged him. He\u2019s a player who needs confidence \u2014 we saw that at Crystal Palace, where he was great.\u201d<\/p>\n Arteta seemed to suggest after the victory that he is still working out how best to utilise Eze and that his performance suggested he had now found the answer.<\/p>\n \u201cI could see that he wanted to prove something,\u201d Arteta said in his post-match press conference. \u201cHe was upset, even with me, because I didn\u2019t play him the other day (against Wolverhampton Wanderers) from the beginning, and some of the decisions that I made.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I start to understand how we\u2019re going to get the best out of him now.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether he was referring to tapping into Eze\u2019s frustration at not being an automatic starter, or that he now felt the player was better suited to the central role wasn\u2019t clear, but if he can get the best out of Eze in the closing months of the season, it will be to the benefit of both Arsenal\u2019s multiple trophy challenges and England\u2019s World Cup prospects.<\/p>\n Tuchel was in the crowd at Tottenham on Sunday and would have witnessed a welcome reminder of Eze\u2019s talent and versatility. He was initially used by England on the left of an attacking midfield three behind the central striker, but has recently been used in a more central role. It is here that he proved so effective against Tottenham.<\/p>\n Tuchel certainly has plenty of options for his No 10. Aston Villa\u2019s Morgan Rogers seems to be in pole position, but there is still Cole Palmer at Chelsea, Phil Foden at Manchester City and the lingering conundrum of how Real Madrid\u2019s Jude Bellingham fits in.<\/p>\n Bellingham is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury but has played on the left of a midfield three or even wider, a position Eze is familiar with.<\/p>\n Eze looks like a strong contender to be on the plane this summer. He could do so brimming with confidence should his club side win silverware.<\/p>\n What role he has during the tournament may depend on whether Arteta really has discovered how to get the best out of him. If he still hasn\u2019t, perhaps Tuchel will.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Eberechi Eze scored Crystal Palace\u2019s winner in the FA Cup final at Wembley in May, his stock was at an all-time high. He was essential to Palace, he was … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Eberechi](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/02\/23092949\/GettyImages-2246570434-scaled.jpg\")
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