Eberechi Eze was on fire again for Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby.
The England international has had a difficult season for the Gunners, but he has been unbelievable home and away against Spurs.
Eze scored a hat-trick in the derby at the Emirates, and he struck twice in the reverse fixture on Sunday to help Arsenal win the game.
One of the reasons why Eze was so good at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a tactical change Mikel Arteta made with Declan Rice.
Who was your Arsenal Man of the Match vs Tottenham Hotspur?
Eberechi Eze thrived thanks to Mikel Arteta changing Declan Rice’s role vs Tottenham
Eberechi Eze has struggled at Arsenal because of the position Arteta has played him in.
For large parts of recent months, the former Crystal Palace star has had to play in a right-sided number eight role due to Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz’s unavailability.
The biggest reason why Arteta deployed him there was that he wanted Rice to play a similar role on the opposite side, and the midfielder did that job brilliantly.
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However, in the North London Derby on Sunday, things changed for the better for Eze, because he was given the role that’s best for him.
“I’m starting to understand how to get the best out of him now,” Mikel Arteta said about Eze after the game against Tottenham.
It is unclear what the Gunners boss meant, but Arsenal’s average position map against Spurs may provide an explanation.
As you can see in the image below, Rice was deployed in a double pivot along with Martin Zubimendi instead of his usual box-to-box role.
That allowed Eze to play as a more natural number 10, drifting to the right and left as he pleased and arriving in the box with a free role.
That is exactly the sort of freedom the Englishman needs to thrive, and if Rice has to play a bit deeper in certain Arsenal games for Eze to shine, so be it.
This was Arsenal’s average position map vs Tottenham. Do you notice anything different?
Mikel Arteta’s tactics made Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka better too
It’s not just Eze who benefited from Rice dropping deep; it brought out the best in Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka too.
The Swedish striker finally had someone playing close to him, and that allowed him to combine with Eze constantly. That helped the striker score twice.
As Gyokeres and Eze played close to each other, along with Leandro Trossard, Saka had all the space in the world on the right side of the pitch.
The Englishman could’ve easily scored a hat-trick with the chances he had, but it was not quite his day in front of goal.
However, if your tactics allow that much space for Saka, he will win games for Arsenal this season.