Eze Searching for Arsenal Form as Minutes Dry Up
Eberechi Eze is struggling to find the form that made him one of England's most watched attacking players, and BBC Sport asks whether he can get it back at Arsenal. The winger, who joined from Crystal Palace in August 2025 for a fee reported at £67 million, has found it hard to hold a regular place in the side.
His latest chance came in Arsenal's 1-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest, his first league start of the season. He was taken off at half-time after completing nine passes and touching the ball 22 times. A Yahoo Sports article described his numbers against Forest as grim and said his future at the club is now in doubt.
It is a sharp drop for a player who has shown what he can do. He scored the winner for Palace in the 2025 FA Cup final against Manchester City. In November 2025 he scored a hat-trick in Arsenal's 4-1 win over Tottenham. He also started on the left wing in the Champions League and scored against Lille.
Getting into the team has been the problem. Martin Odegaard is Arsenal's first choice in the number 10 role, the attacking midfield spot just behind the striker, and that leaves little room for Eze. Arsenal also did not sign a new top attacker in the transfer window, even though they were linked with Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr and Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez. Instead, Christos Tzolis, signed from Club Brugge in the summer, became first-choice winger for manager Mikel Arteta until he picked up a hamstring injury, the muscle at the back of the thigh, on international duty.
Former Arsenal and England defender Matt Upson said Eze has found it difficult to work out his role and position at the club. Arteta said earlier in the year that Eze's desire to play for Arsenal had gone "even higher" after he was left out of the team.
England manager Thomas Tuchel said during the last international break that Eze was "coming back to his true shape and form" in training. That is the picture the club and the national team want to paint, and the next few weeks will show whether it turns into minutes on the pitch.
The story has a painful backstory. BBC Sport reports that Eze switched off when Aston Villa's Matty Cash scored their opener in a 2-1 defeat in December 2025, and he was then left on the bench for the next four league games. Years earlier, at 13, he was told by Arsenal, the club he had dreamed of playing for, that he was not wanted.
He signed for the club he once wanted to join in August 2025, and he is still only 28. Arsenal's squad is strong and Arteta has options, so Eze has to show in training and in short spells that he belongs. For now, the question is simple: can the player who scored at Wembley-sized moments find his rhythm again in red and white?
