Christos Tzolis had his first poor game in an Arsenal shirt against Aston Villa, and Eberechi Eze performed better when he replaced the Greek winger.
Both players will alternate in that role, although Eze is not considered a natural winger. Arsenal nevertheless trust him to bring something different to the position and provide another option when required.
Tzolis struggles against Villa
Tzolis is now the main player in that role, and he made a superb start to life at Arsenal. However, against Villa, he faced a capable defender and struggled to have the same influence he had shown in his previous appearances.
That is not unexpected for a player who has only recently returned to the Premier League, and there should be no expectation that he will immediately reproduce the numbers he recorded at Club Brugge. The Gunners will want consistent performances from him throughout the season, but difficult matches will inevitably happen.
Ahead of the Chelsea game, Gary Neville believes Eze should be the player to start the match. The Englishman impressed when he came on against Villa and could be trusted against another London side, particularly considering his fine form against Tottenham.
Neville backs Eze to start
Eze offers Arsenal more Premier League experience and could provide the physical presence Neville believes may be important against Chelsea. His performance against Villa has therefore strengthened the argument for him to start the next match.
Neville believes Mikel Arteta may have to leave Tzolis out of the starting team for this particular fixture, while still using the match as an opportunity for the Greek winger to learn and develop.
Neville said via the Metro: ‘I thought he did really well in the second half, I would be surprised if he doesn’t play next week against Chelsea.
‘It’s a big game and Mikel Arteta might just have to tell Tzolis, “I’m not going to put you into this one but watch this match.” Eze has a bit more strength about him and certainly more experience in the Premier League.’
Tzolis remains Arsenal’s main option in the role, but Eze has given Arteta another choice. The Gunners will now decide which player is best suited to face Chelsea, with Neville believing Eze’s experience and strength could make the difference.
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Eze was good v Villa because he came on too late after Tzolis tired defenders. Still imo Tzolis should start ahead of Eze. Eze is not a typical winger who loves crosses. Eze likes passing through balls not crosses
Yeah Arteta could go either way here, and it would be fine.
We’re seeing Calafiori operate as a wing back this season, so I expect that continues here when we’re on attack and either Tzolis and Eze will play inside him in inverted (or even roaming) roles. I agree with your point about Tzolis vs Eze in terms of game stage, does make sense to start Tzolis for that reason too, probably just depends on how he has responded to the Villa experience.
Yeah the Califiori thing, you are right Bergy.
It means it wasn’t orthodox left forward or byline winger they gave Eze at Villa. They placed him inverted so the fall back could attack space too, with and without ball. That’s the plan the management have, that those panicking about lack of left wing depth are missing. It’s a double act plan, team playing style tweak.
is Left side a huge problem as people say, because “it’s Tzolis or nothing” ? Are we weaker because both Trosssard and Martinelli left and only Tzolis came in – or is the Arsenal attack going to be even stronger and effective this season with the Eze & Ricky double act?
Let’s see Eze given an extended run in the role that went well for him at Villa, and judge him on the bank of games, not just the next.
The Ricky and Eze double act way of doing the left is promising bordering on exciting.
Can’t really argue with Neville’s opinion here, Eze seems to be in good form and is more experienced against top EPL teams obviously.
But on the other hand, Chelsea’s midfield is a bit short all of a sudden without Fernandez, and their defense is not really top tier either. Will be interesting to see how Alonso adapts…
It’s possible Tzolis does better against them – I’m sure he learnt a lot in the Villa game, Villa are better organized and they targeted him directly.
Top EPL teams? his five goals came across a relegation battling team last year which sitting at the bottom of the table this year!!
I would be very tempted to start Eze and Goykeres against Chelsea.Tzolis is not the only option for the left wing position in that left footers such as Saka, Madueke and Dowman, can all play on their natural side if called upon to do so. Indeed, i believe Saka would re!ish the opportunity to be used in a central strikers role as he is a good finisher who could become our ‘fox in the box”
Eze for me as Tzolis didn’t get defenders tired, he was tired trying to get away from them and was extremely disappointing compared to his first game. Eze changed the game when he came on. I think Tzolis will be fine but not yet.
As I suggested in an earlier post, why not put Hincapie in at LB and Califiori on the wing?
It won’t weaken the defence and we will see chelsea really being threatened on both wings.
I’m sure MA will not do this, but if Neville can suggest things why not me?!
Not a bad shout Ken he usually ends up on the left wing anyway, but also on the right and through the middle. He’s a bit of a roarer 😊
Roarer. Was trying to say he roams.
👍😂😂😂 GB
100% in agreement
I liked the way Eze and Calafiori worked together but as Chelsea play with wing backs, I think l would start with Tzolis.
Its laughable that preseason some on here had Tzolis as the revelation signing ofcthe season. He played well against Coventry and was the no1 LW. He has one dodgy game and he is s#!T. I think some perspective here. Preseason was preseason, make no assumptions how good or bad any one is. One iffy game, doesn’t make you a dud either. Give him actual time to SETTLE IN!!!!!
hence why we shouldn’t have let Trossard, Martinelli, Jesus and Nwaneri all go just to see if he happens to work
A gamble we didn’t need to take
Jesus and Nwaneri are not and were not involved last season. Tzolis has been bought to replace Trossard. Martinelli scored one goal in the prem last year. I think Dowman will benifit from more game time now. I think the LW was a weak point, was that Trossard? or Martinelli? For me both have been sold at the right time. Maybe we could have brought another player in but I am looking forward to a different dynamic🤞Martinelli, Jesus and Nwaneri were not going to be starters this season on last seasons form. Lets see how it pans out before we actually complain about something that hasn’t had time to develop yet. We may be worse, we may be better, we don’t know.
not true Nwaneri was here till January and Jesus still played for us
regardless,
Tzolis , Eze and Maduake are not stronger then Martinelli, Trossard , Eze and Maduake
we don’t need to wait to know if that’s a fact
if 4 attacking options leave and 1 comes in from Belgium League logically that’s weaker isn’t it ?
so yes attack is weaker
if we win title it will be because of our defence again
And it isn’t Eze v Tzolis, we have plenty of attacking talent to swap about. Eze, Tzolis, Madueke, Saka and Dowman to rotate. We can go two up top or three if we need the kitchen sink, Haverz, Gyokores and Merino. Eze, Madueke, Saka and Dowman can give us more that they gave us last year. Dowman has another year of improvement in him. We have a strong attack. It just needs to be played correctly and give them their heads a bit. I think sometimes we do not appreciate what we actually have. Arteta has to get the best out of them.
Tzolis starts. In Belgium league I read Tzolis had a card drawing record i.e. makes defenders foul him. The Chelsea counter part most probably Malo Gusto is easy to make fouls as we saw him cost France in the WC semi final. Tzolis v Malo Gusto
Chelsea carry a threat on the counter and I would trust Tzolis to help defend Palmer compared to Eze. Tzolis has also formed a good partnership with Havertz who always plays well against Chelsea and I believe will start. The Champions League game in midweek will be perfect for Eze.
Bruno Guimaraes is going to elevate the performances of anyone who plays on our left wing because of his quickness of passing. He has a quality to his passing that we haven’t had since Zinchenko and Xhaka.