Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta puts Eberechi Eze's Fulham verdict down to one reason

Mikel Arteta reckonsEberechi Eze's display against Fulham might have been perceived more favourably if Viktor Gyokeres had taken his scoring chances.

The former Crystal Palace ace struggled at times during the victory over the Cottagers as he frequently encountered congested areas.

However, Arteta has been pleased with Eze's impact at Arsenal thus far, even though the midfielder has yet to score outside the Carabao Cup following his summer transfer. The 27-year-old has managed just two assists so far this campaign.

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Eze moved to the Gunners in a deal potentially worth £67.5million in August as Arsenal sought to strengthen their attacking muscle. Eze featured in Arsenal's midfield trio and as a No.10 against Fulham with Martin Odegaard sidelined through injury.

Leandro Trossard's solitary goal proved decisive after 58 minutes, with Arteta's team restricting their opponents to minimal chances. Eze was withdrawn shortly afterwards following a challenging performance.

Yet Arteta maintains his summer signing still contributed significantly, highlighting his adaptability and suggesting opinions might have differed had Gyokeres converted the opportunities created for him.

When questioned about Eze's showing against Fulham, Arteta commented: "He's more used to attacking open spaces and breaks and facing and carrying the ball with space in front of him, he's so good and comfortable doing that.

"He had his moments today, he put Viktor once or twice through in really good spaces and that maybe if it finished in a goal it would've looked a bit different. But I'm very happy with what he's doing and we can use him in different positions. Today we used him in that one and we can carry on trying to improve."

Arteta also warmly praised Arsenal's match-winner, Trossard. The Belgian found the net from close range as Arsenal demonstrated their set-piece excellence yet again.

The Spanish manager emphasised Trossard's instinct. "He has this quality to create these magic moments when the team needs it the most and that intuition and he's in the right place in the right moment and that's a huge quality for the team and a massive weapon for us," Arteta said.

"So, I'm really happy. I think he's been very, very good in recent weeks and now we have a lot of players in a really high emotional state and performance level, which is really good to see."

Arteta was happy to take advantage of another set piece. "Great, because obviously we generate so many set-pieces, so you have to start from there," he said.

"We generate so many, we have to understand them, and against these low blows when they don't really want to drop and commit that many players there, we'll have another opportunity to put the players that we want in the position that we want, with the role that we want, and we need to exploit that.

"We could have exploited it today in different ways. At the end it was a set-piece, so more than welcome."