‘He’s never played that much football’ – Mikel Arteta on Arsenal star’s game time | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta stressed that Ebere Eze has played “more minutes than ever” at this point of a season when asked about the midfielder’s lack of game time of late.

Eze has been an unused substitute for the last two league games but has played 22 times in all competitions for the Gunners this season.

Asked whether he has spoken to the former Crystal Palace man about his game time, Arteta said: “I speak to every player and the players always need to understand and the manager needs to understand how each one is feeling, assess games, assess their emotional state. 

“Ebere has played more games, more minutes than ever at this time, he’s played 22, I think, out of 28 games or something like this, so he’s never played that much football, so we’re on a good track.”

Arteta praised Eze, as well as team-mate Noni Madueke, for their readiness to be involved despite not starting games of late.

“I think what they need to do is be prepared like they have been and when they have the opportunity to play, perform like any other player, there’s no difference,” he said.

“There have been periods that they have played every three days, sometimes they play too much.

“Noni has been injured for a while and we have to manage and monitor obviously his load and our depth. It’s the first few months, we have some great moments with him, we have some other moments that there are things that we need to improve and we are on that journey.

“The good thing is they want it so badly. I mean, the way they come in every single day and how much they want to give to the team and impact the games, it’s great to witness. And that’s the mentality I need to maintain.”

Ethan Nwaneri, meanwhile, has found opportunities tougher to come by, having played just 446 minutes of action for the Gunners this season.

“Part of the journey for any player at this level, that’s it,” Arteta said on Nwaneri’s lack of opportunity in the first team.

“So before, he was the youngest player ever to play in this football club and now he’s going through that patch. Face it, challenge it and go for it, that’s it.”