Three things we learned from Arsenal win as Eberechi Eze offers X-factor | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta enjoys almost the perfect night ahead of Carabao Cup final showdown with Manchester City

On and on Arsenal go in all four competitions.

Eberechi Eze's stunner was backed up by a composed Declan Rice finish to give the Gunners a 2-0 victory on the night over Bayer Leverkusen and a 3-1 aggregate win in the Champions League last 16.

If Arsenal beat Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, expect the quadruple talk to be in overdrive by the time those two fixtures come around.

With the attack as fluent here as it has been in weeks and the defence typically secure, Arsenal have all the answers right now.

Mikel Arteta enjoys ideal night

Short of a 7-0 rout and the result wrapped up inside 20 minutes, this was close to a perfect night for Mikel Arteta.

Earlier in the evening, Sporting mounted a comeback against Bodo/Glimt to ensure there would be no quarter-final trip to the Arctic Circle and artificial surface to contend with.

Over at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City played well over an hour with 10 men against Real Madrid, losing on the night and draining the energy ahead of Sunday's cup final.

Arteta, meanwhile, was able to make four changes with just over 20 minutes to go, shuffling his pack to suggest he had one eye on that Wembley clash.

Eze was taken off and so too Martin Zubimendi, with Christian Norgaard brought on for some rare minutes. Kai Havertz also got some game time as he looks to get up to full speed again.

With Bukayo Saka enjoying a much better night too and the Arsenal defenders keeping a clean sheet, this was a job very well done.

Eze provides the X-factor

Eze was not signed to take the safe option. Arsenal have enough players to bring control, to play the percentage pass and maintain attacks.

They needed an X-factor player in the final third and Eze was brought in to bring that unpredictable spark. He did just that, with this perhaps his best performance in an Arsenal shirt away from the north London derbies.

There is nobody else in the Arsenal squad you would back as much to take the ball with his back to goal 25 yards out, swivel, and lash a strike into the top corner that cleanly.

That broke the deadlock and from there Arsenal did not look back. Eze provided those off-the-cuff moments throughout, one lovely flick round the corner to Viktor Gyokeres leading to a chance for Saka.

It was a particularly timely performance. Havertz is back and Martin Odegaard is hoping to return in time for the Carabao Cup final, but that No10 shirt is surely Eze's right now.

Saka and White deliver together again

Ben White was brought into the side, lining up at right-back behind Saka for the first time since the 3-2 Carabao Cup win over Chelsea in January.

Plenty has been made of Saka's dip in form this season and in particular in recent weeks. The return of White, with whom he has formed such a strong partnership over the past few seasons, made a big impact.

The pair know each other's games so well. Three or four times in the first half, White delayed a pass to Saka perfectly, playing it into his path just as the winger made a dart into space inside.

In the opening 45 minutes, Saka created four chances, at least double any other player on the pitch. White had three touches in the opposition box, behind only Saka and Leandro Trossard.

The partnership was not quite as potent after half-time and a tired White was replaced with 20 minutes remaining, but there was enough there to suggest the trusty duo could be used more often in the run-in.