‘Absolute disgrace’ – Arsenal fans tear into starter after his ‘awful’ display vs Aston Villa
Arsenal fans were fuming with Eberechi Eze for his lacklustre first-half performance in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa.
Arsenal headed to Villa Park on Saturday (6 December) aiming to keep up their strong form and tight grip on first place in the Premier League.
But their 2-1 defeat at Villa Park put a huge dent in their title bid and opened up the race for the Premier League as the gap between first and second narrowed to three points.
Eberechi Eze has been key to Mikel Arteta’s side this season since his summer arrival from Crystal Palace, with a hat-trick against rivals Tottenham last month to prove his quality even further.
He was trusted to start by the Gunners boss on the left-wing against Aston Villa, but struggled to make an impact up against Matty Cash.
Eze was involved in the hosts’ opening goal in a moment that he will want to forget quickly, and Arteta spared his blushes by taking him off at half-time.
Eze was at fault for Matty Cash’s strike and outperformed by replacement Leandro Trossard
Eze lost Cash for Villa’s 36th minute opener as Pau Torres’ deflected cross found the right-back and he fired the ball past David Raya for 1-0.
The Gunners playmaker thought he had given Arsenal the lead prior to that, but his tap-in was ruled out due to Bukayo Saka being offside in the build-up.
He failed to impress going forward down the left as Saka was constantly the man to get the visitors going in attack, with Eze failing to create a chance, take a shot on goal or touch the ball in the Villa penalty area.
Arteta hooked him off at the break for Leandro Trossard, who soon equalised for the Gunners and performed much better than the England star at Villa Park despite their late 2-1 loss.
Arsenal fans blast Eze for Cash goal and lack of impact vs Villa
Taking to X, one Arsenal fan posted: “Eze [is] playing like he’s been forced to be on the pitch. Absolute disgrace.”
Another said: “I’m man enough to admit Eze sucks and we need to sign a winger urgently in January. He’s not as creative as they say, can’t really dribble, can’t create his own shot, not fast, not strong. He’s great for mid table, awful for champions.”
While one fan compared him and his replacement, saying: “Trossard has done more in 5 mins than eze in how many games?”