Eberechi Eze will be central to Arsenal's plans when they meet Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Saturday night.
Signed last summer from Crystal Palace for £60m plus £7.5m in add-ons, Eze has registered 53 appearances across all competitions this season, scoring 10 goals and providing six assists. The large majority of those appearances have come as an attacking midfielder, though he has also played on the left a few times.
Arsenal arrive having played 62 games already this campaign; Saturday will be their 63rd. PSG reach the final having played 56 domestic matches this season, not counting the seven games they featured in at last summer's Club World Cup, and needed 16 Champions League fixtures to get here compared with Arsenal's 14.
Mikel Arteta introduced the notion of substitutes as "finishers" at the start of the season, and Arsenal's opener against Athletic Bilbao in September offers a clear example: Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard came off the bench to decide the tie, with Martinelli scoring 36 seconds after coming on and Trossard doubling the lead about a quarter of an hour later.
Martin Keown has repeatedly argued Eze must be part of Arsenal's equation. "Eze should be in the team somewhere for his attacking ability," he said. "Now, how can you afford to leave him out? He comes into the equation as well. I'm pleased I'm not picking the team. When he's in front of goal, he gets an opportunity... I think he's ruthless." Keown added: "I think he really dispatches well in front of goal. It's almost like a certain goal. I think he's really making his mark at Arsenal. He's going to play a part in this game." He also warned that "It might not be in the XI, it might be what the manager calls 'the finishers' who end up with all the glory here. But we're in for a fascinating fare."
The tactical picture across both camps complicates selection. Arsenal's starting 11 from the semi-final second leg carried almost 7,000 fewer minutes of league game time than PSG's equivalent starters — specifically, PSG's starters accumulated 6,726 more league minutes across the season — leaving room to argue PSG may be fresher. PSG have used 28 players in league fixtures this season; Arsenal used 25.
PSG's approach to rotation shows in individual workloads. Marquinhos started 14 of PSG's European games and made 11 league starts with three substitute appearances, yet he did not play a single minute of league action from 13 February to 19 April and was an unused substitute in seven successive games; he did, however, play every minute of PSG's six Champions League fixtures in that February-to-April period. Ousmane Dembele, PSG's Ligue 1 player of the season on 12 May for the second year in a row, registered 10 goals and seven assists in the league while starting 11 league games and featuring in 22 of a possible 34 matches at the time of the award. Three of PSG's six league defeats came immediately after Champions League ties.
Andrea Pirlo's assessment of contemporary football — "Football always changes and it changes quickly" — underlines the tactical choices shaping both sides. "It has become much more physical, much faster. In fact, if you want to win now, you need players who are fast and technically good one-on-one. Otherwise, you go nowhere," he said. On PSG's manager, Pirlo added: "Luis Enrique is the best coach in the world at the moment" and praised the coach's rebuilding of the squad and mentality.
The tension for Arsenal is straightforward: Eze has the season numbers and Keown's backing, but most of his work has been from midfield and this is a high-stakes 63rd game against an opponent managed to keep key players fresh for Europe. Arteta's "finishers" blueprint and the Martinelli–Trossard substitution in September show how a final can be decided from the bench; Keown's view that Eze "is going to play a part in this game" narrows the immediate question.
Expectations point to Eze being one of the decisive figures, whether he starts or comes on. The clearest conclusion from the records and the talk is that Arsenal will again bet on their creative match-winner being the difference — and Martin Keown's insistence that Eze is "ruthless" in front of goal suggests the manager will find a way to involve him when the moment demands it.
