FC Internazionale Milano v Arsenal FC - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD7
Premier League record goalscorer Alan Shearer (Picture: Getty)
Alan Shearer says Mikel Arteta has ‘one or two things he needs to iron out’ as he bids to win the Premier League and secure other silverware at Arsenal.
The Gunners, without a league title since 2004, boast a four-point lead over second-placed Manchester City with 12 league games remaining.
Arsenal’s aspirations do not solely lie in the Premier League, however, with Arteta’s side favourites to win the Champions League after topping the group stage table with eight straight wins.
The Gunners are also still in both domestic cup competitions, facing Man City in the next month’s Carabao Cup final and preparing to face Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Arteta will be delighted by his team’s progress but Shearer has warned the Arsenal boss that he still has certain things to ‘iron out’ in the business end of the season.
The England legend and Premier League record goalscorer is ‘surprised’ by the form of £67.5m Arsenal signing Eberechi Eze, for example, and says his recent struggles could even cost him a place in England’s World Cup squad.
Arsenal fans were delighted by the signing of Eze from Crystal Palace, particularly as he seemed destined to join north London rivals Tottenham, but the 27-year-old has underwhelmed at the Emirates Stadium.
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Brentford v Arsenal - Premier League
Arsenal summer signing Eberechi Eze (Picture: Getty)
Eze scored a brilliant hat-trick in the first north London derby of the season but those goals account for three of the five he has contributed since moving from south London.
The England international has often found himself on the bench in recent weeks and was subbed off at half-time during Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Shearer has described Eze’s downfall as ‘remarkable’ and insists Arsenal looked ‘better’ without their big-money summer signing against Brentford.
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‘Mikel Arteta has got one or two things that he needs to iron out,’ Shearer told Betfair. ‘I mean, the situation with Eze against Brentford was surprising a bit because he seems lost or at least he did in that game.
‘He took him off at half time and they got a little bit better. They put more pressure on Brentford and then they got the goal. But I thought Brentford were worth their point at least.
‘Eze looks lost. It’s remarkable really, isn’t it? The guy we’re talking about who scored the hat-trick in the north London derby. Everyone was thinking, wow, what a player he is and what a time he’s going to have at Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta on Eberechi Eze after Brentford draw
Why he subbed off Eberechi Eze at half-time…
Because with the way, especially that they were pressing, I think we needed another kind of profile to generate many more problems for them around those areas, and I think he [Odegaard] came on in the pitch really well and the team had another gear and more threat to arrive to the areas that we wanted to do and that decision.
On Eze’s start at Arsenal…
Well, I think he had moments and it’s not easy when you move to a new club. It’s always like this, and when you play against a team that is like this and the ball is a lot of times not on the floor and you have to be constantly breaking the play and do that, especially for attacking and creative players, it’s more difficult.
‘The way he sort of walked out full of confidence in that Arsenal stadium when he got his move and he looked as if he was a natural fit and, and belonged there. But he looked lost against Brentford.
‘He looked as if he needed the world to swallow him up. He didn’t look comfortable at all.’
Shearer believes Eze’s struggles at Arsenal could even cost him a place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for this summer’s World Cup.
Eze has earned 16 caps for his country, scoring three times, and was expected to be named in England’s World Cup squad.
‘He won’t be in the England squad if he’s not going to be playing,’ said Shearer, who scored 30 goals in 63 appearances for England.
‘I think that was his first start from mid-December last year as well. He’s hardly had any starts as well and that has to change if he’s going to get in the England squad.’
Arsenal’s FA Cup fourth-round opponents Wigan are currently in the League One relegation zone and were thrashed 6-1 by Peterborough United earlier this month.
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