"Why Eberechi Eze is the Key to Solving Arsenal's Champions League Challenge"

ARSENAL hold the advantage in the Champions League semi-final against Atletico – but it could have been even better for Mikel Arteta’s men.

and the home clash still to come.

Declan Rice ran the show for Arsenal against Atletico Madrid SunSport Tactics Exposed expert Dean Scoggins thinks the result would have been different with a personnel change further forward

Against a side that had beaten in the round before, it is hardly a result to be disappointed with.

But SunSport expert Dean Scoggins believes one specific personnel change might have made this an even better night for the Gunners.

Dean said on this week’s episode : “Declan Rice was nice, but they’ve got to throw the dice.

“, but the problem was what was going on around that didn’t quite fit.

“The idea was to drop Rice in between the two centre-backs. The idea of that was to allow him to shut out that No10 position of Atletico where [Antoine] Griezmann or [Ademola] Lookman want the ball into feet.

“He was the one that jumps out so that you’ve still got that defensive solidity. Tactically, they’ve cracked it.

“But there is this big hole that Atletico create because they drop into five at the back and they get [Giuliano] Simeone Jr to go into the right-back position.

“That means their centre-midfielders have to split and there’s this big hole in front of their back four.

Martin Odegaard’s passive positioning was a problem for Mikel Arteta

“That’s where you’ve got to get the No10s in.”

It was captain ‘s job to make the most of the space opened up for him by Arteta’s shape and movement.

But he dropped deep and sat on his defence instead, meaning much of the good work was being under utilised.

Dean added: “Odegaard is basically back in the back four. Why is he there?

“Rice is your man on the ball. That’s the tactic.

“Arteta was on the touchline waving him up, desperately trying to get him in the No10 position.

“But his natural instinct when they’re playing out is to drop right in.

“Odegaard was just too cautious. He’s getting on the ball in too many positions that are safe rather than asking questions.

“That [Eberchi] Eze fix for the second leg is the tactics are bang on, apart from the starting position of the No10.

“. It just needs that little bit more bravery, mainly from Odegaard, or maybe not to pick him from Arteta.”

And despite once again relying on a penalty to score, this was a good day for .

His tireless running and battling against dogged opponents created plenty of opportunities for to involve him

The issue is, they didn’t.

Much of Viktor Gyokeres’ tireless work was underused by his team-mates The introduction of Eberechi Eze gave the Gunners life, but by that time Gabriel Jesus had come on

Dean explained: “Gyokeres would have been even better with a No10 in there to support him.

“I thought it was really harsh on him to actually be substituted.

“He runs that channel in between the centre-back and the right-back and causes absolute chaos. But they’re not giving him the ball.

“It’s almost like I’ve got to question whether Odegaard wants to give him the ball at all.

“The number of times that Gyokeres is making a run down that side channel and Odegaard is maybe being too safe.

“They play more risky passes on the edge of their own box than they do up the other end.

“If Arsenal can just shift it up a gear, the final is there in front of them.”