Arsenal were held to a goalless first half against Lille at the Emirates Stadium.

It had been a cagey opening 45, where chances were limited and neither side able to find a breakthrough. Bruno Guimaraes will feel he should have done better when he side-footed wide after a swift Arsenal move, and Mikel Merino put a free header straight at the Lille goalkeeper. Ayase Ueda did have the ball in the net for the visitors, but was correctly flagged offside.

Arsenal were slightly the more proactive side, but are yet to create anything clear-cut at the break. Towards the end of the first half, commentating the game on TNT Sports, Ally McCoist picked out a tactical concern about how Arsenal have been using one of their players.

“Arsenal have got to get Eze on the ball where he picks it up in that kind of number ten position on the left-hand side,” he said. “I’d like to see Lewis-Skelly further on the outside rather than the other way around here.”

After a fruitful six months playing in central midfield, Lewis-Skelly has reverted to left-back following the post-match injury to Piero Hincapie at the weekend. Mikel Arteta is clearly reluctant to overplay Riccardo Calafiori given his nagging injury problems since joining in the summer of 2024.

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Lewis-Skelly is clearly capable of doing a job there, and he’s still picking up those familiar central positions anyway. McCoist, though, thinks he should be operating wider, on the outside, freeing up Eze to play more inside and have an impact on the game.

Arteta has indirectly challenged Eze recently to step up and claim the left wing position, especially since Christos Tzolis’ injury. Noni Madueke was preferred at the weekend, which must have been a huge wake-up call for Eze, but the Lille game is a chance for him to earn his spot.