Eberechi Eze just matched an Arsenal mark fans won’t expect

Is Eberechi Eze starting to find his best form in an Arsenal shirt? On Tuesday night, he scored an absolute rocket to break the deadlock as the Gunners ousted Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 from the Champions League. This was the 27 year old's first-ever Champions League goal, seeing him reach a unique feat.

This took Eze's tally to nine since arriving at Arsenal, of which five have come in North London derbies against Tottenham, the team he infamously turned down to join his boyhood.

Eze opened his Arsenal account against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup, also bagging the winner at Mansfield in the FA Cup earlier this month. Thus, as has been widely publicised, he has become only the second English Arsenal player to score in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup in a single season for the club.

The other is Theo Walcott in 2012/13, who bagged 21 goals that season, including a hat-trick as Arsène Wenger's team fought back from 4-0 down to beat Reading 7-5 at the Madjeski in the Capital One Cup. These though are the only English players to achieve this feat, which begs the question, how common is this for any player to achieve?

Arsenal players to score in 4 competitions in a season (2005-present)

Note: *Europa League included rather than Champions League.

Well, it turns out this is actually a more common occurrence than it may seem. Danny Welbeck and Eddie Nketiah both achieved this during the bleak Europa League era, hence why Walcott and Eze are the only Englishmen to do so when including the Champions League. As Arsenal enter the crucial home stretch of the season, with four trophies still up for grabs, supporters will hope Eze proves to be more Alexis Sánchez than Lucas Pérez.

Well, the summer signing from Crystal Palace is set to continue in a central role, both figuratively but also literally. On Wednesday, Ståle Solbakken confirmed his Norway squad for their pre-World Cup friendlies next week against Netherlands and Switzerland, a list that did not contain the name of his captain Martin Ødegaard.

Earlier in the week, Arteta stated that "Ødegaard is pushing hard to be ready for the Carabao Cup Final on Sunday", which does not really tell us much about his availability. He did see 13 minutes off the bench at Spurs, but is still nursing a knee issue sustained at Brentford so, even if he is available for Wembley, it's surely highly-unlikely that Ødegaard will start against Manchester City.

Thus, once again, Eze will complete the midfield trio alongside Martín Zubimendi and Declan Rice and, after a stupendous Champions League goal, he deserves it. We all know what happened the last time Eze faced Man City at Wembley.... more of the same on Sunday please!