Rio Ferdinand says Mikel Arteta will be ‘thanking God’ Arsenal signed a £67.5million player and sent a warning over their Premier League title hopes.
Arsenal go into the October international break top of the table following a 2-0 win over West Ham and back-to-back losses for title rivals Liverpool.
The Gunners boast the best defensive record in the league and only Manchester City have outscored them, while they have also made perfect starts to their Champions League and Carabao Cup campaigns.
All this comes despite Arteta’s team suffering numerous injury problems, with key players limping off the pitch in many of their games so far.
Most notably, Martin Odegaard has had to be subbed off in the first-half of the last three matches – a Premier League first – and his latest knee injury looks to be a painful one.
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While his absence proved problematic in the past, Arteta invested heavily in his side over the summer and as a result the team is performing just as well without their captain.
Speaking on his Rio Presents podcast, Ferdinand hailed Arsenal’s squad depth and singled out one big money signing.
‘I think Mikel Arteta is sitting there saying, “Thank God we went and got [Eberechi] Eze. Thank God that the board backed me and I’ve got a ready made replacement in Eze”,’ the Manchester United legend said.
‘Because I don’t think he’s the type who would have put [Ethan] Nwaneri or [Max] Dowman into that position.
‘I think he could play both of them [Eze and Odegaard] at times. But it’s a great problem to have.’
Eze snubbed Tottenham to return to his boyhood club in August in a deal worth up to £67.5m, following his heroics with Crystal Palace.
After a somewhat slow start on the left-wing, the England international is back up to speed in a central attacking role and will look to make it his own with Odegaard sidelined.
With the likes of Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres also moving to the Emirates over the summer, some believe the Gunners are the favourites to win the Premier League and Ferdinand says they have no excuse not to win it now.
He added: ‘Arsenal have got probably the best depth in the league right now, all positions have really good cover. When all the squad’s fit, I think it’s an intimidating squad that you’re coming up against now.
‘They’ve got robust players, players that can hurt you from different areas. It’s a good time to be an Arsenal fan.
‘They’ve got to finish it off this time, they can’t go this season with having arguably the best squad in the league and still not get the job done.’
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