{"id":1769,"date":"2026-02-28T12:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news678.top\/?p=1769"},"modified":"2026-02-28T12:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:15:20","slug":"ray-parlour-predicts-different-class-arsenal-star-wont-start-against-chelsea-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=1769","title":{"rendered":"Ray Parlour predicts ‘different class’ Arsenal star won’t start against Chelsea | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Arteta has a big decision to make in midfield this weekend (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour believes Eberechi Eze will get the nod again this weekend against Chelsea ahead of club captain Martin Odegaard.<\/p>\n

Eze, a \u00a360million signing from Crystal Palace last summer, scored twice against Tottenham in last Sunday\u2019s derby as the Gunners inflicted more misery on their neighbours. Having scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture in November, five of his seven goals for Arsenal have come against their arch-rivals.<\/p>\n

But there was a worrying lull for the England international between those two north London derbies. Eze was hauled off at half-time against Aston Villa in December and would start just two of his side\u2019s next league 11 matches \u2013 failing to make it beyond the hour mark on both those occasions.<\/p>\n

Eze started ahead of Odegaard at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the captain back on the bench after a recent knock that ruled him out of the last two games.<\/p>\n

The Norway international has picked up various injury issues this season that have contributed to his influence on the side waning \u2013 even prompting suggestions his days at the club could be numbered. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta\u2019s biggest dilemma ahead of the visit of Chelsea is perhaps who starts alongside Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice in midfield.<\/p>\n

Former Gunners star Parlour, who won three Premier League titles with the club, was impressed with Eze\u2019s reaction to falling out of favour and believes Arteta will stick with the player who delivered last time out.<\/p>\n

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Eze tormented Spurs again on Sunday (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Odegaard has gone through a tough time this season with a few injuries. But he really has that quality in those little areas of the pitch he can get out of trouble,\u2019 Parlour told Metro <\/strong>via\u00a0BetMGM<\/p>\n

\u2018On his day he is different class. But Eze has bided his time. It\u2019s disappointing when you don\u2019t play but you have to keep working hard an show desire in training and showing the right attitude. It\u2019s easy to come in and start sulking.<\/p>\n

\u2018He didn\u2019t play for quite a while but it is all about attitude beyond that. Being in training first, being ready to go. That\u2019s what I would I have done and managers notice that.<\/p>\n

He got his opportunity again against Spurs and scored two good goals. But now he has to get his head down.<\/p>\n

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Odegaard returned from injury last week (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know what the team is going to be at the weekend because we know Chelsea are very strong in midfield. Palmer, Caicedo and Fernandez are all very good players. We know Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice will play.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think Eze will probably start. But Arteta will have been assessing things in training this week. And you can\u2019t rest players when you are going for the title, you need your best team.<\/p>\n

\u2018But momentum is so important when you are winning. He will assess that but I think Eze might keep his place.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Marcel Desailly recommends Chelsea sign \u2018very smart\u2019 former Liverpool star<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Unai Emery makes concerning Man Utd claim after Aston Villa defeat at Wolves<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Barcelona make final decision with Manchester United over \u00a326m Marcus Rashford transfer<\/span><\/p>\n
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Ray Parlour predicts ‘different class’ Arsenal star won’t start against Chelsea | Football
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#Ray #Parlour #predicts #class #Arsenal #star #wont #start #Chelsea #Football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arteta has a big decision to make in midfield this weekend (Picture: Getty) Arsenal legend…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[361,363,865,317,863,864,862,541,143,866],"class_list":["post-1769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-arsenal","tag-chelsea","tag-class","tag-football","tag-parlour","tag-predicts","tag-ray","tag-star","tag-start","tag-wont"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262357847_1772275565-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}