Arsenal will tweak Eberechi Eze's starting position to give him the best chance of getting on the ball, Mikel Arteta said after the £67.5m signing scored his first goal for the Gunners.

Eze struck after eight minutes as Arsenal beat Port Vale 2-0 in the third round of the EFL Cup, slotting home after Myles Lewis-Skelly flicked on Gabriel Martinelli's pass.

After Leandro Trossard made the win safe late on, Arsenal will now face Brighton in the fourth round of the competition.

Eze led all players for expected goals (0.45 xG) at Vale Park, also completing 38 of 43 passes and winning five of nine duels after starting on the left side of a midfield three.

Arteta was criticised for leaving Eze out of his starting lineup as Arsenal drew 1-1 with Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, but plans to experiment with how best to use the 27-year-old.

"It depends on the players around him and in certain moments the space was closed, so we moved him somewhere else," Arteta told Sky Sports.

"He is a player who has to be in touch with the ball, and we will find ways to do that.

"That's why we got him for, to win football matches. He should have scored another two, I think."

Arteta's team were far from convincing against their third-tier opponents, and the Spaniard brought on Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes and Viktor Gyokeres to see out the win.

Arsenal only managed 11 shots with an xG value of 0.98, though Arteta was pleased by the fact they did not face a single attempt on target, with Port Vale only amassing 0.09 xG.

He said: "The biggest thing is the reputation, and that's a big thing. We knew the crowd would be with them if we gave them anything. 

"In the second half, there was a moment where they had throw-in after throw-in. We lacked control there.

"They played direct, and they wanted to attack the box; we wanted to avoid that. We had moments in the game where we were very dominant and very good."

Arteta also handed Bukayo Saka his first start since recovering from a hamstring injury, with the England international getting through 63 minutes before he was replaced by 15-year-old Max Dowman.

"We wanted to play him for a maximum of 60 minutes," Arteta said of Saka. "He has come from a big injury again and we need to manage his minutes."