3 most improved (and 2 deteriorated) Arsenal players heading into the international break

Arsenal head into the international break off the back of a really impressive stretch of form, particularly in the Premier League. They've won their last five league games and won two out of three in the Champions League.

In fact, the only double bogey on the scorecard since the last international break was the defeat to Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup, which, I'm sure everyone has forgotten about by now...

We've seen some standout players for the Gunners in the past month or so, and perhaps some who need to improve quickly. Here are three of Arsenal's most improved players and two not-so-improved players.

Starting with Madueke. The former Chelsea winger featured a lot as a left-winger early on in the year, but as soon as Bukayo Saka went down with his hamstring injury, Madueke became the direct replacement for Saka, and he hasn't disappointed.

In the past two Arsenal games, Madueke has been the best-rated non-defender, according to WhoScored.com. He scored a superb rating of 8.12 against Hull City after he provided an assist for Martin Odegaard's goal. He also scored a crucial goal against Nottingham Forest, when Mikel Arteta brought him on at half-time; He's become perhaps the biggest difference-maker in the entire squad.

As for Viktor Gyokeres, there was a lot of room for improvement at the start of the season, but since the last international break, he's looked much, much better. He put in a player-of-the-match performance against Slavia Prague in the Champions League last week, with an assist and a stunning goal.

It seems that the Swedish international is pushing Kai Havertz for that starting striker spot again. A couple more goals added to his tally, and most Arsenal fans would agree that he's actually having a good season now.

Then we have Martin Odegaard. He is less so improved from the start of the year, and more so improved upon his past couple of seasons. The Norwegian international has arguably been Arsenal's best midfield player this year, he's back to becoming that creator that we saw early in his Emirates career.

Odegaard scored against Hull over the weekend, taking his goal tally up to four on the year. He's been able to control games in midfield again. Over the past two years, his creative juices were stagnant compared to this year, when they are fully flowing.

When putting this together, this felt like a harsh mention, but Merino has struggled a lot this year, even to get into Arteta's starting XI. He's made 10 Premier League appearances this year, the majority from the bench, and he's not quite shown that impact-sub side that we're used to seeing from the Spaniard.

He's yet to score or assist in the league this year, and when he has been on the pitch, he hasn't had the same impact going forward that we saw from him last season. Maybe it's a lack of regular minutes, maybe it's fatigue, but with an average match rating of 6.32, something needs to change.

It feels like I write a negative article on Eze bi-weekly at this point, but it's more of a compliment to the player, because his form has been so much less than we know he can be. Eze is yet to find his role in this Arsenal team this season more than ever.

He's been a regular feature on the left because of the injury to Christos Tzolis, and Madueke's role increasing on the right, and he just hasn't looked comfortable in that role. Perhaps the biggest tell was the first half against Nottingham Forest in October; He just looked out of place and lost the ball several times.

Eze needs to have the freedom to play a roaming number 10 role; that's where he's at his best. But with Odegaard in the team and performing well, is he ever going to get that chance? It feels unlikely.