Eberechi Eze scored a sensational hat-trick as Arsenal moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 4-1 thrashing of north London rivals Spurs at the Emirates Stadium.
Eze, who came close to joining Spurs before his move to Arsenal in August, showed them what they missed out on as he produced three outstanding finishes after Leandro Trossard’s opener in a masterful performance in his first north London derby.
Spurs briefly threatened an unlikely comeback when Richarlison beat David Raya with an audacious lob from 35 yards out, but Arsenal were already three up at that point and Eze’s hat-trick goal, curled brilliantly beyond Guglielmo Vicario, killed the game.
Richarlison’s goal was one of only three shots by Spurs, who switched to a back five but could not resist Arsenal’s dominance, with Eze guiding his first goal into the bottom corner following smart footwork after Mikel Merino had picked out Trossard for the opener.
Eberechi Eze turned down Spurs to join Arsenal from Crystal Palace in August
Eze celebrates after scoring his first goal
Thomas Frank reverted to a back four at half-time, throwing on Xavi Simons for Kevin Danso, but Eze struck his second just 35 seconds after the restart, again picking out the corner in sublime style.
His hat-trick goal, following Richarlison’s extraordinary strike for Spurs, was the pick of the three, making him only the fourth Arsenal player in history to score a treble against Spurs and making it four consecutive wins in the fixture for the Gunners.
With Manchester City and Liverpool having suffered defeats to Newcastle and Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Mikel Arteta’s side open up a six-point gap on second-placed Chelsea, who they face live on Sky Sports at Stamford Bridge next Sunday.
The result emphatically ends Spurs’ unbeaten start in Premier League away games under Frank, leaving them ninth as the head coach faces more questions about their lack of attacking threat.
Their total of just 0.07 expected goals against Arsenal was the lowest by any side in a Premier League game this season.
WATCH: All the goals!
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Leandro Trossard opens the scoring for Arsenal
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Eze shows great footwork before scoring Arsenal’s second
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Eze curls home his second goal in brilliant style
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Richarlison’s stunning lob beats David Raya
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Eze scores his third and Arsenal’s fourth
Arteta hails ‘special day’ for Arsenal
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to Sky Sports:
“I enjoyed every minute of it – the preparation since they came back from the international break, the energy that I felt, the hunger to play the game, the enthusiasm, the joy.
“And when you play in the manner we played and to win with the goals we scored against our rivals always makes it a special day.
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Mikel Arteta described Arsenal’s 4-1 win against Spurs as a ‘very special day’
“We want to impose ourselves in every department, but it starts with the intensity, with the duels, being very precise because the space is limited, there’s a lot of aggression. They’re a really good team and we have to earn it.
“From the beginning, we were really strong, really intense and we had to be patient. But we looked dominant, and scored two goals in the first half.
“In the second half, we maintained the consistency and even though there are things to improve, overall it was a great performance.”
Eze: I prayed for my hat-trick
Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze speaking with Sky Sports:
“That was a good one. Enjoyable day. Happy to help the team and get the win.
“It’s special. It’s what I prayed for. I prayed for my hat-trick and I got it.
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Eberechi Eze reflected on his hat-trick against Spurs
“All my family are here which makes it more special to do it in front of them.”
On potentially being a Tottenham player had the summer worked out differently.
“Let’s not talk about that.”
Frank: We can only apologise to our fans
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Thomas Frank said Spurs’ 4-1 defeat to rivals Arsenal was ‘extremely painful’ and apologised to the fans for the bad performance at the Emirates.
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank to Sky Sports:
“It’s extremely painful. It was a bad performance and completely opposite to what the intention was before we came here. We can only apologise to the fans for this performance.
“No matter if the team went to play a bit short, they got on top of that and we couldn’t get out.
“They were stronger in the duels and we couldn’t get out of those duels. When it went long, with the duels and second balls, we didn’t win enough of those. On the day, a bad performance.”
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Tottenham Hotspur keeper Guglielmo Vicario reflects on a disappointing North London Derby loss to Arsenal.
