London, Nov 24: Eberechi Eze came close to joining Tottenham during the summer. He scored a hat trick against Spurs for their biggest rival.
The England playmaker was the inspiration behind Arsenal’s 4-1 win in the north London derby that left his team with a six-point lead in the Premier League.
Eze added to Leandro Trossard’s 36th-minute opening goal with his first in the 41st, and made it 3-0 just 23 seconds into the second half by slotting in a left-footed finish.
Eze completed his first senior hat trick – and the first by an Arsenal player against Tottenham since 1978 – with a curling shot in the 76th. It has proved to be the perfect weekend for Arsenal, which had seen its two biggest title rivals – Manchester City and Liverpool – lose on Saturday.
“It is special,” Eze said. “Words can’t explain this.” Now it’s Chelsea which is the closest challenger in second place. After 12 games, however, Arsenal is a big favorite to win its first top-flight league title since 2004.
Tottenham’s consolation wound up being the goal of the game at Emirates Stadium. Richarlison picked up a loose ball and chipped Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya from around 45 yards (meters) to make it 3-1 at the time.
Eze made sure there would be no comeback, three months to the day after joining his boyhood club from Crystal Palace for a reported initial fee of 60 million pounds ($80 million). Earlier in the transfer window, he was reportedly in talks with Tottenham.
Asked if he might have been wearing the white of Spurs on Sunday, Eze said: “Let’s not speak about that.” Eze is getting a run in central midfield because of an injury to Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and is slowly growing into the role.
“He’s a big player who can create magic moments which unbalance a team,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.
Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario apologized to the team’s supporters for Spurs’ meek performance, which came after manager Thomas Frank opted to deploy a five-man defense – without any success.
“As a collective, we didn’t fight,” Vicario said.
Frank said it was a “hard defeat to take,” adding: “It’s extremely painful to stand here after an extremely bad performance – against the worst team we could put a bad performance in against. It was the perfect storm.” Rogers double
In the wider frame of the season, this derby demolition may well be remembered as a defining moment — not only for Arsenal’s title ambitions, but for the emergence of Eze as a central figure in Arteta’s evolving side. The atmosphere inside the Emirates swelled with a sense of belief that has been building steadily over recent months, strengthened now by a performance that blended flair, composure and a ruthless streak in front of goal. Tottenham, bruised and reflective, will return to the drawing board with difficult questions to answer. (AP)
