While Arsenal dropped points prior to the international break, this weekend represented a colossal opportunity for Mikel Arteta’s men to stamp their authority on this Premier League title race.
Manchester City and Liverpool suffered defeat, meaning that once the Gunners had beaten fierce rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, their advantage over City in third was now seven points.
As Jamie Carragher put it at full-time on Sky Sports, the only team who can stop Arsenal from winning the league are Arsenal.
They have the tactics, they have the defensive shape and they now have the attacking firepower and depth to their squad to take on anyone.
As Arsenal swatted aside Spurs, they did so without a recognised centre-forward, they did so without captain Martin Odegaard and they did so without Gabriel, one of the most influential players in the entire division this season.
The man to thank? Well, it was certainly Eberechi Eze.
The key men as Arsenal defeat Spurs
Coming into this game the narrative was all about Eze.
The attacking midfielder had famously rejected a move to Spurs in the summer in favour of returning to his boyhood club.
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank was quizzed on that in his pre-game press conference and muttered a response that he will now live to regret: “Who’s Eze?”
The Dane said that with a smile. Well, he certainly knows who Eze is now.
He became the first Arsenal player to score a hat-trick in the north London derby since Alan Sunderland in 1978 and he did so in some style.
It was Leandro Trossard who has opened the scoring but Eze, signed for £67.5m over the summer from Crystal Palace, stole the show.
Arsenal have lacked a player with his ability to shoot on sight and boy did he do so on Sunday evening. His first was a brilliant taken effort in a crowded penalty area but his second and third goals came with more space.
The quality, however, was equally as good each time. The England international scored a stunning goal for his country over the international break and was bang in form again here. The way he dispatched his second on his weaker foot spoke volumes of the form this man is in.
The third was also sumptuous. Fed the ball by Trossard, the former Palace star took one touch to set himself, ignored Bukayo Saka to his right and rifled the ball home.
Eze deserved most of the plaudits but the aforementioned Trossard did too. He scored and assisted, meaning that in the 32 games where he has found the net for Arsenal, he has never been on the losing team.
An amount of praise must be passed to Piero Hincapie too.
With Gabriel injured and out of the side the Ecuadorian stood in at centre-half and was exemplary on his first start in the Premier League, winning all three of his contested aerial duels.
Still, there was a rather underrated performance elsewhere that we’re yet to mention.
Arsenal star shows shades of Ozil and Odegaard
An attacking midfielder lights up the Emirates again and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Eze was the most alike to a certain Mesut Ozil and Odegaard.
Yet, in rather surprising circumstances, the player who evoked memories of those dazzling Arsenal players was Mikel Merino.
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When the Spaniard signed for the Gunners in 2024 he was renowned as something of a duel monster. While he’s played regularly in midfield for Arteta, he has been most impactful as a makeshift striker.
Injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus last term meant that the Spain international needed to fill in as a centre-forward. He performed admirably too, notably scoring against Real Madrid and rescuing that win against Leicester when he first featured as the number 9.
Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres in the summer but have still had to rely on Merino with Jesus, Havertz and the Swede on the sidelines in recent weeks.
The £32m midfielder netted twice against Slavia Prague in the Champions League a few weeks ago but perhaps saved his finest display of the season for Spurs on Sunday.
He started the game slowly but held the ball up admirably and although he won’t run the channels like Gyokeres, he made the team click and was the catalyst for Eze’s hat-trick. That was outlined by analyst Raj Chohan on social media.
That wasn’t the best thing Merino did, however. The pass for Trossard’s goal was remarkable.
He received the ball 25 yards from goal, waited for precisely the right moment to clip the ball into the box and he did so delightfully, finding the Belgian who swivelled and then found the net.
It was a scarily good pass, one that evoked memories of a certain Ozil.
In the process of being hailed as “Arsenal’s most underrated player” by club insider, Hand of Arsenal, he stated that “if that pass is made by Ozil we are raving.”
Minutes played
88
Touches
44
Accurate passes
16/22 (73%)
Shots
1
Key passes
1
Successful dribbles
0/2
Tackles won
5/5
Ground duels won
8/15
Aerial duels won
2/7
Recoveries
3
CBS reporter James Benge had a similar viewpoint, remarking that it was “an Arsene Wenger building an entire midfield out of diminutive playmakers” type of pass.
Cast your mind back to the days of Ozil, to some of Odegaard’s magical assists in Arsenal colours, it was right out of their playbook and it broke down what had been a stubborn Spurs defence up to that point.
Merino is not the most stylish of players, he is not the Rolls-Royce. However, what he will always guarantee is a mighty strong shift and a very efficient performance. He delivered just that on Sunday again, all with a bit of Ozil flavour.
Not just Eze: £27m star just had his best game for Arsenal
Eberechi Eze scored a remarkable hat-trick as Arsenal defeated Spurs.
ByMatt Dawson