Arteta lauds 'magic' Eze after hat-trick heroics in North London derby win

Mikel Arteta described Eberechi Eze as a "big player" after the Arsenal midfielder netted a hat-trick in the Gunners' 4-1 win over Tottenham in Sunday's North London derby.

After Leandro Trossard opened the scoring in the 36th minute, Eze struck either side of half-time with two brilliant finishes to put the Premier League leaders in cruise control. 

Richarlison's sensational 55th-minute effort from distance offered hope of an unlikely turnaround, but Eze put the game to bed with another excellent strike that whistled past Guglielmo Vicario and into the bottom-right corner. 

And the England international could have had a fourth before the final whistle blew, but his left-footed effort from just outside the penalty area was repelled by a sprawling stop from Vicario. 

Indeed, Eze is just the fourth player to score a hat-trick in competitive meetings between Arsenal and Tottenham after Ted Drake (October 1934), Terry Dyson (August 1961) and Alan Sunderland (December 1978). 

It was also the first treble the North London derby has witnessed in the Premier League era, while all seven of Eze's top-flight goal involvements against Spurs have come in his last four games against them (six goals, one assist). 

"That tells you about the difficulty and what he's done today. To be fair, he could have scored four or five," Arteta told BBC Match of the Day of Eze's achievement. 

"He's a big player who can create magic moments which unbalance a team.

"We dominated every part of the game. We created massive chances and had a lot of actions that we were very close to scoring. We stayed patient.

"Whoever we put in there, they do the jobs for us. This squad has the belief and quality to deliver consistently."

The former Crystal Palace man also ended the match with team-high totals for shots (six), touches in the opposition box (seven) and successful dribbles (three), continuing his fine form this calendar year that earned him a move to the Emirates in the summer. 

In 2025, only Erling Haaland (25), Mohamed Salah (23), Bryan Mbeumo (21) and Antoine Semenyo (18) have been involved in more Premier League goals than Eze (18 – 10 goals, eight assists), with Arteta acknowledging the importance of getting a deal for the 27-year-old over the line. 

"We had the news that we had, and we had the window and the fans were really supportive and Andrea [Berta] was important in delivering that as well," the Spaniard added.

"We have Gabriel, Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard just came back, Noni Madueke just came back, so thank God we have replacements."

But while Eze's stunning display stole the show, Arsenal's victory moved them six points clear of second-placed Chelsea at the Premier League summit, while also continuing their dominance in this fabled fixture. 

The Gunners have now won each of their last four league games against Tottenham, only enjoying longer runs in August 1980 (six wins) and January 1989 (five wins).  

It was also their joint-biggest Premier League win over their rivals (sixth time), doing so most recently in November 2012 (5-2), leaving many to believe that a first top-flight title since 2003-04 is now firmly theirs to lose. 

And following Manchester City and Liverpool's defeats over the weekend, Arsenal are now the firm favourites to finish top of the pile, with the Opta supercomputer handing them a huge 75.6% probability of winning the Premier League in 2025-26. 

But with a Champions League clash against Bayern Munich up next for Arsenal, Arteta was keen to remain focused on the next task at hand. 

"We have really good momentum, but you can see how difficult every game in the Premier League is.

"It's a long run, let's go game by game. Let's enjoy tonight, then we have Bayern here and Chelsea away. We have a tough week."