LONDON — This was the day Arsenal bought Eberechi Eze for. This exact one. The boyhood Gooner plucked at the death from making the Tottenham switch that was the right move for his career and the wrong one for his heart. Let it all work out, they said. Think it might have, you know.
With the first hat trick the north London derby has seen for 47 years, Eze etched himself into the folklore of a club who were ready to dispense with his services as a 13-year-old. Come May, his brilliant treble may come to look like the day when Arsenal proved themselves to be champions. With this triumph, they have pushed six points clear at the top of the Premier League, their dominance of north London asserted to be as absolute as it has been since the days of the Invincibles.
Make no mistake, Eze knew what this game could mean for him. He had been due two days off after his England duty. Halfway through, he was back at London Colney. “Things happen for a reason,” said Mikel Arteta. “He wanted to improve, and he wanted to do extra practice and he was asking me questions about this and that.
“And when a player has such a talent, and his desire is at that level, then these things happen. And he fully deserves it. I’m so happy for him, because since the day that he came, he brought something else to the team. It’s a joy, it’s an aura that this team needed.”
The narrative, the vibes, they matter. Of course they do. All the more so for Eze, who had prayed for a day like this. When that hat trick goal was hit he seemed unable to collect himself. A few half celebrations, pulling his shirt halfway up his face for *reasons*, this was not something he was able to compute.
Park all the emotions for a moment, though. That might seem ludicrous for a north London derby but given Tottenham played with no sense of occasion, perhaps we can assess this like the game against lower mid-table chuggers it felt like. In those circumstances, Arsenal have really needed a player like Eze. You justify dropping $81 million in a summer of huge expenditure because you are signing a player who offers something you didn’t already have. That’s Eze. Plenty of the points they dropped last season were down to the twin misfortunes of injuries and shooting variance but if there was a facet that would have upped the quality of Arteta’s attack, it was an injection of dash and oomph. When there’s a shot to be had, he doesn’t hang about.
And someone had to take those shots. Before Mikel Merino dropped a gorgeous pass over the backline for Leandro Trossard’s opener, Thomas Frank’s 5-4-1 had legitimately been frustrating Arsenal. Their difficulties were typified in Martin Zubimendi driving through midfield and up to the edge of the final third, looking up to discover there wasn’t actually a pass on and turning backwards. Even at a goal up, perhaps Spurs could have proceeded in the same attritional fashion until the interval, where the introduction of Xavi Simons at least offered an approximation of competence to their attack.
It could have changed but for Eze’s quick feet when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box. There was a will to force the shot here, as there had been when he sensed that there was a plan for him when Crystal Palace came to his new home. It didn’t matter that the ball was hovering at hip height that afternoon, that Micky van de Ven had got across to block his effort as he danced through the penalty area. After all, you score zero percent of the shots you don’t take. That’s a fair wedge less than Eze’s 50% success rate.
“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” said Arteta of his marksman. “It can be right, left, ball on the ground, bouncing ball at this height, and he takes it.
“He has such a quality and capacity to finish actions in different ways that we need to play him very close to the box. Apart from [the goals], for example, the ball that he put to Declan Rice] in the second minute, I think it was, to play him through and create that big chance is exceptional.”
TruMedia
Despite having started only one of their first five league games, Eze leads Arsenal for shots with 25, five more than Viktor Gyokeres, Bukayo Saka and roving merchant of chaos Riccardo Calafiori. Chuck in his output before leaving Palace and only Erling Haaland and Jean-Phillipe Mateta have pulled the trigger more. Per 90 minutes, he is averaging over 3.5, again good for a top-three berth in the division. These are not generally high-value efforts — 0.078 xG per shot is 117th in the division — but that is hardly a problem. If anything, it’s a boon for this team. The thing about Arsenal with Eze, you see, is that they don’t always try to walk it in.
There will be occasions where that really matters. It might not have felt it, but this game could have been different if not for Eze shooting first, asking questions later. At 1-0 up, it could still have broken in a similar fashion to Brentford, Everton or Brighton last season, Arsenal just failing to pull the trigger through frequently enough and finding themselves done out of nowhere.
Some of the hallmarks were there. For what must feel like the dozenth time in the last four years, Arteta’s side were legitimately on course for a no hitter. Fifty four minutes played, not a shot on their goal. Then it happened again. Martin Zubimendi got a bit cavalier in possession, Richarlison spotted David Raya in no man’s land and struck. One shot against, one goal against. That’s a familiar experience for Arsenal.
What isn’t is already being three goals to the good in the derby. This time the wobble didn’t come. On Sunday, their territorial advantage had translated into more than enough wiggle room. Would that have been the case if Eze were not on the pitch? It is impossible to know. What seems a little clearer in the aftermath of this authoritative win is that Arsenal have added a sharp shooter who fills their need to a tee. It’s all working out quite nicely.
Add Comment